Kit Roberts
An AirBnB host has revealed that he ended up raking in the cash after going viral due to an unexpected cancellation.
Kyle Toomey is a 31-year-old real estate agent from Virginia.
On 9 November, he posted a TikTok in which he detailed how he was getting 'absolutely f*cked by AirBnB'.
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He explained that guests had booked an 11-night-long stay at his property, but had cancelled shortly after arriving.
Normally this would evoke a cancellation fee, but in this case the circumstances meant that the guests were allowed to leave, and were refunded.
This was because Toomey had contacted them to let them know that his neighbour had reported seeing a mouse in the neighborhood where his property was, and they should be aware of that.
The landlord was aware of the problem in the neighborhood, and regularly employed pest controllers at the property.
He was told by AirBnB that the cancellation was covered under their rebooking and refunding policy, as the guests had not 'felt safe' in the property due to there being mice around.
This meant that he would have to refund the fee for the booking.
In the video, he said: "Airbnb basically was saying because there was a mouse in the neighborhood, the guest didn't feel safe, and could, in fact, check out and leave early."
Some might think the landlord was treated unfairly by AirBnB, while others might take the view that the guests were more than reasonable to feel that way after being told about a rodent problem at such short notice.
In addition to the hygiene problems, mice can make people very anxious, as you might start to think every rustle or scratch is an unwelcome guest, which would put a dampener on any holiday.
But it seems that point is moot now, as the video went viral and resulted in his property being seen by millions.
The result was that he was both reimbursed for the original lost booking, and even made a bit extra as a result of a new booking.
This came after AirBnB agreed to refund him the full amount, of $2,439.58.
Toomey haș also pledged to give away hundreds of dollars to people who showed him support through the process.
The video ended up being viewed about 1.1 million times on TikTok, and while some were sympathetic to Toomey, others were far less so.
They argued that AirBnB landlords damage communities by buying up multiple properties which can have the impact of pricing people out of their own neighborhoods.
UNILAD has gone to Airbnb for comment.