[mkipper]

It seems like most people have a "never again" Airbnb story at this point.

I once rented a condo in a city on the east coast, and the rules mentioned that the kitchen is available but to avoid cooking anything "crazy". No further details were provided. My partner and I boiled two lobsters and sauteed a few scallops, thinking that wasn't a "crazy" thing to cook in a rental by the Atlantic ocean.

A few weeks later (one day after the review window closed), we got a DM from the owner telling us that they found the lobster shells in the garbage, and that us boiling the two lobsters was in violation of the rules. Supposedly, the odor from our cooking triggered their incredibly acute seafood allergy to the point where they could no longer live in their own condo, and they filed a complaint with Airbnb seeking $500+ in damages. There was, of course, no mention of this seafood allergy anywhere in the listing or in the rules regarding cooking.

Airbnb threw away the claim, but in an attempt to mollify the host, they allowed them to write a negative review of me (after the review window had closed) and how I permanently ruined their condo. Thankfully I don't care very much about having a spotless reputation of Airbnb anymore, but it's crazy to me that Airbnb did anything to appease someone who basically tried to extort another one of their users through their platform.