My open letter to the owners of this Airbnb.
My stay at your building was traumatic. I checked in fine, but when I returned after midnight, the code to the lock wouldn't work. I ended up sleeping in the back of my UHaul truck with the back door ajar. I made frantic calls through the night, and nobody answered. A female worker in the bottom floor office was startled as I stumbled out of the truck at 6am. I finally got a hold of you and while on the phone with you, the lock finally worked. I'm not sure if you did this remotely or if there was a flaw in the lock, but the result is that I spent the night outside.
As a Black man in America, that could have ended with my actual death. Imagine that startled lady having a gun and fearing for her life because a big black man emerged out of a truck while she was in a dark parking lot. Imagine yet still that she called the cops when she saw the truck with the back door ajar. Imagine cops opening that door to find me sleeping, and yelling at me, and in the confusion, mistaking my phone for a gun. Imagine me sitting outside the apartment, not being able to get in, and cops asking me if I belonged there, and my phone, with low battery, running out of juice. I wouldn't have been able to show them ID, or prove that I belonged there. These are real fears based on the reality of being Black in America.
Your initial response was that you would get me a universal code, and come by later with actual keys. And you initially offered to comp the one night of my stay. What these gestures proved is that you had no real concern for my safety, and that offering a discount for one night would solve everything, and you would change nothing.
I can't tell you how worthless this makes me feel, even after further refunds for this stay.
You called and try to talk to me, but I was too shaken to get into it. Maybe you called to apologize even further and raise the issue of my safety. I'll never know. What I do know is that you need to be extra vigilant and consider the consequence for your guests. If you are running a service, your guests need to be able to contact you 24/7, or you need a service that they can call at any time. You also need a backup plan for your electronic lock. When they work, they are great. When they don't, they may inconvenience someone at best, or get someone killed at worst.
I won't soon forget this stay, and I pray that you do better for your next guest.