Airbnb Guests Leave Host A 2-Star Review Because They Said His Home Wasn’t ‘Weight Accessible’
Who's in the wrong here?
Zinkevych from Getty Images | Canva Pro An Airbnb should be a comfortable place to stay. You are paying good money, so you expect a cozy bed, a clean room, and furniture that works well. But sometimes things do not go as planned, and the place you choose might not be a good fit. For one plus-sized guest, the Airbnb experience was anything but comfortable, as the house and furniture were not accommodating for their weight.
If this seems unfathomable, think for a moment how you'd feel if you paid for a rental and none of the chairs were sturdy enough to sit in. What if the bed was uncomfortable or the shower was too small? At a hotel, you could and would complain. But what happens at an Airbnb?
Guests left a bad review for an Airbnb that wasn't 'weight accessible.'
The story was shared on the TikTok channel crazybnbstories, which follows its namesake with a host sharing wild Airbnb rental stories from his personal experiences. According to the story, guests left him a two-star review because, as they said, his house was not accessible due to their weight. After receiving the review, he reached out to ask what he could have done better. Their response was that they could not fit through the doorway.
“I have standard doorframes,” he explained. The guests also mentioned that the furniture felt shaky and that they were worried about breaking it. They pointed out that one of the chairs had a 330-pound weight limit, which meant none of them felt comfortable using it.
They also complained that the bed was too soft and made them feel like they would sink in the middle. The host concluded by saying that he considers all complaints, but there was not much he could do in a situation like this. From his perspective, the guests should have looked for a rental that better suited their specific needs.
It's highly likely the host's story is not true.
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The reality is that this host’s story is likely made up. He has a TikTok account called @crazybnbstories, and his content is full of stories like this. He uploads several videos each week covering topics that range from guests breaking over $20,000 worth of furniture, abandoning their dogs at the property, throwing parties with more than 250 people, and much more. All of which happened at the house he rents.
But you could argue that maybe he really does have crazy guest experiences every week. Perhaps it is destiny that puts him in situations with the oddest guests. Let’s take a closer look at the facts and think critically, rather than immediately assuming he is lying just because of the pattern in his stories.
He began the video by saying the guests claimed they could not fit through the doorway. But they did, since they were able to get inside and even sleep on the bed. That already made his tale sound questionable. Of course, we could give the benefit of the doubt and assume the guests meant that they had a hard time getting in, even though they ended up doing it.
The standard width of an American doorframe is 36 inches. If the story is true, the guest’s weight would be over 300 pounds, since they claimed they could not use a chair with that limit. Now consider this: a Reddit user claimed to weigh 300 pounds and wear 3XB-sized clothes. According to clothing size charts, 3XB fits people with waists between 50 and 52 inches in circumference. That comes to about 17 inches from side to side, far less than the width of a standard doorframe. Meaning the guest would be able to get in with no problem.
Basically, it's highly likely this host fabricated a tall tale for likes and clicks, but let's be clear: nothing in his post is funny.
Making fun of others for the sake of engagement is cruel.
The fact that the host told his story with a comedic and ironic tone left him looking like a bully, regardless of whether the guests existed in reality or not. Ridiculing someone, even an imaginary person, because of their weight is abhorrent. This is not harmless humor.
In 2022, data illustrated that 1 in 8 people worldwide are living with obesity. Joking about a condition that is already stereotyped just to get likes should not be entertained.
It's so easy to get swept up in the stories influencers tell on social media, but it's always important to remember that even if a story is fake, and of course, we don't know for sure that this story is untrue, there are very real people living in larger bodies who don't deserve this vitriol.
Matt Machado is a writer studying journalism at the University of Central Florida. He covers relationships, psychology, celebrities, pop culture, and human interest topics.
