I suggested to the housecleaner that she duct tape the 5 remotes.
She just laughed.
Have you considered writing the date with a silver sharpie on the batteries when installed. Or you could write âdonât stealâ or âLev. 9:11â or⌠signaling to the guests who need batteries that you are keeping track of yours.
Thatâs an ideaâŚmark the batteries.
I am reminded of a bar of soap my dad had with big red letters on it, âStolen from Mabelâs whorehouse.â
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That has happened to me! I just wrote about it the other dayâŚ
I did write the house address on all of my pens and sharpies so people would hopefully think twice before just taking them.
This is making me nervous because I just put a box of very expensive lithium batteries in each of my Airbnbs for backup batteries for the automatic door locks! They are sort of hidden away but still⌠who knew batteries were such hot items for theft?!
Yeah Iâm quickly figuring out that hospitality can be a rough business as far as seeing the worst sides of people. I have to remind myself though that in over 300 stays so far I have yet to have anything MAJORLY horrible happen, so actually that does say a lot - allowing 300 complete strangers into your home and no one has done anything completely terrible.
Yeah, I felt SO horrible. I refunded her cleaning fee and she left me a 4 star review.
It is such a fine line between stopping jerk people who do lame stuff like steal batteries and pillows, and not being overly harsh and intense toward regular considerate people who leave the space so clean and go above and beyond and donât deserve to have to read âDONâT STEAL MY STUFF, JERKSâ in the guide book or deal with fewer âprivilegesâ because other people made us all bitter and jaded about how horrible people can be. Sigh.
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I have found it amazing that one person staying one night can leave a place in more disarray than 2 people who stayed 4-5 nights (the mess they leave, items missing/moved, etc). I have learned not to anticipate an easy turnover after a one night stay any more. And it does seem unfair to âpunishâ the next guest for the prior guests slobbish behavior.
I am trying to find that happy medium between ânail everything downâ and âthe cost of doing businessâ when something goes missing. Not quite there yetâŚ
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How does someone know how much energy is left in the batteries they are taking? And how much money are they saving by swapping them out, or what they hell are they doing with the good batteries?
I have heard of people swapping out pillows but my guess is there was a pillow in the car. Not going to the store to buy pillows to swap.
I am going to guess that they have cameras, and want âfreshâ batteries. Or better batteries. The swapping is the puzzlement isnât it? They came with AAA batteries! Do you travel with batteries, generally?
I donât think I travel with batteries. I donât get out much 
I might have traveled with batteries when I spent a few months overseas years ago. I think I had a certain type that worked with my digital cameraâŚI think? But I would be scared to switch out batteries if I didnât know how much energy they had left.
I guess what you say makes sense if the entire family has their own cameras. I couldnât figure out how a person would want all those batteriesâŚlol
Okay, I called the housecleaner because I didnât understand why people would be traveling with all those batteries either.
She said the guest(s) switched out the good batteries in a couple of the remotes and replaced them with the inferior Asian brand, and with the other remotes, they just took the batteries and left the remotes empty.
They obviously bought the cheapest batteries while on their travels for their camera or whatever and then exchanged them with the good ones from my rental. With the cheapo batteries (from the Dollar Tree, etc.), itâs little risk to trade them for any of the long-lasting ones.
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EXACTLY!!! Do I really have to put âdontâ put briquettes in my gas grille and light it??â
We always yank each drawer forwards to reveal anything wedged at the back. Bedside cabinets are lifted up and vacuumed under, as this is where you sometimes find things âhiddenâ. Oh, and check under the sides of the bed and behind the headboard for snot wiped there by a generous guest.
Find out if your mattress pads need cleaning by using a UV torch in a darkened room. This reveals both urine and âsexual efluviaâ stains.
This is why we wear disposable gloves when cleaning.
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This reminds me of the Friends episode âThe One With Rachelâs Dreamâ where they rationalise that it would be wrong to steal the TV remote from a hotel room, but the batteries are fair gameâŚ
Ridiculous, isnât it?
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I wonder if spare batteries were offered on an honor system say $1 per battery, if they would pay for them or just steal more.
I doubt it, but by all means try and let us know how it works out⌠
I just mightâŚ
