I am off site host whole house host. House was booked by a fellow in NYC. His group came in from all over the country to attend a wedding. They checked out Sunday. My cleaners went in and did their thing and notified me that were no issues. On Monday a women from the group emails me that she left her Sonicare toothbrush (expensive) on the sink in one of the bathrooms. I text the cleaning manager and says she will ask about it. She gets back to me that the cleaner tossed it. Usually, left behind items are stored in a locked closet till someone calls about it or I get over there and donate it, but that policy isn’t explicit.
So obviously I am worried about this in the review and possibly making a claim on my funds through Airbnb. I would appreciate your thoughts and advice.
Pay for a new sonicare and apologize. Maybe get a new cleaning service. Cost of doing business.
Since your cleaner tossed it, I would offer to buy one or pay her for a replacement. Have her send you a receipt. And tell your cleaners not to toss things guests leave behind!
I dont think you are responsible for lost items. After all its her that forgot it.
I lost few things in hotels but i never expected them to send it to me especially without charge.
SOme things were found, some were not.
I think lost and found closet is complimentary but its not an obligation. I really dont think that you need to replace her toothbrush. Her forgetfullnes is not your responsibility. What happened happened, its unfortunate that cleaner tossed it away.
And i dont think there is a need to fire your cleaning people. After all it was someone’s forgotten toothbrush, i dont think they realized it was expensive , they probably though that noone would claim a toothbrush
For the future, drop a line in your house rules that you are not responsible for lost, left, or stolen items.
That being said, it seems silly that your cleaner would toss such an item.
I agree but we are talking about a social platform, not a hotel. I treat others the way I want to be treated and throwing away an expensive toothbrush is unacceptable in my opinion. But even if one doesn’t care about that and it’s just all business, there is a review to be written. I’m not sure I’d stay at a place where I know expensive things that are accidentally left behind are tossed in the trash. When people leave things here I write and let them know I will send it back but they have to pay for shipping. Everyone so far said to keep the item.
Deny, deny, deny. I would say that the cleaners said they did not find the toothbrush. Have a talk with them to throw nothing away. Did she mention the cost of this particular sonicare toothbrush?
I would not reimburse a penny on my own. And yes, I am encouraging you to just lie, and then delete this thread later since it is a public forum.
It is possible that the cleaner who tossed it did not understand how a sonicare works, and that you can purchase replacement brushes, etc. She could have thought somebody left their old ratty toothbrush behind and she just threw it away.
Of course if money is not an issue for you at all and you don’t mind forking over $50 or whatever…then by all means buy her one. But I do not feel you are obligated at all to reimburse anything.
if i forgot something in someone’s house i really would not even expect that it would be found. I would be very lucky if it was found, but to EXPECT a host to be someohow responsible for it??
The action of forgetting was the reason for the loss, other circumstances just followed, and they can be very unpredictable.
I also think it’s fair to tell the cleaning service manager how much $$ you will be out. Aren’t those things around a $100 or more?? Making assumptions that it’s ok to throw forgotten items away isn’t right whether there’s a policy or not. I wouldn’t let them off the hook without presenting an opportunity for them to make it right with you. They may offer to pay for it - then it’s THEIR cost of doing business not yours.
That was exactly my thought. I dont think cleaners even relized how expensive that toothbrush was.
I left my charger behind at an Airbnb stay. I contacted the host and offered to pay the postage if he found it and wouldn’t mind returning it. He mailed it back to me and refused any money. Now maybe that’s because we booked two nights and only stayed one due to a personal issue but even then he offered to refund the night but we refused as it was our decision to leave early. AND I WOULD NOT LIE!
I forgot my 20$ charger too in SF, but did not even bother contacting the host. I mailed once a charger to my guest and it took me an hour to do it. i had to get in a car, drive 10 min to post office and back, then stayed 40 minutes in terribly long line. I was so mad at her for making me do that. I had loads of things to do that day,and wasted 1 hour of my time for her 20$. Not trying to make you feel bad, just saying how it was for me on another end of a lost item
The post office will pick up and you can print postage online, I do it all the time but that’s here in the USA.
I am in US also., but then you need envelopes, and i dont have printer.
If the guest pays for shipping charge for priority and get free envelopes and boxes delivered. Maybe the guest will pay for a printer 
Will the item need to be small enough to fit in the mail box or will the post office pick some up at the front door if it is a large item? Also, do you need to be home? And what about envelopes…do you pick up special ones from the post office?
Thanks
@cabinhost
The PO will pick up anything, you arrange for it online when you buy your postage. You give them the weight. You do not need to be home, it can be left at the front door, in or at the mailbox, they will ring bell if you want and are home.
Order envelopes and boxes online and they send them for Free!
Been an eBay seller for years and use this service all the time.
And if it’s the flat rate boxes the weight isn’t needed. Save the packing materials from your Amazon shipments too to reuse.
I agree with this. It is a shame that one careless act just happened to be followed by another careless act. At least I hope it was careless and the cleaner didn’t realize it was an expensive toothbrush.
KIKC - do you know if the guest also left the charge stand? Or was it just the toothbrush? If it was the charger stand too, then the cleaner clearly should not have thrown it away. I agree with Suite Retreat to see if the cleaner will reimburse at least partial the cost. But if it was only the toothbrush then I think the cleaner just tossed it thinking it was purposely left behind to throw away.
Yana - what gets me is over and over again guests don’t do a final walk through to see if they left anything behind. I do have on my departure checklist to double check dresser drawers, etc. I haven’t had guest leave anything in a very long time. But for a while guests were constantly leaving things behind. And often times these guests are even checking out an hour or so before check out time. I wish they would allocate 5 minutes into their time to just walk through the premises after everything is loaded in the car. It’s so silly to me to wait to get home and then start emailing to see if cleaners found something. When we were kids my mom always, always went back into the hotel one final time (after everyone was in the car) and she rechecked the hotel, looked under the bed, etc.
What if the cleaner stole it instead of threw it away?