I was shocked to see my Airbnb guest sent an invoice for ‘redecorating services’

December 17, 2024

This guest lives rent-free in their heads.

An Airbnb property manager is seeing red after one of their properties was fiercely trashed by a renter. He even had the gall to leave the owners a $1,000 invoice for their destructive services.

Manager Vince Villegas went viral on TikTok recently after showing the annihilated Saugatuck, Michigan, property in a clip with over two million views.

Furniture was tossed in the snow, and other pieces in addition to plants were damaged in the home. In addition, a red substance smeared on walls and light switches in creepy patterns that appeared ritualistic. Villegas also showed several red dots on a bathroom mirror as well.

Other pieces of property, like a newly painted bathroom cabinet, had been scratched up, a rock was strangely left in the shower, rugs were rolled up, and another weird, sticky substance was seen on a bedroom door. Many other pieces of furniture were moved into the garage as well.

Villegas captioned his video of the house turned upside down, “When they moved out, they sent us a $1,000 invoice for their redecorating services.”

He added that it “cost us $3,000 to put back what they moved and replace what they destroyed.”

In a follow-up video, Villegas explained that the man had booked two nearby rental properties back to back. The so-called “interesting character” was initially caught moving furniture outside the first unit just before a blizzard. Villegas got the person to move things back with no issue.

However, when they moved to the other unit — a day later than the odd guest was scheduled — the nightmare began.

For starters, checkout was at 10 a.m., but the guest didn’t return to the unit until 3:30 p.m. While Villegas was waiting, he witnessed some of the calamity outside the home.

“We saw all the furniture outside… vases, cups of water, a dog bed at the door, you name it. So it was absolutely insane,” he said.

“We ultimately called the sheriff’s department, and the sheriff came, and they were going to help us remove him from the property.”

When the guest finally returned, the property manager said he “was a little combative with the sheriff at first” but ultimately decided to move on.

The man then asked for two hours to vacate, but Villegas gave him a half hour to gather his things.

“What’s quite interesting is I asked him, why did you move the furniture?” Villegas recalled.

“He said that he wanted to redecorate the space to make it more homely for him and that he was a well-known decorator designer from Chicago and that he wanted to make it a special space for him and for others.”

Upon leaving for good, the man “carried all his clothing out in trash bags” as he boarded a local bus. The guest also carried cardboard, which was the artwork he had made.

“The property has now been cleaned,” said Villegas, who added that police found the red substance to be lip gloss rather than blood or another eerie red fluid.

“It’s now been put back together and it’s now being rented. We did lose a week of rentals because of this situation.”

In the comments of Villegas’ explanation, he was lauded for showing such restraint.

“Your patience is incredible, sir,” one wrote.

“I think your patience & calmness about this whole situation just told me I don’t need to be a property manager or host because I’d immediately [want to] throw hands,” a second commented.

“Respectfully, Chicago does not know that man,” added another.