Airbnb renters give Montreal couple wedding night surprise
'They were just being stupid kids,' Airbnb host Justine Smith says of nightmare guests
A Montreal couple says they'll keep renting out rooms through Airbnb despite a New Year's Eve that saw their Westmount apartment turned into a cocaine-fuelled sex party.
Justine Smith and her husband Francisco Peres were in their room on the night in question after celebrating their marriage earlier that day.
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The newlyweds have a three bedroom apartment and had used Airbnb to rent out one of the two extra rooms around 50 times since the spring of 2015 with no prior problems.
New Year's Eve was the first time they had rented out both of their rooms — one to a single guest and the other to a young man and woman from Ottawa who booked it last minute.
An 'issue of boundaries'
The young couple returned in the middle of the night and were overheard cutting up and snorting cocaine in the living room.
I was pretty angry, but they were just being stupid kids. I could have called the police but I didn't want to make their lives hell for no reason.- Airbnb host Justine Smith
"It actually didn't bother me that much," Smith said. "It was more an issue of boundaries for me."
Then, around 5 a.m., Smith's husband heard people having sex in the living room.
Finding it more awkward than anything, Smith said she decided to deal with it in the morning.
"They weren't very loud. They weren't screaming. Am I really going to get up at 5 a.m. and tell them to stop?," Smith said.
Naked strangers
In the morning, Smith woke up to find two naked strangers on the couch.
She sent out a couple of angry tweets at Airbnb's help desk and woke her husband.
They went to ask the couple they'd rented to about the strangers — only to find a third undeclared guest in their room.
Smith said the young man was embarrassed and told them things just got crazy.
"I was pretty angry, but they were just being stupid kids. I could have called the police but I didn't want to make their lives hell for no reason," she said.
"When you're young, you don't always think about things."
Guests apologize
The young couple and their guests cleaned up the apartment and Smith said the situation ended well, with the only casualty being a living room carpet that they decided to throw out.
"I didn't think the carpet and I would be cool after that," Smith said.
Their guests also left a note for Smith and Peres.
"Thank you for having us Chico. Sorry for being such bad guests, we have no excuses for our behaviour we were honestly just f--ked up. Congratulations on your wedding!," the note read.
Airbnb acted quickly to pay for cleaning and a new rug.
"They were a bit surprised I wasn't more upset," Smith said.
Last time she checked, the young couple's Airbnb profile appeared to have been deleted.
New legislation
This isn't the first time an Airbnb rental has gone sour.
Last May, a Calgary family discovered their home was trashed by hard-partying renters. Property damage was assessed at around $75,000, though Airbnb said it would cover the costs at the time.
Governments across the country have started to voice concerns about the ramifications of an unregulated sharing economy.
In the fall, the Quebec government introduced a bill aimed at cracking down on illegal accommodation by penalizing those who regularly rent out lodgings without a permit.