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I just finished hosting a guy who stayed for 4 nights. Upon check out I found out that he had raided my linen closet, used 3 sets of sheets (fitted + duvet cover) and 12 pillow cases and 8 towels. Without asking for permission. Nothing was stolen though, except a brand new bottle of shampoo. i guess he loved it SO much or went through the entire 7oz bottle in 4days.
The closet was not locked (yes, I know!) and we never had something like happened to us before. The guy did ask when he checked in what time the cleaning staff would come everyday. We told him that we do not provide daily cleaning; cleaning is done after he checks out. He seemed taken aback by this info. "No cleaning at all for 4 days!!? "
Apart from having to laundry A LOT of linens and towels, there was really no damage per se. I was very surprised that someone could be so inconsiderate.
Have any of you experienced something similar? Aside from installing a lock on the closet (which we finally did!) , what could you do to prevent this? Is there any recourse to this?
TIA
I haven’t had this but please include it in the review…even the comment about no daily cleaning would be helpful. He really should stay at a hotel.
Sounds like I had the same guest, except it was a couple (male and female). Almost same scenario, down to using the shampoo and all the liquid hand soap. All of it. I don’t know for sure that they USED all the bed linens, but they were balled up and thrown in the corner of the closet. Now I only keep one extra set for each bed where guests can find them. I do leave plenty of towels (12 total — 6 in each bath) and those guests were the only ones who used all towels in a weekend stay. I do have a w/d on the property guests can use, so I don’t worry about longer stays running out of supplies. Airbnb took both our reviews down because he mentioned me requesting payment for a small rug they took with them.
Oh, and P.S.: You asked about recourse (except the review, as mentioned) but after those folks, I definitely changed my walk through patter and screening. These guests threw up a red flag or two (asked for early arrival and pushed back when I said I couldn’t do it because I was turning the place over – asked if they could use the fireplaces when the listing says they are not available for guests…). I do have a thing in my house rules under the security deposit that mentions “extraordinary cleaning.” I have claimed through the resolution center a few times, with mixed results. Sometimes the guest feels guilty and knows they left a terrible mess and pays up. But if Airbnb has to get involved the host usually loses unless there is an invoice or something to document it, even if it’s spelled out in the rules. You could try putting it in your rules, which helped me get $ back from a couple of those crappy guests.
Wow, I’ve been doing this for 3 years and have never had more than an extra towel used from my linen cabinet and non one has taken any of my shampoo bottles (but I buy very inexpensive stuff
I also buy inexpensive shampoo and soaps, and I kept them fully filled by topping off from the refill version. I wrote a notation in the house manual that if they like whatever is in the house I could easily show them where and how to purchase. Yet, there are people who help themselves to the full bottle of shampoo, soap or hand soap, and recently used 8 towels in a matter of 4days(!). I keep on telling myself it is the cost of doing business. But I just hope people could be a bit considerate in someone else’s home, even if they are a paying guest.
I did write him a matter of fact review, including a quote of his comment about daily cleaning and the fact that he raided our linen closet. He has yet to review me. Would my review be public if he doesn’t write me a review? Still not clear on Airbnb’s policy on this. I understand it is true the other way around: that the guest’s review will be published regardless of ours
yes, I did. they were the worse guests I ever had. And they stole the nicests embroidered towels and all the toiletries in the bathroom, big bottles of shampoo and conditioner. Not only that, they set a towel on fire (!) and tried to wash my linens. They used clorox on colored towels. Lock on the linen closet and removed the clorox bottle
