Guest hid luggage in my private closet between stays

21

Good to know.

I’m really fighting this concept that we have to let guests do as they please because any other route might result in retaliation. The guest asked to leave their bag and the host said no. The guest did it anyway…that’s combative. The guest should fear the retaliation of the host, i.e., canceled stay and bad review. The host choosing to be non combative by treating the guest with respect for the rules, the host and the guest, IN THAT ORDER, seems the way to go.

Yes there are guests who are unhinged and treating them like normal people is ill advised. This didn’t seem to be the case. It doesn’t really matter as the OP has made it clear the woman is no longer welcome in her home.

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22

:wink: …

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23

I would call customer service and I’d ask them to cancel the reservation because she broke the rules. then I’d block her.

And I’d put her stuff in a trash bag on the porch or take it to the hotel across the street.

This lady had such nerve!!!

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24

I would just message the guest and say “I’m going to put the luggage in the hotel which will cost you £6 per night as I suggested” and then send her a charge through airbnb for this. I would take her back for a second stay as I would consider this punishment enough.

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25

She lied, trespassed on the host’s space, and put him in a situation where if anything were missing, he could be in big trouble. Don’t move anything for this reason.

Call Air immediately and ask them to cancel her next trip.

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26

So, @eyeborg what did you decide to do in the end?

It’s always useful to get feedback on how issues are handled and what Airbnb say.

27

I’ve waited with the update until I knew what was happening.

Air were very sympathetic and passed it on to their trip team. They let me cancel her penalty free after I reminded them I’m allowed to cancel if I feel uncomfortable with a guest, and they opened my calendar again. That was the best they could do as my luggage info was part of my check-in instructions, not my main house rules. I will probably get a 1star review but oh well. The huge IKEA bag that is absolutely full of all her stuff will be put in storage in the hotel tomorrow, I’ll then give her the code to pick it up.

It’s been very stressful, but I just couldn’t stomach having her come back and share my flat with me again. She continued the lies, twisting and turning everything, every message made me feel more sick. Like, oh… I only said I don’t store ‘bags’, so she made sure none of her stuff was in a suitcase as if that would circumvent the rule… Oh and she’d left everything behind by mistake… She didn’t realise my private wardrobes that are completely full of my stuff weren’t for guest use (my current guest said it’s completely obvious)… the list goes on. Toxic.

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28

Wait, what? You actually have to say in your rules: “No luggage storage. If you are planning a return visit, hiding your things somewhere on the property is not permitted.”

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29

Haha! I think my particular guest requires a 3000 page index of every minute thing that isn’t allowed…!

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30

I would go ahead and clean out that wardrobe, organize it and get rid of anything you no longer need. That would include anything you don’t remember or recognize. I wouldn’t even mention it…

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31

This seems like such a ill-proportioned, mean spirited, immature and inappropriate response.

It has echoes of the justifications many of my students used to give for keeping things that weren’t theirs (like a ring found on a bathroom sink). Their reasoning was that if someone was so “stupid” to leave their ring they “deserved” to lose it. Somehow the same reasoning didn’t apply to their grades however. If they were so “stupid” they forgot to do their homework they didn’t “deserve” a failing grade they “deserved” a second chance. I considered that level of moral development (re: Kohlberg’s model) in high schoolers to be predictable. I’m saddened to see it in airbnb hosts.

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32

I agree that some people cherry pick their moral codes depending on wether it serves them. I try to never to do anything vindictive or cruel in my life even if people have been cruel towards me. My default plan is always to get away from the person asap, as that brings back peace and normality much quicker.

She has been reunited with her things. In the end it was a big, heavy, blue Ikea bag’s worth of stuff and I paid for the storage in the hotel. I am now just crossing fingers she will have the decency not give me a bad review, time will tell.

Thanks for everyone’s input here, it was a weird situation! :+1:

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33

Personally I would have asked her to cover the cost of storing her luggage at the hotel, but glad it all worked out for you @eyeborg

Please leave an honest review so future hosts are warned.

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34

Submit a resolution request for extra services after the review period is over.

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35

It was only £6 for one day of storage, I’ll just leave it. It’s also me making a point of being nice to her, not giving her any more ammunition against me.

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36

Ammunition for what? You aren’t going to
Let her stay again. No reason she should make you lose put on even more money, especially with the deceit.

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A bad review can possibly be averted if I’m nice.

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That’s why I said wait until review period is over.

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You let her have an IKEA bag!!! I try to be a nice voice—I can’t do it in this situation. In my area those are like gold!!! IKEA stopped using them. They are the BEST bags ever. You gave one away to a cancelled guest. Where are you? I want to book with you, hide everything from my suitcase in your closet & get an IKEA bag. (I tried to add a grinning emoji—it didn’t work)

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40

I got the impression that the IKEA bag was the guest’s to begin with and host didn’t give it.

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