What to Do When Guests Leave Items

I occasionally have guests leave items in my Airbnb that they want back. The item most recently left by a guest was an iPhone. In the past I just ship it back to them at cost with no follow up acknowledgement from the guests. Do you think it would be OK to list in the house manual a standard fee for shipping left items. I.e. $25 to ship things back or more for larger items. That would cover shipping and a portion of my time.

I would suggest charging the amount it costs you to send it, plus an amount to cover your time. I think most guests would be happy to pay that if they want the item back.

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I would use USPS priority shipping. I have the boxes (which are free at the PO) at home and can print up the shipping label at home and arrange for the letter carrier to pick it up at my house. The amount of time it takes me to do this is minimal so I don’t need to charge for it. If I had to buy shipping supplies and take it to town I’d add a nominal charge. I believe there are other options with services like FedEX that the guest can arrange.

Yes, there are and I would never ship anything to a guest if I had to pay for it unless it would go into a standard sized envelope at basic letter-mail price.

What’s wrong with people that they don’t check a place before they leave?

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Have them send a return ship Fed ex box to the house. Nielsen just asked me for all their TV meters back and just send a prepaid box to my house. I didn’t have to do anything but pack it up and call for a pick up.

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I ship items if the guest asks for them back, and wait until they’ve paid me through the AirBnB app before shipping.

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My guests tend to leave items that they can’t take with them on the plane. Often liquids.

Therefore I have LOADS of vodka!

:joy: :joy: :joy:

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Your life is so very, very hard.

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Truly. I despair :slight_smile: :slight_smile:

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I live 2 blocks from a pot shop and a grocery store. People leave weed and ice cream a lot :rofl:

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I charge the cost of shipping plus 1 hour of my caregiver’s time ($20). However, the guests then did not leave a review so I might consider doing it for free to get another 5 star thank you.

I just mailed a diary back to a guest…my dime.

I haven’t had anything large or valuable left yet but I do have a small collection of USB cords, I gently remind them by pointing at my hanging collection and tell 'em to double check.

Hard to bring those items home with you when you’re traveling.

Location, location, location. Must be one of the highest grossing ice cream shops in the country.

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Yeah, those items aren’t what I ship back.

Hah yeah, I also live a block from a bottleshop. It’s a trifecta of vice tourism.

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I’m on the Gold Coast in Australia. I send pictures to guests if they have left anything behind and tell them that if they want their stuff returned, they need to send me a self addressed envelope. It is also listed in my rules.
Works every time.

That’s a good idea, I would do this too.

Yes, I would do this too, good idea.

When we first started 33 years ago!! We were advised by a hotelier that we should NEVER send anything back to a guest without calling to ask if they had left something behind. He had once sent a size 8 negligee to a guest only to have an irate size 20 lady on the phone saying that she had never stayed with them --and never would!! I email guests saying did they leave an item behind, how should I return it to them? That saves bother as many don’t want things back and you have the chance to say you need postage first!

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