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 thatās all in a lot of years and nothing was actually taken.
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
Yes. My second long term Guest in the Master suiteā¦ I had items (mostly my late husbandās tools) stolen by the only guest that left a bad review so far (since August 2018). And in the ābad reviewā warned future guests to ābring a safe if theyāre going to stayā at my Airbnb. Abb definitely didnāt have my backā¦ (But thatās 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, Iāve actually been interviewed by an ACLU lawyer (months ago): Abb not requiring a police report if Host is publicly accused. Apparently Iām 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 ārest 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 āSuper Hostā status was in jeopardyā¦ Both in time for my 66th birthday! What theā¦??! I survived. But Iām still dealing with the 2 stars he left me. SMH.)
Seriously glad I found this Forum! Saved me. Canāt say it any better than that!
Towels, sheets, Tupperware, swapped out pillows, game pieces, batteries and a plant!
If I have, Iāve never noticed it. People do leave all manner of stuff behind, though.
Books.
But then I specifically put in the House Manual to please not take any books, that it isnāt ātake 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 canāt stand to lose any. No more books have been taken since then.
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 hasnāt happened again after 170 or so more bookings.
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
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 knifeāit was a nice tomato knife
Clothes hangers
In 5 years; 2 properties over 200 renters so not bad. Total value maybe $200
Maybe once. A newish pillow was replaced by an old pillow. Yes, itās stealing but compared to what some people describe it wasnāt much. Some people take more than their share but I donāt say that people who took less than their share āleft me something.ā
I had that pillow swap occur also - but I think it was simply that they had brought one of theirs and when leaving, didnāt 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 donāt want/needā¦
I had a pillow that said āHome 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. They offered to mail it back at their own expenseāwhich 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 āby mistake.ā I asked them to return it and they did.
Thatās all the ātheftsā Iāve noticed. This is in a one year period at 3 entire house places with over 125 stays.
Oh, I forgot! Iāve had stainless steel silverware coming up missing. I donāt think thatās deliberate. I think people pitch it by mistake.
Yep, in 9 months and Iāve lost 3 pieces of silverware, a bottle opener, 4 AA batteries, and one USB charging cable. I donāt think Iād 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 guestās sonās game console.
I would have thought that if the manager of the properties mentioned by the OP had so much stolen then she wasnāt 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?
My very first guests took ALL the āforgot a travel item?ā things I had in a basket: razors, toothbrushes, travel size toiletries, and cleared out the coffee pods
In terms of real theft - not a thing! My place is pretty minimally decorated, so I think Iād notice.
A few utensils may have inadvertently ended up in the trash.
Some of my lending library books have found new homes. Thatās 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 itās fun to see what was claimed. A group of vets/techs came up for a co-worker/girlfriend weekend and took my āWomen and Dogsā photography book
There was a pillow swap, but it was an upgrade from a cheap IKEA to a fancy memory foam āside sleeperā pillow. The pillow fairy is capricious, apparently.
Weāve Airbnb hosted for about 2.5 years. Nothing at all has been stolen. It probably helps that we are resident hosts.
Only onceā¦a case of amazingly cool music CDās, it took ABB 3 weeks to get back to me on the issue, they are gone foreverā¦my heart is still brokenā¦I donāt know what I was thinking sharing precious tunes I could never replace.
May I ask what constitutes ānever 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.