Three British women suffered an Airbnb disaster when a cloud of what they described as asbestos dust swamped their apartment after a ceiling collapse.
The girls from Derby were staying on the top floor of an eight-storey block in Madrid when they heard a huge bang which came from the room opposite theirs.
When they went to investigate, they were left choking on plaster dust after the ceiling had caved in leaving the floor covered in rubble.
In spite of the dramatic incident, when the women contacted their host, he replied with the ‘shrug’ emoji.
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Lucy Evans and Jess Robinson, both 20, were in Madrid when the ceiling collapsed in the apartment next to theirs
When they opened the door, a cloud of dust covered them and all of their belongings (left). They then realised the ceiling had collapsed (right)
The girls from Derby were staying on the top floor of an eight-storey block in Madrid when they heard a huge bang coming from the room opposite theirs. When they went to investigate, they were left choking on plaster dust (left) after the roof had caved in leaving the floor covered in rubble (right)
In spite of the dramatic incident, when the women contacted their host, he replied with the ‘shrug’ emoji
Jess Robinson, 20, told the Mirror: ‘After hearing a huge noise, I opened the kitchen door and I could hear the cleaner shouting and screaming.
‘I rushed out of the kitchen only to be greeted with a cloud of grey dust coming towards me – within seconds it had covered the whole apartment.
‘I started choking and grabbed a sheet to cover my mouth.’
After the flippant message the host sent to the women, he tried to claw back their custom by making his cousin go round to the apartment.
The cousin tried to persuade the group to stay a third night at no extra cost, but eventually the girls were offered £12 compensation each and a meal cooked by the cleaner.
Jess’ friend Lucy Evans, also 20, said: ‘Even though we wore masks for the entire time we were still feeling the effects of a tight breathing and itchy throat for days later.
‘We were incredibly worried about asbestos, and planning to see a doctor just in case.’
Two girls had checked out of the room which collapsed just hours before the incident.
Airbnb have since stepped in to offer the group which included Jess and Lucy (pictured) a full refund as well as £50 each for the damage to property and health and a free Airbnb trip worth up to £250 and a £150 restaurant voucher
Airbnb have since stepped in to offer the group a full refund as well as £50 each for the damage to property and health and a free Airbnb trip worth up to £250 and a £150 restaurant voucher.
A spokesman said: ‘The safety and security of hosts and guests is our number one priority and as soon as we learned about this incident, we made contact with the guests to offer our full support.
‘We have also removed this listing from Airbnb and are looking into the matter with the host.
‘More than 2million people a night stay in homes listed on Airbnb and bad experiences are extremely rare.’