I would have said please accept this POSTCARD as a gift. A postcard is NOT a painting. I buy postcards & pickup stickers, area highlights & other brochures, maps etc. from our Chamber of Commerce & specify they are welcome to these but NOT the maps on the wall.
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I have to agree with Ritz3 and add that folks don’t necessarily know it’s an oil painting, let alone its value. Lame, for sure, but we get all kinds, right?
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Please don’t assume that non-art people have ANY idea what art is worth. I can get a fairly large “painting” at a discount store for $25 US on sale - and that includes a frame.
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So, you don’t know it’s an oil painting. But you know that it is not yours and you know that you don’t remove items from the wall and put them in your luggage when you check out of an Airbnb. Everyone knows that.
So, you don’t have ANY idea what art is worth. But you do know when art is not yours and you know that you don’t remove art from a wall and put it in your bag and take it with you when you check out of an Airbnb. Everyone knows this.
So, in this case, you know what this “painting” is worth. It is worth exactly $25 at the discount store and you know that for sure, without knowing diddly about art. And yet, you also know that you cannot just stick it in a bag and walk off with it. Why? Because it is not yours. Everyone knows this.
It doesn’t matter if it’s oil or gouache or even if it’s art, the value is irrelevant when it comes to people, especially guests, taking something with them when they leave. You might have a cheap-ass TV from three years ago, but I bet you expect it to still be there after your guests check out.
OP mentioned the value because it surely stings more when it is something valuable that is stolen but I feel confident that she would also be ticked off if her guests took the TV off of the wall. Everyone would be.
I tell my guests to “make themselves at home” but I would be seriously ticked off and confused if they decided to re-decorate my apartment more to their taste during their stay. It would be even more confusing if everyone on here told me that I shouldn’t have told the guests to make themselves at home.
And for the last time, and I will dumb it down the best I can , these guests did not take the painting that was on the postcard, they took an entirely different painting. The postcard did not say take any painting you would like. So even if you are confused about whether or not you should take a painting off of the wall next time you check out of an Airbnb, at least don’t take an entirely different painting that was not mentioned at all. And don’t take the TV either.
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They didn’t take the painting that was on the card. They took a different painting and they took the painting off of the wall. The painting they took had nothing whatsoever to do with the card. The card irr-feckin-rrelevant.
Personally, I wish they would have just taken the OP’s TV so that everyone would be able to grasp what happened and understand the details.
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I do follow your argument, but I also have lots of honest-but-not-that-smart relatives and I can totally picture this story, from the guests’ perspective, being told at one of our family dinners.
These people may indeed have been conniving thieves, but also, maybe not.
Honestly, I am trying to understand.
Here is the back of the postcard, what the OP leaves for her guests:
And here is the “painting” on the other side that she refers to, this is absolutely clear because this is what is on the other side of the postcard:
And this is the painting that the guests stole, the large one to the left of the TV.
It is clearly an entirely different painting than the one that is on “the other side” of the postcard. So, even if someone is stupid or asinine enough to think that they are being given a painting, there is no reason in the universe for them to think that they are being given the large painting next to the TV. I can go and do a mark-up of the photo and circle the large painting next to the TV and then paste next to the painting that is on the other side of the postcard if necessary, but there shouldn’t be any argument that these guests were never ever ever ever offered the painting that is next to the TV.
If the guests had taken the TV, there would be no discussion. People like to pretend that art is difficult to understand but everyone can see that the painting on the back of the postcard and the painting next to the TV are entirely different paintings. In the scenario where these guests were just confused, then they should have taken the toilet paper holder and the armchair as well.
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Yes I know. I have been reading this thread with great interest. I still think that it is equally likely that the guests are airheads, not thieves. I am looking forward to hearing what they say in their review!
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Even if the guests are airheads, they are still thieves. They might even be felons, depending on what state this is in and whether or not the painting was properly assessed.
Being stupid is no excuse for breaking the law or moral ineptitude. No matter what that fat carrot tried to tell everyone.
She meant a PRIVATE message. You don’t want to post your email in public forums.
Oh no! The way it came I thought it was private. I have no idea how to delete it now. Thanks for letting me know.
I’m confused about the figure of $800. Who says the painting is worth that figure? In my town there is a whole industry that creates paintings of tourist-related things and sell very cheaply. If someone offers to give you a free painting as part of your stay, then you’d assume it’s a cheap one. Also if someone writes you’ll get a free painting, it’s fair to assume you’ll get a free painting, not a postcard.
The Artist herself. Whether that is the price that she would sell it for or whether it’s the price that it has been Appraised at, I am not sure. It may be both.
Real question. In fact, never mind, I am going to make it a poll. But you can think about it ahead of time if you would like, a special late-night preview of the poll (so you should probably have the best answer, but no pressure 
)
How many times has an Airbnb host given you a large original oil painting, for free?
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Dammit. I’m working fastidiously on my very scientific poll but now you’ve made me laugh so hard that I’m crying and can’t see.
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If a host wrote “please take a towel* with you as a token of your stay”, when in fact she meant “please have this cheap postcard” and then I took a towel, I certainly wouldn’t expect her to threaten to call the police on me! 
*value of the towel is $800
That might be one of the worse analogies I’ve ever read.
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Here’s an idea for a poll.
A host sends you a message that you can take a painting as an appreciation of your custom. Do you:
a) take one of the small paintings on display, and write the host a wonderful review as they are clearly a generous person
b) ignore it, the host clearly has trouble expressing herself, probably she just meant the 50c postcard
c) call the police as the paintings are clearly Picasso originals and she must be trying to get you involved in some kind of art-smuggling racket
d) Hey, I must be the 1000th guest, when does the guy with the microphone turn up with the keys to a new car?
e) Even though she wrote painting, maybe she meant “TV”, so I’ll just take the TV. Do you think she’d miss the DVD player? Perhaps this is one of those secret millionaire situations?
How many times has an Airbnb host given you a large original oil painting, for free?
- 12 times.
- The laminated house manuals are always free, right?
- 3 times.
- Never. Not once.
- 234 times, but it was just one unstable host at a very harrowing stay.
- Zero times.
- Twice. Well, I might’ve actually stolen the second one, so, only once, I guess.
- TBH, I’ve just like literally totally lost count.
- Does this poll really require so much sarcasm?
- If you’re not getting free artwork, be sure to mention it in the review.
0 voters
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You do know that I’m blocking you, right? Ciao.
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