Eight tips for using Airbnb and similar travel websites safely
The questions to ask, precautions to take and situations to avoid given recent cases of sexual assault by holiday home hosts, including allegation by Hong Kong women against Italian recently convicted of raping 16-year-old
The recent Airbnb horror story of a young American man who says he was held captive and sexually molested by his host in Spain in July this year raises once again the question of how to use the popular site safely.
Jacob Lopez, 19, from the US state of Massachusetts, was staying with his host in Madrid when he was locked in his room from the outside. The host then “pressed him into a sexual act”, according to The New York Times, although the host denies this.
Airbnb refused to give Lopez’s mother the host’s address or call police (the host had shut off his internet access, so he was unable to contact her).
Things happen in hotels, too, but Airbnb guests need to realise that they will never have the same safety net that hotel guests have. It’s a chance they take in exchange for saving money. The same applies to home rentals and exchanges.
And although the thousands of guests who use travel websites such as Couchsurfing and Airbnb each day enjoy their experiences, this hasn’t been the first sensational horror story. Cases have included everything from guests claiming they were drugged by hosts – among them 15 women, including two from Hong Kong, who filed complaints of sexual assault against a former Italian police officer, Dino Maglio, recently convicted of raping a 16-year-old Australian traveller – to guests being attacked by a host’s dog. There have also been instances of fraud (hosts listing apartments without the right to do so).
