An Airbnb “superhost” said her short-term rental apartment became a literal “s—tstorm” — one which left her in $300,000 of debt.
The San Francisco woman, who goes by Coach Erika on X, said she ended up pregnant and homeless after guests within the two-unit constructing she used her “life savings” to purchase flooded her apartment on April 14.
The Post reached out to Erika for comment.
“I woke up on Friday, April 14th to the sound of dripping water. At first, I believed it was raining, but searching my bedroom window, the sky was shiny blue,” she said in a lengthy post on X which has over 17 million views.
“I jumped off the bed and bumped into the hallway. Waterfalls of water were pouring from the ceiling and lightweight fixtures,” her post continued.
Erika said that she and her husband, their rescue dog and two cats live in a modest unit below a bigger, renovated one. She and her family decided to Airbnb the highest unit after her longtime tenants moved out in the course of the pandemic.
“This made it in order that when we wanted the flat, we could make it available for our families (who would otherwise not give you the option to afford to remain in SF for greater than a protracted weekend),” she wrote.
In April 2023, her dreaded Airbnb guests arrived for a one-month stay.
“They checked out early, no warning. They’d clogged the loo with baby wipes and human waste,” she said.
“In addition they damaged the valve that manages water flow from the tank to the bowl. An ideal storm,” she added.
Erika said, unbeknownst to her, water mixed with feces kept running from the bathroom tank into the bowl and poured into her apartment nonstop for 15 hours.
“Then I woke as much as a nightmare: a literal s—tstorm in my very own house, flooding all 3 levels of the constructing that I purchased with my life savings. And remember — it’s fecal water,” she lamented.
Erika said that in only 15 hours — 50% of her constructing was completely ruined.
She then called Airbnb for help.
The corporate told her before they might cover any of the damage she’d should pay for all of the repairs herself or ask the guests to cover it; should they refuse, then and only then would she give you the option to “create a case for Host Damage Protection.”
“I used to be aghast. This wasn’t a broken lamp. It’s a constructing that’s 50% destroyed,” Erika said.
“It was a multi-hundred thousand dollar, multi-month home destruction and rebuild project,” her post continued.
She said there was no way her guests would give you the option to cover the expenses.
“And what about that $3M Host AirCover Guarantee? What type of support was this?” she pondered, citing Airbnb’s advertised policy.
Erika, now homeless and 12 weeks pregnant, then called Airbnb to attempt to relocate the subsequent guest who was scheduled to remain in her apartment.
“They were coming on the town for surgery and post-op recovery. I desired to be sure that our booked guests were relocated ASAP in order that they didn’t find yourself homeless, too,” she said.
After “dozens of hours attempting to get on the phone with Airbnb” she said they “didn’t appear to care or understand that I wasn’t going to give you the option to submit a receipt for ‘rebuilding 50% of my entire house’ within the 14-day claim window.”
That’s when she “scrambled to get construction estimates.”
She calculated $130,000 and sent the bill to her guest.
“After the guest clicked ‘hell no, I can’t pay that’ I used to be finally and officially within the Airbnb case system, as of April twenty fifth, two weeks after the flooding. And $130,000 in debt already,” her tale of woe continued.
She said when she finally was in contact with a case manager at Airbnb, she figured she was entitled to the promised $3 million in host protection. What followed was a good greater headache.
“Over the subsequent 6 weeks, I exchanged ~93 emails with Airbnb and the third party adjuster that they assigned to “investigate” the claim,” she recalled.
“Airbnb refused to debate the case until their third party “investigation” was complete. The third party never got here to the home. 5 weeks passed,” she wrote.
She then explained that it took “nearly 7 weeks” for the third party to get a plumber to have a look at her toilet. He told her what she already knew and asked her to pay up.
“He confirmed it was the clog (baby wipes + clog feces) and valve,” she said, adding that the plumber wouldn’t leave her house till he was paid $375 — because he didn’t trust Airbnb would pay him.
She said Airbnb then emailed her saying they doubted that the newborn wipes and feces were the problem.
“They hinted at concerns about maintenance issues on the bathroom (what?) People have lived here for years with no broken valve or flooding or excessive flushing of baby wipes,” she explained.
She said Airbnb then offered her a meager $6,000 and asked her to sign away her rights for future payments.
On X, she broke down “the mathematics” on her repairs and expenses:
- $19,451 in bookings that needed to be canceled
- $5,000 for my insurance deductible
- $375 for his or her plumber
- $6,270 in insurance premium increases
- $19,547 in water damage demolition
- $2,100 for water damage mold testing.
“This totals to $52,743 😮,” she claimed of her incurred debts.
Those totals don’t even include, in keeping with Erika, “Lost revenue for your entire time that the unit is unusable (X? months), my mortgage payment (which I even have to pay despite being homeless), property taxes (still should pay those too), damaged appliances, other costs not covered by my insurance.”
After a month of “no progress” she got “desperate” and reached out to anyone at Airbnb she could find. She said most didn’t offer help, but one former worker finally did.
In cases like this, it helps hosts to know an worker who can raise a flag internally.
“Ask yourself how broken that sounds…” she said.
She finally got a case manager who responded to her emails, but in that point period, she’s moved 3 times in 2.5 months. In that point she said she’s written 53 emails to her recent case manager and her unreimbursed expenses have climbed to $300,000.
She claimed she still hasn’t gotten a timeline for moving back into her home, nor has she seen a dollar from Airbnb.
“This week Airbnb offered me a “final offer” of ~$31,000,” she said. “For those who’re following the mathematics, that’s 10% of my total out-of-pocket financial losses to this point.
Erika said anytime they provide her a reimbursement they ask her to sign away her rights. “They claim that the $3M AirCover policy doesn’t cover the opposite 90% of my out-of-pocket expenses,” she wrote, alleging that they won’t reimburse her for the flooding, lost revenue from not renting, mold testing, demolition and packing out and storing her belongings.
“Airbnb wouldn’t lift a finger to assist me find temporary housing, either. It’s hard with a cat and a dog in SF,” she proclaimed.
“10+ hours house searching every 2-3 weeks while spending 20+ hrs every week attempting to fix my house,” she said.
The cherry on top is when Airbnb emailed her last week to inform her she lost her Superhost status.
“I really cannot imagine that an organization like Airbnb intends to depart hosts homeless and otherwise high and dry of their darkest moments,” she said. “Especially when the source of the hardship was 100% attributable to guest damages.”
She then begged for the “nightmare to finish.”
“I hope that somebody at Airbnb will attempt to turn this story from horrific financial disaster to a cliffhanger thriller, where in the ultimate moments, things go right.”
Finally, Erika asked those that see her story to love and share it on X in order that her “SOS note in a bottle” can find its approach to someone who may also help.
As of Thursday, she hasn’t received a response from anyone at Airbnb.
An Airbnb spokesperson gave The Post the next statement: “We take Aircover requests incredibly seriously, including on this case, where we tried to send a third-party investigator to review the damage, however the Host declined, stating that her homeowners insurance company was supporting her with the damage in addition to temporary accommodation.”
“Still, we offered to pay the lack of bookings, her insurance deductible and extra reimbursement as a gesture of goodwill – we have now been in continuous contact with the Host, including speaking today, to proceed to support her,”the statement continued.
