AirBnB is known for being shady. Everybody knows that many AirBnB listings are illegal but allowed because profit, except when they're silently removed just before public data release[1].
Making a profit over illegal listing is all fun and game until someone dies due to that illegal rental not being up to safety code as with that canadian woman in Taiwan[2] but as long as you conveniently offer 2 millions dollars to the heirs and not mention it the safety report it should not hurt business that much, let's top it with a PR stunt of offering carbon monoxide detector for good measure.
Let's not forget that the host protection was added after a similar trashed apartment PR crisis[3] at first capped at $50,000 then later upgraded to $1,000,000. Let's not forget either that the first answer to the host was that she would not receive any money from AirBnB.
There are numerous horror stories of dealing with AirBnB where the refused to pay until the press runs the story [4], or being evicted due to guest abuse[5], some are more exotic such as using the place for prostitution or this guest turned into squatter that the host had to find a way to evict on her own[6]. There's even a website dedicated to collecting those horror stories: airbnbhell.com
So yeah, if you're unlucky and your AirBnB experience is not smooth, be prepared for more non-smoothness from AirBnB but if your case is high profile enough, going to the press usually helps to solve the case.
There are numerous horror stories of dealing with AirBnB where the refused to pay until the press runs the story [4], or being evicted due to guest abuse[5], some are more exotic such as using the place for prostitution or this guest turned into squatter that the host had to find a way to evict on her own[6]. There's even a website dedicated to collecting those horror stories: airbnbhell.com
So yeah, if you're unlucky and your AirBnB experience is not smooth, be prepared for more non-smoothness from AirBnB but if your case is high profile enough, going to the press usually helps to solve the case.
[1]: http://insideairbnb.com/how-airbnb-hid-the-facts-in-nyc/ and https://www.recode.net/2016/2/10/11587752/did-airbnb-purge-p...
[2]: http://www.aswllp.com/content/images/Taming-The-Digital-Wild...
[3]: http://allthingsd.com/20110801/airbnb-apologizes-and-offers-... and https://techcrunch.com/2011/07/29/airbnb-victim-speaks-again...
[4]: http://www.businessinsider.com/how-an-airbnb-guest-trashed-a...
[5]: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/03/17/airbnb-orgy_n_49788...
[6]: http://www.businessinsider.com/airbnb-host-cant-get-squatter...
[7]: http://www.airbnbhell.com/