A woman has shared what she described as a disturbing experience with an Airbnb host during a 2019 trip to Yonkers, New York, claiming the host showed up at her rental unit without warning, lectured her about her guests, and later sent her a text message that she believed was an attempt to ask her out.
The woman, who goes by the username plitplatpayton on TikTok, shared the story in a video that has since received more than 386,600 views and over 38,200 likes. She said she was 19 years old at the time and had traveled from California to New York to visit a long-time internet friend named Isa.
She said she booked an Airbnb that was conveniently located near Isa’s home. According to her, the listing explicitly stated that the property could accommodate up to four people. During her stay, she said Isa’s friends, including one she referred to as “Swoosh”, would come over to keep her company while Isa was at work.
Host allegedly showed up early in the morning without prior notice and used security footage to confront the guest
Around the third day of her stay, she claimed, she heard a knock at the door at roughly 8 or 9 in the morning. She said she had just woken up and was not fully dressed when she looked out and saw the Airbnb host standing outside. She described him as appearing to be in his early-to-mid thirties.
According to her account, the host walked in and began looking around the property before sitting down on the couch and starting what she described as a lecture. “He starts walking around like he’s checking out the place and he’s scoping it out like to find something that I was doing wrong,” she said.
She claimed the host then showed her security footage on his phone of her friend Swoosh outside the property, appearing to argue with someone. She said the host told her, “you need to be careful with who you’re having over because I don’t trust the people that you’re having over.” She added that the host had never informed her that he had cameras outside the property.
She said the lecture went on for roughly 15 to 20 minutes. During that time, she claimed, the host also asked her personal questions about her situation, including whether the people she was with were family members, and then shifted to giving her recommendations for things to do in New York City, including Broadway shows.
He allegedly offered to be her tour guide and said, “if you need a tour guide, like you can hit me up, like we can go see the city and we can go to Broadway.” She said she was unsure during the interaction whether the host was angry with her about having guests or was attempting to flirt with her.
“I literally could not tell how he felt towards me, like if he was gonna kick me out of this Airbnb,” she said. In another case, guests say they washed dishes and took out the bins themselves at an Airbnb.
The following day, she claimed, the host sent her a text message asking if she was free to visit the city with him. She said she still has a screenshot of the message. After receiving it, she said she felt that the interaction had crossed a line. “For me that was like, okay, so he is asking me on a date, I think,” she said. She said she did not respond to the message.
Feeling uneasy, she told Isa and Swoosh about what had happened. Swoosh reportedly offered to stay with her at the Airbnb that night. However, she claimed that the following day, while she was out at a nearby park, the host called her again, this time to tell her that she was not allowed to have anyone staying over.
“You’re not allowed to have anyone stay over, especially like those guys. I don’t want them staying at the house,” she alleged the host said. A similar dispute involved a woman who says a man scammed her out of thousands with a fake Airbnb rental.
She said she pushed back, telling him she was not violating any of the listing’s stated rules. “I’m not doing anything that’s against the guidelines or the rules,” she recalled saying. “It literally says on the listing that I could have up to 4 people at the house.” She said she continued to have Swoosh stay with her despite the host’s objections.
The video drew responses from viewers, some of whom questioned whether she had reported the host to Airbnb. “Did you report to Airbnb cus he defs did this again. I’m so sorry you went through that, so scary,” one commenter wrote. Others said they had personally never had a bad experience with the platform.
“I’ve stayed in so many Airbnbs and never have had an issue. I hope it stays that way,” another viewer commented. A third commenter said the story was part of a pattern they had been noticing. “I’ve never had an issue with Airbnb or any of the hosts this is wild that this is like the third horror story I’ve heard about them,” they wrote.
Published: Jul 8, 2026 12:15 pm