Sexually Harassed by a Guest with No Airbnb Follow Through on Outcome

Hi, I was sexually harassed by a guest on the weekend. The guest followed me and my friend around all night in my apartment, which I share with guests. I was initially fine with this, as some folks socialize as part of their vacation. However, after many hours of not participating in conversation and staring at us, the guest started to make me uncomfortable. I made inferences that the guest was giving us some space, and he did not. Then at some point later in the evening he was wandering around the apartment in his underwear. In the middle night he texted me "Might be over sharing: Not gonna lie, so hot 🥵 Got me horny and j\*rking downstairs" By the time I read the message in the morning he had apologized. However, of course this made me incredibly uncomfortable and unsafe to spend the next ten days with this person in my home. I became more scared as the day progressed. In part due to the fact that the guests purchased a gift from me, stood outside my door, and messaged that had bought me a gift. Hiding in my own room, eventually I had to leave to go to the bathroom. He followed me around asking if I had opened the gift, and said he wanted me to open it in front of him. After that, I became so uncomfortable, and from the encouragement of friends, decided to leave the apartment and report him to airbnb. I reported the incident with the text messages to Airbnb Safety team who said they would respond to me very fast since the issue was important. I waited over 2 hours for a response from Airbnb, and they said that, because there was no clear evidence of danger to my person, they could not cancel the reservation, but said that I could. An action would immediately make you lose your superhost status and throttle your listing on their algorithm. Effectively punishing me for the harassment. When I said this was unacceptable, they said they could do nothing about it. So I had to remove the guest myself, which was very scary, particularly as I am a survivor of sexual violence and harassment. The guest cancelled their reservation, and then Airbnb sent a message framing things as if they had helped to make this happen. They also thought it was worth mentioning that they were finding him somewhere to stay (why is he still allowed on the platform? Why is everyone paying for his resettlement?). And then wrote me a very canned corporate message that things were resolved. I told them that, in my opinion, they were not resolved, and I did not feel safe, heard, or supported by a for-profit company that I had contributed thousands of dollars in revenue to over the years. They have still done absolutely nothing and the case is open. Today, the guest who sexually harassed me was given an automatic partial refund due to my cancellation policy. I called to say this wasn't acceptable and they should consider special circumstances because the guest harassed me. So now I am paying the person who harassed me. Needless to say, this was a horrifying experience and a reminder that yes, you can make great money off Airbnb, but they do not care about your safety as a host or a guest, because this person will be allowed to continue to book. There will be no remedial action taken, and in fact, as a host or a guest, you could be punished financially in the present and future if you are harassed. If anyone knows of any formal avenues by which I can report Airbnb and file a case against them, please let me know. I could not find them on the Better Business Bureau in Canada, which I find very strange. I don't want to scare people away from hosting people. I have had an incredible experience with most people (never airbnb or their support team), the income has allowed me to survive in a very expensive city I could not afford – however, I think its important to consider that Airbnb like any massive monolithic corporation does not care about you, your safety, or really anything. Everything they list on their site, from the insurance to the safety system, is a front to make you feel safe and secure. They WILL do everything in their power to make profit over your safety, over you health, over your own essential contribution of space, time, energy and work that actually makes their platform exist and that they consistently profit off of. --- **Post Details:** - **Subreddit:** r/airbnb_hosts - **Author:** u/jeremyvandermeij - **Score:** 40 upvotes - **Upvote Ratio:** 92.0% - **Comments:** 20 - **Posted:** 7/8/2025 - **URL:** https://reddit.com/r/airbnb_hosts/comments/1luu3yj/sexually_harassed_by_a_guest_with_no_airbnb/