Being a host for short- and-long-term rentals isn’t always as easy as it might sound.
On the surface, running a rental property sounds great. Guests stay at a property, and the host makes money, sometimes even farming the labor of the operation off to third-party cleaners and managers. Who wouldn’t like that arrangement?
Unfortunately for hosts, unruly guests and unexpected situations can cause major headaches. Things can malfunction, guests can destroy property, and other circumstances can arise that lead to a significant amount of work.
Sometimes, guests can be problems in unexpected ways, as one Florida rental property owner recently discovered.
What Happened At This Man’s Rental?
In his video, TikTok user and Florida host Andy Rodriguez (@itsthefitinvestor) recounts a strange renting experience that he says happened at one of his 10 rental properties.
According to Rodriguez, he received a booking request from a new account. The request was for three months.
“It’s three months. I mean, this is a pretty big paycheck,” he explains with hesitance. “You know, we were not a cheap [rental].”
After a little conversation, he says he approved the rental. However, two months in, Rodriguez received a call from his CPA.
“He’s saying, ‘Hey, the bill is outrageously high,’” Rodriguez explains. “At this point, I’m like, ‘What do you mean the bill is outrageously high?’”
Confused, Rodriguez says he attempted to determine the source of the electricity usage. He says he made sure his pool heater was off, and he contacted his neighbors to ensure they weren’t using his power. When both of these investigations proved fruitless, he was at a loss. Something unknown had increased the house’s electricity usage by 10 times.
What Was Using So Much Electricity?
Finally, Rodriguez says he reached out to the guest to ask what was using so much power and whether someone could inspect the property.
The guest, he says, responded that he was not comfortable with anyone inspecting the property, as he had “a lot of equipment in the house.”
Set on figuring out the source of the problem, Rodriguez gave him 48 hours’ notice that someone would enter the property. When they did, they found the power-hungry culprit.
“My handyman walks in, and there’s computers everywhere,” Rodriguez says. “Long story short, this guy still has about 20-something days left on his booking, and he’s been mining Bitcoin or cryptocurrency—mining something.”
The guest, he says, then informed Rodriguez that mining cryptocurrency was technically not forbidden in his rental contract.
“Right now we are in the process of filing a claim, because the usage of the electricity has been extremely high,” he says. “Not gonna lie, that is probably the smartest thing that’s ever happened to me or against me. But it sucks ’cause I lost money.”
Even though Rodriguez claims this happened at an Airbnb, the company confirmed to BroBible it did not.
A spokesperson for Airbnb said, “We looked into this claim, and this issue is not related to an Airbnb reservation. We’ve received no reports from this content creator about this issue, and found no reservation matching the details shared in their posts. Airbnb is sometimes used generically to refer to stays booked on other short-term rental platforms, even when an incident has no connection to us, as in this case.”
Are You Allowed To Mine Cryptocurrency In A Short-Term Rental?
But that begs the question: Are you allowed to mine cryptocurrency in such rentals?
It depends. In general, the answer appears to be yes—with some major caveats.
First, there is no specific rule about crypto mining in Airbnb’s Terms of Service. That said, if mining operations are in violation of local laws, the guest could be violating Airbnb’s policies regarding illegal and prohibited activities.
Second, many Airbnb hosts have their own rules regarding electricity usage and crypto mining specifically. After a story similar to Rodriguez’s went viral, many hosts claimed they had rules against this specific practice to prevent comparable situations.
Violating these host rules, so long as they are clearly and publicly laid out prior to booking, could be a violation of terms.
If Rodriguez had no rule against cryptomining or excess electricity usage, it’s possible that he may not have a claim.
Airbnb’s terms protect hosts against damage to their property or other issues that could prevent future bookings or incur excessive cleaning costs. Excessive energy costs may not always be covered by these protections.
BroBible reached out to Rodriguez via email and Instagram direct message.