Lawyer sues Airbnb and ex-model host
A lawyer is suing Airbnb and one of its property hosts, a former model, claiming he was misled by the description of her New York City apartment on the accommodation-sharing website.
Christian Pugaczewski allegedly paid more than $9000 for a three-month stay in Lyndsey Scott’s Roosevelt Island apartment.
The Airbnb listing, which has a five-star review, advertises the apartment as a ‘home away from home’ with ‘fashionable decor for a comfy yet modern vibe’.
Pugaczewski claimed that instead the apartment had damaged floors, dingy walls, broken furniture, dirty windows, exposed roach traps in the kitchen and dilapidated rugs, according to court documents seen by the New York Daily News.
Pugaczewski, an associate at the Manhattan-based law firm Shearman & Sterling, said he assumed the apartment would be in a luxury building, but it was in fact converted from subsidized housing with rubbish in the communal hallway and the smell of drugs.
The lawsuit states that the Airbnb listing with its verified photos and reviews led him to book ‘a property materially different from the property portrayed’.
He claims he stayed at the apartment owned by the former Victoria’s Secret model for just one night before cancelling the reservation to stay with a friend instead, but Airbnb did not refund his $3000 deposit.
Airbnb refused to comment on the case but a spokesman told New York Daily that when complaints were received it reviewed the listing and took action.
Linsey McNeill
Editor Linsey McNeill has been writing about travel for more than three decades. Bylines include The Times, Telegraph, Observer, Guardian and Which? plus the South China Morning Post. She also shares insider tips on thetraveljournalist.co.uk
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