DALLAS — A family is asking for an apology after their Christmas trip to Dallas turned into a nightmare.
“This was the one time that we all were together in probably ten years,” said Eliot Mosby, an Airbnb guest.
Mosby will do just about anything for his family and to his fear, this could possibly be the last time his entire family will spend Christmas together.
“I have a mother who has stage four cancer,” Mosby said. “This could possibly be the last Christmas that I spend with my mother due to her illness and my father as well who has early stages of dementia.”
Mosby gathered 14 family members from different states and rented out four Dallas Airbnbs.
Early Christmas morning, Mosby’s 12-year-old niece who stayed at a townhome on Delano Road, found an unexpected holiday Scrooge.
“She found what looked like a crystal product like crystal meth, a crack pipe, and then also drug money,” Mosby said. “That’s unsafe. Imagine if my 12-year-old niece tried the drugs thinking it was candy.”
He immediately contacted the Airbnb host, the Dallas Police Department and Airbnb Support.
“On the day of Christmas at 10:45 a.m., I received a call with them telling me we have to vacate the property in less than two hours,” said Mosby.
The family had to throw out all their food from their Christmas brunch and move to a hotel in Euless, Texas.
“I ended up leaving everything in the Airbnb just because we didn’t want to have anything to do with it. I wanted to keep my family safe,” Mosby said. “They didn’t offer us any accommodation as I mentioned and offered one hotel room for 14 guests. We felt like we were the victims when we did everything the right way.”
Mosby said he was also concerned for his family’s safety in case anyone was looking for the items left behind.
“It was definitely a safety issue. They could’ve come back. They could’ve come back wanting to shoot my family. How could I live with that knowing that I put my family in those dangerous conditions?” asked Mosby.
Dallas Police confirmed that a police report was filed, but they are no longer investigating since the items were left behind.
The Airbnb host did not want to give a comment.
Airbnb said they could not give an official statement at this time but directed WFAA to their safety page. It recommends guests always do safety checks and contact the police and their help center in emergencies.
Mosby told WFAA that Airbnb offered a refund late Christmas night, but feels more should be done.
“I would hope Airbnb would do the right thing and first reach out and apologize,” Mosby said. “Us coming to the table and talking about how we prevent this from happening because they also didn’t mention anything about ensuring that that owner goes through the necessary training or whatever it is to get out of the Airbnb system. This was the last Christmas that I would potentially have to remember, being kicked out on Christmas day.”