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This week a guest discovered a used maxi pad wadded up inside my brand new very nice wooden side table drawers in one of the Airbnb bedrooms. In the other side table drawer was a wadded up piece of chewing gum. No idea which guests did it as I don’t regularly check the side table drawers (I will now!). Super gross and I just can’t believe that some people can be so disgusting and disrespectful. That’s my fun hosting story for the week!
Message from the guest:
That is totally revolting. I hope you will mention in review. Id report that to air to. Stinking!!!
gross!
I clean thoroughly, but I’m always afraid I’ll miss something and other guests will find it
Now opening every damn cupboard and drawer! Dust the top and open them up.
Pretty gross because there’s no conceivable reason it should be there. Awful for your guest to find that it must have reeked!
In the pubes in the bathtub thread a panty liner in a bedside drawer was mentioned. I check bathroom drawers for hair and almost always find some. Tops of shelves have to be checked, especially high ones that you can’t easily see the tops of. Also make sure your batteries haven’t been taken out of the remotes. I was checking batteries recently and saw that my duracells had been taken and some cheapos put in their place. No idea who did it. I’ve had a cheap but new and clean pillow taken and an old pillow put in it’s place. Nothing completely missing yet though.
Swapping your items doesn’t count as stealing ? It is to me !
I’ve had that happen with an umbrella where they swapped their broken cheap one for my good expensive one. Most recently I had a guest decide they didn’t like the look of the shampoo and conditioner I provide and they decided to take a new bottle of my personal shampoo instead. They bought me a gift when they left so I guess that makes it ok…not.
I’ve had some random things like that too! A throw pillow (and not even a super pretty one) and Mexican blanket straight up taken, and probably other miscellaneous things that I haven’t noticed. All my pens taken from the desk. Cups and other things that may have been taken or broken and never reported.
That is so weird about the batteries in the remote. I wonder if they died and they replaced them for you? I can’t think of any other reason they would take your batteries but leave you others. But then again I don’t understand a lot of what people do.
I do consider the missing items a cost of doing business from time to time, but it definitely makes me sad and frustrated to know that people would take things like that.
I edited my post to reflect your reality.
“any other reason they would take your batteries but leave you others”
(The usual quote function isn’t working for me.) If I had found mine in the trash I would have thought that was it. And yes, I go through everyone’s trash. I pick out recyclables, empty containers that have liquids in them and so on.
We had the same discussion when I reported discovering the pillow switched out. Why would someone do that? I speculated that the pillow had gotten wet, perhaps sleep drool, and they were embarrassed so switched pillows. Or it was such a comfy pillow. LOL.
Ok so the remote could have just been replacing them when they ran out like @barefootNM. I thought they’d swapped out of the packet !
I think they did. I do think they stole them.
BTW, on the used pad…I think they stuck it there in a moment of passion and probably meant to throw it away and forgot.
Ah the rubbish. I never go through it because I don’t want to bump into used lady things. There was a point where every female guest for a 6 week period was having that time of month and leaving blood on the sheets. It got tiring really fast, but not exactly the guests fault that it was the 6th time I was dealing with bloody sheets and waste material.
“BTW, on the used pad…I think they stuck it there in a moment of passion and probably meant to throw it away and forgot.”
Ah, that is probably true.
I complained a while back about the same thing as @KKC ~ where guests had taken the batteries out of the remotes.
The housecleaner was adjusting the A/C and was puzzled that it wasn’t responding. She checked the batteries in the remote and was surprised to see the new ones she recently purchased were replaced with an off-brand type with foreign printing. Then she checked the remotes for the 2 DVD’s and 2 TV’s and they too were switched out!
Other guests have taken supplies such as coffee, creamer and sugar by putting them in baggies - so I don’t supply baggies anymore. Jelly-type decals have been taken from the glass balcony doors and magnets taken off the fridge. And a honeymooning couple removed and kept two zippered pillow protectors.
I think this is about when I stopped liking people.
Unfortunately, it’s necessary after every guest. I just did a mental tour around our rental and there are 26 drawers. Every one has to be checked and very possibly vacuumed using the hand held.
Luckily I’ve never found anything worse than left belongings … and lots and lots and lots of hairs, of course.
Which is why I started checking mine!
When these petty thieves do this sort of thing, it’s almost time to forget doing this. What the hell is wrong with people!!!
I had a couple from Canada who left a nasty private feedback clean me out of my shampoos and I was appalled. Who does that???
But remotes?? Pillows from the room??? How dare they?
Maybe in the future you have to tape it shut with industrial duct tape or just let them change the channels the old fashioned way, by getting up and changing the damn TV themselves.
I hated to have to add to my guidelines: Supplies belong to the room. Please leave them for the next guest and do not remove from the room.
I don’t think thievery is the cost of doing business. It’s just thievery.
It’s a good thing your guest was understanding, but grossssss.
