News

When this woman revealed her horror Airbnb story, other women started sharing their nightmare experiences

Picture:
Picture:
Getty and Alavia Khawaja/Twitter screengrab

A woman documented her horrific experience with an Airbnb guest who destroyed her property, harassed her and who she accused of stealing money from her home.

Alavia Khawaja had been renting out a spare room in the apartment she shares with her sister when, starting on 11 October, she got a nightmare guest.

A man named Leonard Jackson, who had a positive review on his profile went to stay in her room, BuzzFeed News reports.

"Everything was normal,” she began on a Twitter thread about the ordeal, until she came home to him cleaning her apartment.

She quickly noticed that her locked bedroom had been opened, and every photo Khawaja had with men had been thrown out. Someone had gone through her wardrobe, too.

She called the police, who took a report but did nothing else. Though Jackson left, he began to message her on the Airbnb app.

Khawaja called the PD once more, but they said they couldn’t do anything, and advised her to call the police when she sees him. So she parked her car across from her apartment complex and when he showed up, she called the police.

You'd think that would be the end of Khawaja's ordeal. It wasn't.

Police have a warrant out for his arrest, and after almost two weeks since Jackson contacted her, Airbnb removed his profile.

In a statement to BuzzFeed, the company admitted it didn’t respond to the incident swiftly enough.

This reported behaviour is abhorrent and unacceptable, and has no place on Airbnb. We have removed this guest from our platform and are in contact with local law enforcement to offer our assistance.

Our initial response to this incident was simply too slow and we are working to fully support our host. There have been over 400 million guest arrivals to date and negative incidents are extremely rare.

Khawaja's story prompted other women to share theirs

Khawaja has not been contacted by Jackson since.

More: WWE's latest event in Saudi Arabia dogged by more controversy and debate

More: Obama asks hecklers not to swear in front of children and we miss him all over again

The Conversation (0)
x