People Stealing Stuff?

I have cables, chargers, and AC outlets on every nightstand in my listing, and I get a lot of great comments on them. I have 1-foot-long cables with 3 connectors (micro-USB, USB-C, and Lightning) that support most every phone made in the last 5 years. These are the cables I have:

I have 9 of these cables in the listing and in 10 months I’ve had only one cable disappear. During the house tour, that guest commented how great it was since she had forgotten her cable at home. I’m pretty sure she borrowed one of mine to use in her rental car.

I chose the short cables just to avoid the extra strain that cables get from people using devices while they’re charging. I was worried about losing them, but I think the short length of the cables and the fact that they don’t look like the cables that guests use themselves at least keeps them from getting accidentally taken.

3 Likes

In 5 years of hosting I have had a few items stolen.
The thing that annoyed me the most was a young couple staying in my home that stole a book about local walks in the area. It was a really handy book and our guests always used it. It is out of print now. The funny thing was I am 100% certain that they had no intention of doing any walking. Also 100% certain they took it.
Other stolen items include:
Kitchen knives
Towels
Extension cords
Plug boards
Pillows
All toiletries
Tupperware containers
Phone chargers
Books
Wooden coat hangers.

People…sheesh

1 Like

@kelpenter We have those USB blocks from Ikea and plug them in, by way of extension cord, under the bed in a way that would make it very difficult to remove :slight_smile:

@Brian We have these too! Keep them in the desk drawer. It makes me happy, I see them getting used a lot. Fortunately, no one has taken them.

This makes sense!

And, actually, more people leave cords and chargers and often decline me mailing them back, so we have back up now anyways.

1 Like

Nice tip @Brian_R170, I just put some in my cart. For some reason the gold color ones are only 5.50 vs 10.40 for the silver so I bought two:)

I have other cords in the unit and have never lost one but these seem handy and since I am a couple weeks out from opening up cabin 2 I could use some more.

RR

1 Like

I did the same. That’s practically giving them away.

I have two white ones that came with some tables I ordered awhile back. Someone posted them here; they have little USB ports in the top and come with these triple option cables. So far no one has stolen it but I figure someone will walk off with it eventually.

1 Like

A couple things came to mind after reading this thread:

Extension cord and small flashlight taken by same guest.

And food for thought, what about unpaid extra guests? Would other hosts consider that theft?

RR

I had two guys recently book for two but they were alone. I think maybe something didn’t quite work out on the girlfriend front like they were hoping. One I refunded, the other I didn’t. Did I steal from him?

We both get a free toothbrush and a small toothpaste with each dentist visit. We don’t use them (we have an electric toothbrush).

We’ve had enough dentist-supplied toothbrushes to give them to guests who ask. Our welcome note (on the guest bed) says to ask if they need a toothbrush, toothpaste, or a few other things.

We used to leave them out, and they frequently left with the guest. Doesn’t seem to happen if they ask.

1 Like

I’ve had variations on this as well. I would refund in some cases (if they ask, if it seems like it would really matter to them?). But, technically, you didn’t steal from him. Technically, it’s a late cancellation. IMO

1 Like

Yes, technically is “theft”. But some pay later and some I’ve let it go and considered it an added amenity.

No, you were just more generous with the guest you refunded.

RR

2 Likes

We had a guest take all of our skillets (used and nothing worth taking) and they replaced them with 3 cheap nonstick skillets that look like they came from the Dollar Store. We only noticed when we hosted a dinner there one night and saw the skillets. From that point on, we have our cleaning people photograph all the open cabinets and every room after it’s cleaned. It takes them about 5 min for the photos and they are housed in a Drop Box account.

We haven’t had any other issues, but if there is any doubt we have documented what was there and the condition when they checked in.

Charger cords, flashlights and cork screws are the other items we’ve noticed missing. I’ve started buying corkscrews in bulk at Amazon.

We were guests in another ABB in August and we brought our own coffee. I was packing the coffee for another trip last week and found a tablespoon from the other rental in the coffee bag. I’ll be returning it when I get back home.

likely the ruined them?

Weird

RR

I’ve never had anything of worth stolen. From memory, the only things that have gone missing are international adapter plugs. I don’t think it’s intentional, they just pull everything out when they’re packing to leave. Luckily they’re really cheap to replace.

Somebody took the shaving mirror in the bathroom once, though. That was annoying. And once a guest took slippers with them. When I messaged her, she apologised and said she thought they were complimentary… yeah, for £30 a night I give away a £5 pair of slippers :roll_eyes: She posted them back.

I had a similar experience: had a very decent and interesting guest on a long term stay. After he self checked out I came to fix the apartment and found the place perfectly clean and in best order, but somehow…bare… It suddenly downed on me that a lot of items, such as the radio, wall clock, various decorative items (vases, a fruit bowl, etc.) were missing. As I just couldn’t believe that anyone would care to take away all those rather bulky objects, I carried out a meticulous search and indeed found all the missing “treasures”, only they were hidden or “stored away” in the most unusual places: e.g. the radio was in the bottom desk drawer, the decor (vases, candle holder, fruit bowl etc.) were in the spare-bedding drawer under the bed and wall clock was in the kitchen cupboard with bateries removed… I couldn’t help but contacted my guest “post festum” and asked him why he had to do all those changes. And of course, I did not forget to add that I otherwise greatly appreciated his leaving the aparment so neat and clean. The guest replied promtly: he apologized for “storing away” the items that interfered with his lifestyle: he tries to eliminate any electronic gadgets and bric-a-brac that distract him when he meditates… He added that all in all he found the apartment very pleasant and perfectly suited to his needs as it “has a positive vibe and energy”. He added that if he ever comes back to Ljubljana, he will book the same place, of course if only I’ll accept him. Of course I’ll be happy to host him again, but I’ll make sure that any possible object of distraction is cleared away beforehand :-))

5 Likes

Mostly food items (half a banana, many of my personal fridge items, an entire basket of green beans I’d picked that morning from the garden, etc.), frozen ice packs, batteries from the remote, a washcloth, twice, and a towel (three different guests - all three returned after a professional message to inquire). Oddly, the half of a banana bothered me most. If you’re going to jack my personal food items, wouldn’t taking the WHOLE banana be less conspicuous?? Haha! You’ve gotta laugh a little in this biz! (In home host, here.)

Who steals half a banana???

2 Likes

@RebeccaF I could write at length on this couple . . . they also were the ones who took all the green beans from my gathering basket from the garden, and used my personal bathroom after I started shutting the door and then had to place a nice sign stating it was the host’s private bathroom, and to please use the guest bath (yes, and STILL used it!). I lost sleep during that nearly one week stay.

Holy cow! Glad they left. I can understand losing sleep, wondering what they’d steal next!

We put a keypad lock on our own bedroom door (we host in our own home, and we’re here when guests are) because a guest once opened our bedroom door just seconds after I’d gotten dressed.

Our house is big, and he probably was genuinely confused.

Our guest rooms also have keypad locks, like our front door.

Now we also have room name signs for each guest room (and the bathroom that goes with it), and we have a sign on our door that says “Virgil & Rebecca” (that’s us). With our door now lockable, no more “lost guest” errors.

If I can figure out how to post a picture, I’ll show off our room signs, just for fun.

Each sign reflects the decor of the room.

4 Likes