Bachelorette party finds burglar inside their Nashville Airbnb

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WKRN) — Nashville is a popular destination for bachelorette parties. The neon lights of Lower Broadway attract thousands of brides a year, but a weekend trip turned dangerous for one group of friends.

Last month, Michelle Johnson and her friends flew from Houston, Texas, to Music City to celebrate her wedding proposal. But when they got back to their Airbnb after a night out on the town, they discovered a thief inside the house.

Johnson said when the Uber dropped them off at their West End Circle Airbnb rental, one girl ran into the house ahead of the rest of the group to use the restroom.

That friend then heard footsteps coming from the upper level of the home.

“She was using the restroom and noticed that she could hear footsteps upstairs, and the house was three stories, so she was like it sounded really loud and, ‘There was no way you girls beat me all the way up there,'” Johnson said. “She started kind of counting heads and seeing all the girls. All eight of us were in the kitchen making Pizza Rolls.”

They then noticed the glass back door had been broken and there was another person upstairs.

“There was shattered glass everywhere, and it was a glass door he had busted,” Johnson said.

The girls ran out of the house and called the police.

“I didn’t realize how common it is, and [the police] said we were the third call that night,” Johnson said.

Metro police told WKRN that known Airbnbs are often easy targets for repeat offenders and there have been 30 calls for service at that West End Circle address since the beginning of the year. Half of those calls were “proactive checks” for police to patrol suspicious activity.

MNPD suggests if you are in Nashville for a bachelorette party, do not put any decorations outside the rental property or on your car that would notify people you are from out of town.

Johnson said if she could do it all again, she would’ve stayed in a hotel instead.

“The police said it’s very common for people to watch Airbnb locations and see people come and go, and it’s pretty obvious that we were a bachelorette party. We come with a ton of suitcases and balloons and drinks and things like that. So it’s kind of putting a target on our own back. But definitely wasn’t something I thought we’d have to worry about,” Johnson said.

Johnson said Airbnb gave her a partial refund. She added that she’s glad nobody got hurt.

Metro police confirmed the thief got away with a laptop from inside the home.