People Stealing Stuff?

I was talking to someone today who said they use to manage vacation cabins.
She said people stole so many things. Have you had things stolen?

Nothing. I once thought that a glass salad bowl had been stolen but it was found in some weird location. Ditto other bits and pieces. I also had a neighbour pick up a beach towel thinking it was his. But thatā€™s all in a lot of years and nothing was actually taken.

2 Likes

Only my heartā€¦

ā€¦and a kidney and 1.5L of blood.

Should never have answered that ad on Craigslist for the free holiday in Xxxxxxxx.

JF

8 Likes

Yes. My second long term Guest in the Master suiteā€¦ I had items (mostly my late husbandā€™s tools) stolen by the only guest that left a bad review so far (since August 2018). And in the ā€˜bad reviewā€™ warned future guests to ā€˜bring a safe if theyā€™re going to stayā€™ at my Airbnb. Abb definitely didnā€™t have my backā€¦ (But thatā€™s when I joyously found this Forum!). I naively thought that Abb would at least require a police report if they allowed a Guest to warn others about theft at my Abb. (Still gags me to even type those words, lol)

Btw, Iā€™ve actually been interviewed by an ACLU lawyer (months ago): Abb not requiring a police report if Host is publicly accused. Apparently Iā€™m not alone (class action??), but I am really tired of it, lol. Everyone since him have been great! All 5 stars, knock on wood. And to think I almost quit because of a Jerk! (Well, I also thought his review might keep people away, so as a new-ish widow I was terrified! But the room was booked again before his review was even submitted/published. Sigh. Funny ā€œrest of the story,ā€ I received 2 emails from Abb about 6 hours apart. The first one congratulated me on my new/first Super Host status. Yay!!! The second warned me that my ā€˜Super Hostā€™ status was in jeopardyā€¦ Both in time for my 66th birthday! What theā€¦??! I survived. But Iā€™m still dealing with the 2 stars he left me. SMH.)

Seriously glad I found this Forum! Saved me. Canā€™t say it any better than that!

8 Likes

Towels, sheets, Tupperware, swapped out pillows, game pieces, batteries and a plant!

3 Likes

If I have, Iā€™ve never noticed it. People do leave all manner of stuff behind, though.

1 Like

Books.

But then I specifically put in the House Manual to please not take any books, that it isnā€™t ā€œtake one/leave oneā€. That worked pretty well, it got a lot better, but still some went missing.

So then I added that, basically, the books are what my mother left me when she died and I canā€™t stand to lose any. No more books have been taken since then. :lying_face: :joy:

One guest took a bunch of petty stuff but a lot of it (tea bags, toilet paper, office supplies, etc). She was my 3rd guest ever and I felt so foolish, but it hasnā€™t happened again after 170 or so more bookings.

5 Likes

I had a dinner knife go missing, definitely NOT a butter knife. I think it went in the trash by accident though. I had someone steal a roll of toilet paper just recently, I know because the wrapper was not in the trash, had they followed the house rules and emptied the trash I would have never known. I think she must have really needed that TP so I let it go.

RR

4 Likes

Small stuff:
Cheap beach chairs
Wine glasses logoed with local wineries-free if you do a tasting
Couple of decorative pillows
Wash cloths
Beach towels
Pillow trade outs
Sharp kitchen knife 1 out of set of filet knife, chefs knife, paring
knife, bread knife, tomato/cheese knifeā€”it was a nice tomato knife
Clothes hangers

In 5 years; 2 properties over 200 renters so not bad. Total value maybe $200

2 Likes

Maybe once. A newish pillow was replaced by an old pillow. Yes, itā€™s stealing but compared to what some people describe it wasnā€™t much. Some people take more than their share but I donā€™t say that people who took less than their share ā€œleft me something.ā€

4 Likes

I had that pillow swap occur also - but I think it was simply that they had brought one of theirs and when leaving, didnā€™t look closely at which was which. Since then, i check labels every changeover as i have marked with sharpie: PFS (my abbrev of my business name) and date on the tag. That way I (and hopefully they) can tell which is which. I also have them in two layers of pillow protectors so that may also help distinguish them.

My main issue is people LEAVING stuff that I donā€™t want/needā€¦

5 Likes

I had a pillow that said ā€œHome Sweet Homeā€ disappear from the porch swing at one house. I think it was the guests but it could have been Porch pirates.

One umbrella came up missing but I got a horrified, apologetic text the next day from the guest who used the umbrella during a rainstorm and left it in their car by mistake and drove home with it. :smile: They offered to mail it back at their own expenseā€”which would have cost triple what I paid for the umbrella. I told them to keep it for a souvenir.

One guest took an afghan but when I asked if they knew where it might be, they admitted they took it ā€œby mistake.ā€ I asked them to return it and they did.

Thatā€™s all the ā€œtheftsā€ Iā€™ve noticed. This is in a one year period at 3 entire house places with over 125 stays.

Oh, I forgot! Iā€™ve had stainless steel silverware coming up missing. I donā€™t think thatā€™s deliberate. I think people pitch it by mistake.

Yep, in 9 months and Iā€™ve lost 3 pieces of silverware, a bottle opener, 4 AA batteries, and one USB charging cable. I donā€™t think Iā€™d call any of it stolen, though. I think the silverware and bottle opener were accidentally thrown in the trash and the USB charging cable was accidentally left in a rental car. The batteries were removed from TV and DVD player remotes and (I think) inserted into the controllers of the guestā€™s sonā€™s game console.

I would have thought that if the manager of the properties mentioned by the OP had so much stolen then she wasnā€™t managing things brilliantly.

However, people steal from hotels much more. The guests feel that they have more of a personal connection in an Airbnb.

Chandeliers? Stuffed bears?

What do People Steal from Hotels?

2 Likes

My very first guests took ALL the ā€œforgot a travel item?ā€ things I had in a basket: razors, toothbrushes, travel size toiletries, and cleared out the coffee pods :woman_shrugging:

In terms of real theft - not a thing! My place is pretty minimally decorated, so I think Iā€™d notice.

A few utensils may have inadvertently ended up in the trash.

Some of my lending library books have found new homes. Thatā€™s good, since I have loads more to add to the shelves. Our guest book has a low pressure ask to name the books they take, so itā€™s fun to see what was claimed. A group of vets/techs came up for a co-worker/girlfriend weekend and took my ā€œWomen and Dogsā€ photography book :slight_smile:

There was a pillow swap, but it was an upgrade from a cheap IKEA to a fancy memory foam ā€œside sleeperā€ pillow. The pillow fairy is capricious, apparently.

3 Likes

Weā€™ve Airbnb hosted for about 2.5 years. Nothing at all has been stolen. It probably helps that we are resident hosts.

1 Like

Only onceā€¦a case of amazingly cool music CDā€™s, it took ABB 3 weeks to get back to me on the issue, they are gone foreverā€¦my heart is still brokenā€¦I donā€™t know what I was thinking sharing precious tunes I could never replace.

May I ask what constitutes ā€œnever replace?ā€ Like were they live recordings of your friends jamming or something else?

-charging station
-throw blankets
-an ornamental apple
-multi-chargers

People are justā€¦uuugghhh!! sometimes.