‘Did they not know?’: Woman blasts Airbnb for false advertising after sister, niece die in house fire
While visitors to an Airbnb may assume that their rental is up to the same standards as a hotel, this isn’t always the case.
Municipalities may have rules around what is and is not allowed to be rented out on services like Airbnb, but the rules from Airbnb itself are shockingly sparse. While the company says that it “encourage[s]” and “ask[s]” hosts to install smoke detectors and carbon monoxide alarms, they are not actually required to do so before renting their space out.
Airbnb asks that hosts follow all local laws and regulations before renting their homes. However, in many locations, the company does not independently verify whether the host complies with these laws before allowing them to put their rental on the site, though there are exceptions.
In some cases, a renter will only discover that their rental is illegal or unsafe if something goes wrong. This is what happened to the sister of TikTok user Kali (@kfwald), and now, she’s calling out the company on social media.
How did an Airbnb lead to the death of a woman and her child?
In a video with over 197,000 views, Kali claims that Airbnb “is playing one of the most insensitive and inaccurate commercials they possibly could be this holiday season.”
Kali then plays the commercial, which shows Santa leaving gifts under a Christmas tree while a voiceover notes all of the nice amenities of the Airbnb rental. These include “cookies, stockings, and room for a tree. And most importantly, a fully functioning chimney.”
Why is this offensive? Because, as Kali explains, she lost her sister and niece in October due to a fire that she says occurred in an Airbnb rental’s chimney.
“It's just wrong,” she says. “And I don't expect Airbnb to tailor their commercials to feel bad for me and my family, but at least make them accurate.”
Later, she adds, “Did they not know that a mother and her child lost their lives in Airbnb like a month before they released this commercial? I know that it was probably in the works for a while, but do they not know? Or do they know and not care? I actually don't know which one is worse.”
What happened?
Kali’s story is true. As reported by Mid Hudson News, a 35-year-old woman, Shannon Hubbard, and her one-year-old daughter were killed in October 2024 in a fire that started in an Airbnb.
The Dutchess County Town of Clinton in New York has requirements for houses that are to be used as Airbnbs. As reported in another article from Mid Hudson News “the house…was supposed to have a special use permit, issued pursuant to town law, before operating as a short-term rental where the operator does not reside at the address. No such permit was applied for this house.”
According to author Todd Bender, local law dictates that those operating short-term rentals like Airbnbs must have properties visited by a zoning inspector. These visits ensure that the location has installed safety devices, such as carbon monoxide and smoke detectors.
“Because the rental was illegal, no inspections were performed,” Bender writes. Several firefighters who responded to the Oct. 13 fire reported no indication of functioning smoke detectors or alarms in the house that night, the author notes.
@kfwald @airbnb ur gross #airbnb #airbnbexperience ♬ original sound - kali
Has this happened before?
Numerous deaths from fires have occurred in Airbnbs.
For example, in August 2022, two women died due to a poorly-wired outdoor kitchen in a Hamptons Airbnb. Later investigation discovered that “there were no working smoke detectors in the $1.8 million poolside abode, and its kitchen vents were blocked by a wooden frame—creating a fire trap that stranded the sisters in an upstairs bedroom as the blaze broke out,” wrote Natalie O'Neill for the New York Post.
In March 2023, seven people died in a fire in a building that contained Airbnb rentals despite not being legally allowed to do so. Renters had previously reported safety issues with the building.
In July 2024, six people died after a rental property listed on Airbnb caught fire. According to WBAY, the property “was not licensed to rent and never has been.” Had it been properly licensed, inspectors would have ensured that the rental had “things like smoke and carbon monoxide detectors and egresses.”
Fires are not the only concern, however. NBC News reported in 2023 that over ten years, they were able to identify 19 deaths alleged to have involved carbon monoxide poisoning in Airbnb rentals.
The Daily Dot reached out to Kali via TikTok DM and Airbnb via email.
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