OMG, this is an awful situation! I don’t know what to advice.
Are you sure no one from outside your house had access to their room? An open window?
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In the U.S. we don’t have as many workers in our houses as you do in India. This has been explained to me by my Indian guests. One who lives in India, but often works here told me that in India when anything is broken a repair person is called. In the U.S. we try to fix things ourselves as labor is expensive here. This guest explained to me that not only is labor inexpensive in India; there are no professional standards imposed by the government so anyone can say that they are a plumber, contractor, whatever. Also, in general only very wealthy Americans have full time domestic help. Here many people have someone clean on and someone garden once a week or so, but that’s about it.
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Oh, how very dreadful this must be for you. I like the suggestion you have made about them being lovely guests, you’d recommend so long as they have access to a room safe. This seems very reasonable and they probably won’t realise that other hosts will read behind your lines, so to speak.
I wish you well. Please don’t let this destroy you hosting.
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Hi @EllenN,
Well, it’s perfectly true that the cost of plumbers, electricians etc. is much higher than India in absolute terms, it’s not clear to me how that compares to American wages. I suppose it depends on how much ones makes and how much time and inclination one has to pursue DIY endeavours.
Certainly while I was in the US, I hardly ever called a professional of this kind. But much of the time I was a penniless student, and even when I had a job, I didn’t earn that much. But I have no idea how it extends to the rest of the country.
Judging from what I’ve seen, the DIY market in the US is huge, and stores like Lowes and Home Improvement are awe-inspiring for someone from another place. But surely doing such time consuming work in a suitably professional and correct way must be difficult for busy people with their own careers. Perhaps if they grow up doing it, they already know a lot by adulthood? Certainly, I seemed to regularly run into people who put in their own wooden floors and things like that, which seem like formidable enough endeavours, from my perspective, at least. I recall I used to go to a massage therapist who said she built her own home. But she also said she came from a family of builders.
Also, in the specific case of Airbnb hosts, I would have thought, that because of time pressures, and the fact that one is running it as a professional business, with all that entails, one would be more likely to call a professional rather than trying to experimentally fix things on one own. But I could be wrong. Personally I would factor in the hidden costs of doing plumbing and electricity work wrong. Flood and fire, respectively. Neither likely to be looked on kindly by Airbnb guests.
That certainly describes us here. I obviously can’t speak for India.
That’s perfectly true. India is a country with no standards, and often no ethics. And even when professional organizations exist, which in other countries impose their own standards (not everything has to come from the govt) they are basically a joke. The medical profession is particularly problematic, I’m told. This doesn’t mean that everyone is a crook, just that they are no external pressures to compel one to be otherwise. Things like homeopathy thrive in India. Big modern hospitals list homeopaths on their staff, which I find incredible. (Links available on request.)
(Please excuse the off-topic ramblings…)
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These stores are also full of contractors who are doing it for clients!
I love your listing. I love the words in your photo captions, you are great host.
I think they are much more likely to have mislaid their money.
Don’t let them get you down. Stay strong. Stay positive.
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Just wanted to add my support and warm hosty hugs. I’m so sorry you had this experience, and I hope you’ll get back up on the horse right away. You’re a terrific host!
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I just reread the original post and it jumped out at me that the guests are from England. I think it’s possible that they miscalculated how much they should get in American Dollars for their English Pounds. The current exchange rate is less favorable to the English than it has been in the past.
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True…maybe they had currency conversion shock. What nasties.
Am I reminded of this comment/joke someone made when an American couple visited Great Britain for a pricey but gluttonous holiday.
When back home and telling folk about their adventures, someone said: “You lost a lot of dollars, but gained a lot of pounds!”
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Thank you everyone, so much.
Yes, the words of support do help a lot. It is good to be reminded my Airbnb experience is not just host-guest, but host-host, too. Thanks for understanding.
The bedroom door is probably not original. And even if it is, could definitely use what we euphemistically call “progress” in my house. (Tear down and replace) … so in our slow season i might consider a lock as part of our annual re-paint/improve a thing.
This afternoon I got a booking from a self-described “lovely couple” and it made me happy, so i guess I’m not ready to get off this hospitality horse just yet, after all.
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non eundum’st tibi!
(Don’t go!)
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Great news—you’ll be galloping for joy again in no time!
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Oh dear how awful for you. Hang in there, you are a lovely writer and I’m sure a lovely host. I too have refunded money – to people who were idiots and did not read the listing description and were disappointed and finger-pointing. No business reason to do that, I was saying “I don’t need your money so we are done here.” Give it some time, your host “thick skin” will grow back and your most excellent sense of humor will return
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Good to hear that you’re not jumping ship 
I haven’t experienced this kind of horrible accusatory behaviour but I know that any nasty encounter with guests in your home can really shake you up and make you doubt yourself. Did you speak to Airbnb? Whenever you’re ready, please do let us all know how it turns out.
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In response to their review. Just edit what you said here leaving out how they brought you chocolates, etc and that they were “lovely” Be factual. They shouldn’t have left money in the room. It should be in their possession at all times.
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We had guests leave for the airport and then call back frantically about $800 in cash they had left behind. This property is an entire house, so no one else was in there. Of course they remembered after our cleaning people were in the house, cleaning. Now I trust my cleaning lady completely. These guests had done some damage to our property that they admitted, and we were hoping we could find the money so we could have some leverage in that (well documented) damage situation. We never did find it. They had some alternatives for where it could be.
I should say that these people were from outside the US and did a huge amount of high-end shopping and left all their packaging materials and bags everywhere, to the extent that it took 1.5 hours just to gather, sort (for recycling) and to throw out the trash. For all we know, we accidentally threw their money out. I spoke to the guest on the phone and told them I was unwilling to sort through the trash – they actually checked out two hours late and we had a guest arriving the same day – we had to actually drop everything and go clean alongside our cleaning people to get things done in time for the next guests. We didn’t have time to search the trash even if we had wanted to (I did not.)
I agree that if the guests do not have the whole house, I would at least provide a safe, if not a lock to the room.
Very little would stop me from searching the trash for $800! But hey I’m probably a bit more desperate and trashy than most 
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I’ll help! Go you halves!
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What a nightmare for you. Considering the lock question, I offer some thoughts of how I would set up the guestroom lock again which might apply to you. Instead of the keyed knob, I would install the deadbolt operated by a code on the guest room. I used one for the front door, and have the knob lock with key using the same key as guest room. There is always a possibility of guest losing the key but you can always tell them the code again from wherever you are. No one has lost the key in my short time as a host, but I have ended up encouraging them to join me in only bolting the front door and using the knob lock only on their room. I have been surprised at how many people don’t want to deal with the key and they leave their room unlocked. Now you show what a risk that is too. Best wishes to you as you unravel this situation.
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