Over 16 stone? You’re far too fat to hire our Airbnb home

AIRBNB hosts were branded ‘fatphobic’ after they banned anyone weighing more than 16 stone from staying at their medieval cottage.

The listing for the £199-a-night Bobbit’s Lair in Sandwich, Kent – which comes complete with hot tub and a creepy portrait from 1980 horror film The Shining – originally warned that guests with ‘eating disorders’ were forbidden.

The advert was changed after body image campaigners complained that it was discriminatory.

But while the reference to eating disorders were removed, the hosts – listed as Zsu and Marcus – refused to back down and the weight limit remained in place, this time citing the house’s ‘very old oak beams’ as the reason.

However, yesterday it was removed from the online property rental site after an Airbnb spokesman said ‘discrimination has no place in our community’. They added: ‘We have suspended the listing while we address the matter.’

Lindsay McGlone, 22, from Doncaster, who describes herself as a ‘fat activist’ was appalled to discover the listing and highlighted it on her Instagram page.

She said: ‘The people who wrote it need to be held accountable because it’s extremely damaging. Specifying a certain weight is fatphobic as it’s discriminating against people who have a larger body. It’s absolutely appalling.’

The rental came with a long list of further conditions including a no-children rule. The hosts also demanded: ‘Do not move anything in the cottage, it’s perfectly balanced out and when I return from my travels I hope to find [it] as I’ve left it.’