Ari Teman returned to his New York apartment building on Friday night to grab his suitcase for the weekend.
The comedian and tech startup founder had made an agreement with a man named David to rent his apartment for the weekend through Airbnb. David said his brother and stepsister needed a place to stay for an upcoming wedding.
But when Teman arrived, something seemed off. It was either the group of people milling in the building's lobby or David on his phone, saying something was being shut down.
That "something" turned out to be an orgy, which was advertised on a Twitter account that has since been deleted. Teman detailed the experience in a Tumblr post titled, "Dear AirBNB, no thank you for the 'XXX Freak Fest' you brought to my apartment."
[img src="http://admin.mashable.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/tumblr_inline_n2hg6ySYor1sblvuz.png" caption="A screengrab of the Twitter account that advertised the "Freak Fest." The Twitter account has since been deleted." credit="Air Teman" alt="tumblr_inline_n2hg6ySYor1sblvuz"]
As Teman went to investigate, he saw his building's superintendent.
"It's never good when the super is sitting in front looking upset on a Friday night," Teman told Mashable.
The group had not just congregated at Teman's apartment; they had begun to completely rearrange his belongings, causing more than $87,000 in damages along the way, he claims.
"My first thought was, 'Oh, I'm being robbed by a large crew.' And they were fast," Teman said. "You can't get a New York City moving company to move that fast. I'm going to throw an orgy next time I need to move."
That move may come sooner than later. Teman said his building is considering evicting him after the incident.
Teman has maintained a sense of humor throughout the ordeal, aided by what he regarded as a good response from Airbnb. The company has wired him more than $20,000 and put him up in a hotel. He garnered attention from his Tumblr post and the hashtag "#AirBNBFreakFest."
"[Airbnb] has been very friendly," Teman said. "I think it's unlucky to have an orgy happen in a host's apartment, and it's even unluckier for Airbnb when the host is a comedian with 30,000 followers on Facebook.
Airbnb issued the following statement:
Over 11 million guests have had a safe and positive experience on Airbnb and problems for hosts and guests are incredibly rare, but when they happen, we try to help make things right. We were appalled when we learned about this incident and we took immediate action to help this host. The individual who rented this space has been permanently removed from our site. We've reimbursed the host for damages to his apartment and ensured he has a new place to stay. In the days ahead, we'll continue to work with the host to assist him with his additional needs and we will work cooperatively with any law enforcement agencies that investigate this matter."
This isn't the first time an Airbnb user has been burned. In 2011, "EJ," a San Francisco-based event planner in her 30s, drew national media attention after writing about how using the service turned her life upside-down. When she returned to the apartment she had rented out, EJ found almost all of her personal possessions stolen or destroyed. Airbnb then launched a Trust & Safety Center and issued a $1,000,000 retroactive insurance guarantee. This protects hosts, past and present, from property damage caused by Airbnb guests.