If you ever wondered what it would be like to spend the night in Disneyland’s Haunted Mansion, here’s your chance.

An Airbnb listing for the Ghostly Retreat in Fullerton pays tribute to the fan-favorite attraction with Haunted Mansion-inspired décor, along with special sound, lighting and visual FX throughout the property. The Airbnb was listed by Jeff Schiefelbein, a production designer for film, television and amusement parks.

Through his company, Sinister Pointe Productions, he has worked with Knott’s Scary Farm, Universal Studios Orlando and the Queen Mary’s Dark Harbor, among others. “The Haunted Mansion is what inspired me to do what I do at a young age. And now I have had the ability after all these years to recreate what I loved the most,” Schiefelbein told KTLA.

It took Schiefelbein two months to transform the property into the Ghostly Retreat that’s been compared to the famed Disneyland attraction. So far, there have been no signs of the 999 happy haunts. The Airbnb can accommodate up to eight guests and while children can stay at the property, Schiefelbein doesn’t suggest they do. “This is not too scary for kids by any means, but we do try and promote the retreat to mostly older fans of the mansion just due to the nature of the property being that it contains many very expensive FX and décor,” Schiefelbein said. “We don’t want the little ones running around and breaking things.”

The house is open for bookings throughout the year and nightly stays cost $649. Just like the Disneyland attraction, the Airbnb also does a holiday-themed overlay for the Christmas season beginning in November, according to the listing page. In anticipation of the upcoming “Haunted Mansion” movie, a Zillow listing for Disney’s Haunted Mansion materialized on the website on July 14. The listing was promotional material for the new movie and couldn’t be purchased by anyone.

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Convinced that the boom in leisure travel is permanent, Airbnb aims to expand its listings by convincing more people to turn their homes into short-term rentals.

The company said Wednesday that it will increase the amount of liability coverage for hosts, up to $3 million, in a play for owners of nicer houses in high-cost places such as California. It will also pair newbies with a “superhost” to guide them through the process of becoming a short-term landlord, from signing up through welcoming their first guest.

More listings would not seem to be Airbnb’s biggest challenge. CEO Brian Chesky says the San Francisco company is taking steps to make price more transparent when consumers browse Airbnb listings, and he predicts that will reduce sky-high cleaning fees that many hosts tack on well into the booking process — a major complaint of consumers.

The company also continues to try to crack down on large parties at rentals, a few of which have turned violent. And it faces efforts to increase regulation of short-term rentals. Through it all, Airbnb has fared better than most travel companies during the pandemic. This month, it reported a record $1.21 billion profit for the third quarter.

Its stock fell, however, because earnings and bookings were less than Wall Street expected and the company gave a cautious fourth-quarter outlook. Investors worry that consumers paying more for food, gas and housing — and facing predictions of recession — will cut back on discretionary spending like travel, hurting Airbnb. Some current hosts are worried that might already be happening.

Last month, a post on a Facebook page for Airbnb “superhosts” asked, “Has anyone seen a huge decrease in bookings over the last 3 to 4 months? We went from at least 50% occupancy to literally 0% in the last two months.” Other hosts on social media have suggested theories ranging from a fragile economy to pent-up travel demand finally running out, and some think the problem might be that Airbnb already has too many listings. AirDNA, which tracks short-term-rental numbers, said Airbnb listed nearly 1.4 million rentals in the U.S. in September, a 23% jump from a year earlier and 9% over 2019.

Nearly two-thirds were added since 2020. The trends are similar for global listings. Chesky said in an interview that Airbnb has enough hosts now — he didn’t say it has too many — but needs more because leisure travel will keep growing. And, he said, a recession could push more people to turn their homes into Airbnbs. After all, he likes to point out, Airbnb launched during the great recession in 2008. “People are pulling back spending in tons of areas, but not travel,” he said. “And with a looming recession, we felt like more people than ever are going to want to make extra money.”

Potential hosts sometimes hesitate, Chesky said, because they are uncomfortable having strangers in their homes. The company’s response is to triple the amount of coverage for hosts — from $1 million to $3 million — against damage, including to vehicles, boats and a wider range of art on the property. Chesky is betting that will persuade more owners of nice homes to list them on Airbnb. “Exactly, and home values have increased since we wrote the $1 million plan,” he said. “We just noticed more than 20% of the homes on Airbnb, and maybe even more than that, were over the $1 million limit in value.”

The company said it is also launching a system to verify the identity of guests and flag potential parties, immediately in the U.S. and Canada and worldwide by next spring. Chesky said the system is “not a silver bullet,” and he didn’t provide many details but said in the U.S. it will include a check of criminal and sex-offender records.

In the meantime, the company is working on a plan to display the all-in price of a stay up front on its app and website — an amount that would include cleaning fees, which can be very high and only appear later in the booking process. Chesky said he didn’t want to bar or cap cleaning fees — that’s a decision for hosts, he said. But including fees in the upfront price — and in the order in which search results are displayed — “is going to correct the market,” he said.

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File # Y221920033

Details:

On July 11, 2022, at 3:30 P.M., members of the Coachella Community Action Team (CCAT), with the assistance patrol deputies assigned to the city of Coachella, responded to a residence located in the 86-100 block of Sonoma Creek regarding a subject staying pass their paid time at an Airbnb. Jamie Dellinger, a 33-year-old from the city of Coachella, was contacted and found to be on active county probation. During a probation compliance check, CCAT deputies located two handguns. One of the handguns was reported as stolen and the other was a non-serialized handgun (commonly referred to as a Ghost Gun). Dellinger was arrested for being a felon in possession of a firearm, felon in possession of ammunition, possession of a stolen firearm, and possession of a non-serialized handgun. Dellinger was booked at the John Benoit Detention Center in the city of Indio.

Anyone with any information regarding this incident is urged to contact Deputy Molina with the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department at (760)863-8990, or Crime Stoppers at (760)341-STOP (7867).

For media inquiries regarding this incident please contact the Media Information Bureau.

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Airbnb said Monday that it’s reviewing reservations in the Washington, D.C., area ahead of next week’s presidential inauguration and will bar any guests associated with hate groups or violent activity.

The move comes as some city officials ask Airbnb, VRBO and other rental hosts to take down their listings until the Jan. 20 inauguration is over.

“There’s no way to guarantee that your guests are not coming to incite violence,” Janeese Lewis George, a Washington city council member, said in a post on Twitter. “Please protect your neighbors and the District from more attacks.”

Airbnb has had a policy of removing guests who are confirmed to be members of hate groups since 2017, when it blocked guests who were headed to a white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia.

Airbnb said it will warn all guests in the Washington region that it may bring legal action against them if they are members of hate groups or if they plan violent activities. It’s also telling hosts to call a hotline if they suspect guests are violating Airbnb’s policy.

Airbnb said it’s also banning from its platform anyone who engaged in criminal activity in last week’s riot at the U.S. Capitol. The company said it is cross-referencing arrest records to determine who should be removed. The company wouldn’t say Monday how many people it had removed so far.

The San Francisco-based home sharing company also said Monday that it won’t give political donations to the Republicans who voted against certifying the results of the election last week. Airbnb joined Marriott, AT&T and others in taking that stand.

Airbnb’s political action committee donated $866,519 to candidates and political parties in the 2020 election cycle, according to Open Secrets, which monitors campaign finance donations. Democratic President-elect Joe Biden was the biggest recipient of Airbnb donations.

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