It’s no secret that living in Florida is sometimes more like survival of the fittest, Sunshine State edition. Sure, there’s terrifying wildlife, Biblical weather, and nightmare traffic. But still, folks flock to the beach, the parks, and the lifestyle.
The undeniable allure of the state means that Florida’s been able to capitalize on tourism, to the tune of $133.6 billion in 2025, or about 8% of gross state product. A big part of those dollars come from visitors. So Airbnb hosts can make serious money. They can make even more when they cut corners, as TikTok creator and singer songwriter Lauren Laudermilk (@themovieofmylife) discovered to her absolute horror.
In a video with over 17,000 views, Laudermilk says that she booked a month-long stay in an Airbnb with a Superhost. An Airbnb Superhost is recognized for “going above and beyond to provide excellent hospitality.” Superhosts are identified via a badge icon that appears on the listing.
After driving 10, almost 11 hours from home, Laudermilk says she arrived to a place stinking of cigarette smoke. “I get a headache right of the bat, but I am trying to stay positive,” she says.
Next she looks down. “I see red on the carpet. And I’m like ‘what is this?'”
Then, “my dog starts sniffing it,” she says.
“This is not good,” she observes.
She looks around the house and realizes “there’s blood throughout the entire place.” Blood is up and down the stairs, in multiple bedrooms, in the closet and “all over the place,” she alleges.
By then she wasn’t feeling safe. But she still needed a solution for the night and a plan for the rest of the month. She called her host, and says she got no answer (though the property manager did see the message, they did not respond). She called Airbnb and claims her call was dropped four or five times and they offered no acceptable resolution.
Distraught, she went to a friends’. Her month-long Florida trip was “out the window.”
Meanwhile, she called the police. The police eventually told her that they assumed a local rented the property and had a big party that got out of hand.
According to Laudermilk, in the morning, the host finally responded. He apologized, saying he hadn’t seen the message and explained that the previous guest had “left the place in shambles.” He told her “they had cleaned, but they had not cleaned up all the blood,” she recounts with obvious disbelief. She says he also shared a photo of the wreckage.
While it’s clear that Laudermilk is sympathetic to his plight, she still wants her money back. “I’m not staying there, I haven’t stayed there, I can’t,” she says she responded.
Laudermilk says the host agreed to refund her money—but not before trying to charge her for the first night. At that point, she let him know the police were already involved, “We’re not doing this, sir,” she claims she responded. Finally, he refunded all of her money, but not before a few more fruitless calls with Airbnb. “They’re absolutely useless,” she says.
Before he returned her money, Laudermilk alleges he sent videos and photos of the carpet getting cleaned. Now Laudermilk surmises, “It’s like he’s saying, hey: we’ve cleaned all the blood up, now come back.”
In the comments section, people recounted their own nightmare vacation rental stories. The consensus was that Airbnb is useless. “We had a whole home invasion in Florida and Airbnb wouldn’t even talk to the police and gave us $300 of $2500 back,” alleged Meg.
Jennifer chimed in, “A suggestion, I had a horror story of Airbnb and had to find another place, I called local realtors to see if they had monthly rentals, thank god there was one in Sarasota, FL. Stay away from Airbnb!”
Edboyo saw red flags everywhere. “‘It’s clean now, promise!’ ABSOLUTELY NAWT. Not to mention Airbnb’s timely response.”
Several other comments suggest booking through the vacation rental site Vrbo instead.
Airbnb has a list of procedures to follow if your rental isn’t clean enough. Mostly they’re commonsense, such as document it, contact your host, formally request a refund, and also loop Airbnb in.
But in Laudermilk’s case, it seems the real movement came when the police were involved.
A Redditor suggested that it helps to bring issues with your rental to Airbnb’s attention within 24 hours. “If you are unable to come to an agreement with the host, you have to send your complaint to Airbnb directly, WITHIN 24h of your arrival and they will have the final say,” they wrote. Failing that, there’s always the option to file a dispute with your credit card company.
Most people would agree that certain smells, stains, and biohazards are all unacceptable. Pile feeling unsafe on top of that, and it’s easy to understand why Laudermilk wasn’t willing to stay in the Airbnb, whether “most of the blood” was gone or not.
BoardingArea reached out to Laudermilk via TikTok direct message and with a comment on her post. We’ll update this if she responds.
Update April 13: Via email, an Airbnb spokesperson told BoardingArea, “We have been in touch with the host and the guest following this experience, and a review concluded the small stains came from children’s clay left by a previous guest. Even so, we issued the guest a refund and a credit toward a future stay, and reinforced our cleanliness standards with the host. The listing has been on the platform since October 2025 and this is the first report of an issue with the home.”
@themovieofmylife it’s storytime. #airbnb #storytime #horrorstory #travelfail #airbnbhorrorstory ♬ original sound – Lauren Laudermilk
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