A Bay Area host has shared her disbelief after discovering the aftermath of a booking where 10 guests left her rental home in chaos—even taking the kitchen knives.
Jane Ng, 43, who told Newsweek she owns four Airbnb homes and manages 10 more for other property owners, posted a video to Instagram revealing the shocking state of her rental after the group departed.
“Let’s check in on my Airbnb after 10 strange guests just left,” Ng wrote alongside the clip that has been viewed more than 400,000 times.
Unexpected Damage
Ng explained that her cleaning crew typically arrives within an hour of guests checking out. But as a result of scheduling issues, the cleaners didn’t reach this property until 24 hours later—and what they found left both Ng and her team stunned.
The front and back doors had been left wide open for an entire day, raising serious security concerns. “It could have been a really bad situation if we got robbed,” Ng told Newsweek.
Even stranger, every kitchen knife in the house was missing. “It’s not the cost of replacing the knives—it’s just weird,” she said.
Other damages included dirty towels left in unusual places, the refrigerator door left open, and a generally messy home that took nearly twice as long to clean.
Perplexed by the state of the home, she decided to check her doorbell camera. And when she did look at the Ring footage, she realized that there were more people in the house than she expected, with eight children as well as the ten adults in the property.
Airbnb told Newsweek: “Despite direct outreach to the creator, we are unable to confirm this issue was linked to an Airbnb stay. Property damage incidents on Airbnb are rare, and hosts are covered by 24/7 support and AirCover for Hosts damage protection in the unlikely event of an issue.”
The Cost of the Chaos
Ng said the damage wasn’t a huge financial hit, but was still frustrating. The total extra cost came to around $300—including $200 in additional cleaning fees and $100 to replace the knives and towels.
“It felt like so much more because of the senseless things they did,” she said.
“Hosting Is Not for the Faint of Heart”
Despite the unsettling experience, Ng remains committed to hosting. She stressed that the vast majority of guests are respectful.
Airbnb estimates it has over 5 million hosts globally as of 2025. Since Airbnb was founded, our Hosts have earned $250 billion with more than 1.5 billion guest check-ins as of February 2024.
“While 99 percent of our guests are wonderful and amazing, we do occasionally get a bad apple,” Ng said. “Hosting is a real business that you have to take seriously. It’s not for the faint of heart.”
Despite the majority of guest stays going well, there are always stories of surprising vacation rental experiences. Like the guests who left one host with $3,000 of damage after a stay.