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And to help refocus certain parts of the discussion, all of Air BnB’s rules and regulations regarding firearm safety, security, and disclosure were being followed on my part as a host. Feel free to read up on that as you see fit.
The fire arm was behind a locked door (that the guest picked) in a locked case, with an additional locking device on the weapon itself.
I usually keep said weapon in a keypad activated safe but this was a rare instance when I did not.
I wonder if this actually works against you. I remember seeing a checkbox or something on my listing that mentioned “weapons on property” or something like that. If guests can also see that and it’s a whole home rental, well, the wrong type of guest now knows exactly what he wants to steal is there, it’s just a matter of getting to it.
I think the tenor has gotten even worse, way worse, with New Complaint #4 – the lack of photo ID for guests before approval. Sometimes it’s the straw that breaks the camel’s back, and that’s that.
How can ANYONE vet ANY Air guest if they aren’t even sure if the information about the guest is fake top to bottom or that a third party is coming?
System is broke top to bottom. And fixing it is Air’s responsibility.
Our Founders foresaw, correctly, that all governments eventually become tyrannical. Thus the People would need weaponry to overthrow them. So, we have a unique Constitution that puts power in the hands of the People and is inherently designed to be against government interference in the People’s affairs.
Preach sister.
AirBNB is putting our souls in a vise to accept any and all comers, and then infesting its guest pipeline with creeps and dangerous people. No one signed up for this.
A related point – I sense in this thread strongly that folks with strong income streams from AirBNB are threatened by the threat of lawsuits that force Air to operate in a more expensive way that will create higher host fees. I fully understand this, truly.
With that said, there is a common result of lawsuits against companies that force major changes in operations. And that is, the company IMPROVES markedly, because the lawsuits hit at its deficient areas. And quashing them paradoxically is not in the company’s best interest.
Hopefully YOU are also recording Air to get this vital information.
And Air will not give it to you short of you sending them an interrogatory as part of a lawsuit.
There is a saying among investigative reporters and lawyers, “Always know the answer to a question before you ask it.” So try by diligent research to know the answers to all of your questions before asking and be prepared to re-ask and push hard with Distrust and Danger, oh wait, Trust and Safety.
P.S. Your case raises the IDIOCY of AirbnB requiring weapons to be disclosed!!! Talk about felon bait!!
What. The. Freaking. Hell. Something is VERY WRONG with this picture (understatement). Please please please file a Small Claim (cost usually minimal) on this. Or maybe a larger claim so you can do interrogatories. AirBNB is either lying through its teeth about background checks or its subcontractor is derelict in its duty.
Why is this not important to others?
Do they just want Participation Trophies? Or to deliberately mislead forum members?
It should never be “tiring” to anyone to write a persuasive paragraph on their view and what supports that.
Also, what makes you think “everyone else” finds accurate posts “tiring” ? That defies common sense.
Do the members of this forum have an “anything goes” attitude toward accuracy?
@KKC These are the specific threads that to me are significant warning signs that AirBNB is pretty much dying with the host group that joined 2013-15, and is just going to let that generation go and churn through any other comers who replace it:
AirBNB Community: The Magic Is Gone
OP is Barbara from Toledo
312 replies
I have been an AirBnb host since 2013. At that time, AirBnb (at least publicly) defined itself as a matching service for “hosts” with an extra room and “guests” looking for a personal stay. As with a dating site, both parties were required to submit profiles (school, work, interests, photographs) and there was no punishment if a host declined a guest because they felt the guest would not be a good fit. Guests expected to be housed not in a subway-tiled apartment with a digital keypad, a Keruig, and minimal with-host interaction, but in a child’s former bedroom sharing a morning cuppa with a good-hearted guide to the neighborhood.
As the company “matured,” the “entrepreneurial” as opposed to “sharing” model lost out. AirBnb encouraged (though it demurred from saying so directly) hosts to buy properties expressly to rent them. The human connection was discounted and the “consistent experience” was encouraged. Someplace along the line, the profile requirement was eliminated and the algorithm started punishing hosts who refused to embrace Instant Booking. If a host has to cancel a reservation (except for a death, for which a certificate is required) not only are they shamed online, but also lose Superhost status for an entire year. If a host turns down a request, they are required to fill out a form saying why they did so, or may even be subject to an accusatory phone call from one of AirBnb’s live employees.
Recently AirBnb initiated a policy of not releasing a guest’s photo until approved by a host. At this this point in the process, hosts are goaded into accepting all comers.
In my opinion, these actions hurt hosts who bought into AirBnb’s original save-the-planet message—and I was one of them. I love hosting visitors, but I also know only a certain demographic will enjoy what I have to offer. I should be able to control who I invite into my house—with my belonging and valuables—and me. (I had one guest-from-hell who broke not only my clothes dryer but also several antique mementos, but AirBnb made the process of filing a claim so onerous, I let it slide.)
and –
Not being able to see potential guest photos is making me feel unsafe
One of many such threads.
Basically this move seems to be a death knell for single female in-home hosts, as it doesn’t meet their/our comfort level. … Wonder if this is deliberate, hmmm.
Ok it’s just me, I cannot speak for others but your insistence on being right all the time, even when you are clearly not is annoying as hell. I had to close a previous thread because of your ass backwards views about the spread of HIV. I see your posts as rants.
RR
RR
I asked about that but Matt didn’t answer. He also didn’t address the idea of an inside job, that is, does someone he know also know the felon?
Actually everyone signed up for this. And everyone can unsign from this. People post as if they are being forced to become Airbnb hosts. Airbnb has no magic way to keep bad people out of the system. Other companies and institutions have background checks and bad people still get in. Airbnb guests are no better than politicians, priests, the military, school teachers, all of which have creepy felons in them.
You seem like a bright person. I’m not sure why you don’t undertstand that these complaints are self selected, they are not a random sample of host experiences. If you want to make Airbnb the bogeyman I’m not going to stop you. I applaud you and Matt for trying to improve Airbnb. But I am certain that the ratio of problem stays to non problem stays is about 1 to 10,000.
It’s not just you @RiverRock 
It is not accurate posts we find tiring, but rather endless rants.
@PuppyLover - I am gobsmacked that you see two people posting on a forum about concerns about Airbnb, as ‘significant warnings that AIRBNB is pretty much dying’
And please don’t try and claim that you speak for single female in-home hosts when you say Airbnb doesn’t meet our comfort level (don’t actually even know what you mean by this).
It makes absolutely no difference to myself and other single female hosts whether we see a guest photo before or after a guest books. If we aren’t comfortable purely based on a guest’s photo, we can cancel.
I was doing some research this morning and was having fun looking at this map. Because I live in the largest bi-national metro area in the western hemisphere (maybe the world) and because of the fearmongering engaged in by certain public figures and the media, a lot of people have misconceptions about how safe it is in my city. I always tell people it’s safe. My guests’ main concerns would be having their car broken into or perhaps would they be assaulted if they went for a walk in my neighborhood. This is a map of my neighborhood, about a 1.5 mile radius of my home which is close to the center of this map. On the left are the crimes I selected and the dates are from the first of the year to 31 March. I’m really pleased to see my neighborhood is even safer than I thought. If I could remove all the assaults that are categorized as “family violence (famv)” it would look even better.
If other US hosts would like to have fun with their neighborhood here’s the tool:
Thanks for coming back @MattAZ
Sorry not terribly clear from your post. So is your listing a home that you share with your guests, and on this occasion you went away for a few days while you had guests, ?
And did I understand you correctly as saying that although the vast majority of time you keep your weapons in a safe, on this occasion, unfortunately although you were having guests and were going away you didn’t put your weapons in the safe?
What have the police said about this, as others have remarked, it seems strange that the only things your guests stole out of your property was your firearms - which they picked a lock to access. It does sound like this is something they might have had some prior knowledge about?
It seems strange they wouldn’t have stolen other easily disposable items in your home such as jewellery, camera’s etc.
I’d also like to know how home insurance deals with a case like this.
Where are we going with this, folks? Host situations vary from a single female host with rooms to the investor in an STR building. Priorities are different and so are the attitudes. And huge differences in how we do business. The point is not to criticize or pick apart other hosts, or comment on their apparent intelligence.
The point is discussion, which ideally is civil and hopefully constructive. Otherwise it’s just another Sunday afternoon online hoo-rah.
I for one have been helped countless times by this forum. I don’t care to hear a host defending themselves against peers. Thanks.
Sorry for your troubles. The other very week link in the guest vetting issue is that the person doing the booking could have no record at all and bring in a bus load of criminals with no one knowing the difference.
IMHO, a good comprehensive insurance policy is really the only solution, especially if you have a whole house venue, plus a large security deposit. We had a local incident where some 18+ students legally booked a suburban house, threw a big party that got out of control and ended up with one party goer being stabbed by another. It made all the local news outlets and had to be a major PR loss for Airbnb.
Ah, so the 40,000 killed by shootings in the USA last year were simply the unfortunate casualties of a People’s Army attempting to overthrow the government. Thanks for clearing that up.
I really hope we don’t derail @MattAZ’s thread with a debate about guns in the US. They never lead anywhere or accomplish anything. If Magwitch and PuppyLover would like to debate guns via private message or on it’s own thread that would be great.
I don’t wish to do that, thanks. Probably I should have resisted posting but it’s very hard not to respond to something that raises hackles to such an extent. I won’t say any more, promise.
To answer some questions and hopefully re-focus the discussion:
No reason to believe this was an inside job. Police even did me the service of showing me some known associates, none of my previous guests have any link to the perpetrator.
Both the firearm and the credit card that were stolen behind a locked door. Why they chose to steal those items and not others? You’ll have to ask them, and I think it’s outside the scope of the discussion as to why criminals do what they do.
I rent my place out for 2 day stints at a time while I am on business trips and long periods of time over the summer.
Again I think one of the unique aspects here is that the guest had ACTIVE WARRANTS out for their arrest. Which is why I think the vagueness (at times) in the TOS and Host Guarantee is unsettling and probably inadequate language on their part.
What questions would you have for the Trust and Safety team during a voice call?
“How are you going to reconcile the need for the guest to know there are firearms in the home with my need to have my property secured? Isn’t requiring me to disclose my firearm making my home a target?”
“Is the police investigation going to delay your payment to me?”
You haven’t answered the question about your homeowners insurance. I’m really interested in who is expected to pay for the stolen firearm. I think Airbnb’s policy points toward your insurance.
This really depends on what goals you have for this conversation and what you hope the outcome will be. You said that your aim is to create a better and safer system, ('again- my intent is not compensation, but rather to make this a safer, better system’) so is this really a question of what you ask them?
You know very well that if you ask ‘what are you doing to make a safer and better system’ that you’re not going to get the answers you want.
But as @KKC said, we want to know what the situation is with your STR insurance and what outcomes you’re hoping for from Airbnb - thanks.
Thanks for the link - I am pleased with what I saw for our neighborhood. We have been looking to possibly move and this will be used when we look around!
I just had a good one. It looks like a date rape happened in the room. Horrific. This crap is unbelievable! Pretty sure thats a felony too.
*Note: A good one means an absolutely terrible one.
