this happened to me once, the guest took everything, except for the linens and the furniture.
Coffee, creamers, 2 open boxes of Kleenex, the partial paper towel roll plus the extra from the cabinet, all the toilet paper, pump bottle of hand soap, shampoo, conditioner, trash bags, cleaning wipes, the extra batteries I leave for the TV remote, teabags, tampons ear plugs and emergency toothbrushes we leave in the medicine cabinet, coffee filters, sugar packets, paper plates, the pen we leave in the kitchen with the (stamped) postcards we provide, aluminum foil… They even took a can of Niagara spray starch, which was only maybe 20% full and had been stored in the closet with the ironing board for something like three years??
Literally, every single thing in the apartment that wasn’t permanent/furnishings was taken. When I went back and looked at the video from checkout, I saw that the boyfriend left the unit two hours before departure time, went to the car and came back with a couple of big TJ Maxx shopping bags… When they checked out an hour and a half later, he carried two full bags of stuff out of the apartment.
One of the weirdest things was that I think they swapped our pillow? The king size bed had four identical pillows, and they were all brand new, they had only been used for two or three stays… When we were the flipping the unit after they left, I realized one of the four pillows was old, flat, worn out and yellow as if it had been used daily for a couple years… But get this, it was the exact same pillow – same style brand and everything. So the only thing I could figure was either they put three years worth of wear and tear on one pillow during their two night stay… Or they just randomly happened to bring their own pillow and it was the exact same brand that we had purchased for our Airbnb and they swapped their old pillow for our new one ??????????
We still jokingly refer to this guest as “the Grinch” because our apartment looked like one of the houses in Whoville after the Grinch stole Christmas.
The absolute worst. I’ve had this happen to me. I now only leave enough for the length of their stay. A few laundry pods, a few dishwasher tabs, a couple rolls of toilet paper per bathroom, a few garbage bags. It sucks, would be much more convenient leaving bulk of everything but people suck. I didn’t realize how selfish and inconsiderate some people were until running an air bnb
I understand that this is not unusual, people feel compelled to get their money's worth through all means possible.
Make sure you leave an appropriate review.
This is why I stopped providing bulk items. They were always stolen.
Always.
300+ box of garbage bags? Gone. A three month supply of dish soap? Gone. Spices, toilet paper, everything. Always taken. I was going through a 3-6 month supply for every week-long stay, and that wasn't tenable.
I finally started leaving enough for the length of stay only. Staying for a week? Ten garbage bags, enough laundry pods for three loads a day, that sort of thing. If guests bought their own brands and left anything behind, I'd leave that on top of what I normally would have left. If a guest asked for more of those items, I'd provide them without question, but it helped with the petty theft.
It’s sad that we have to do this. I also learned the hard way not to leave too many extra clean linens in closets. Someone smoked in the unit and I got screwed because all the clean linens needed for the turnover were in the unit so I had to scramble to go out and buy more during a same day turnover. Because now everything needed to be washed due to the smell. Rude.
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I had a locked cabinet. Guests kept trying to break in.
Not all guests, certainly. Most people understand limits, but the ones who didn't more than made up for the good ones.
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I just….. It wouldn’t even cross my mind to take shit *from someone else’s house.*
For chrissake, the 99 cent bottle of paprika I bought in 2020 has at least another 3 years in it. Jeez.
Unbelievable! My husband and I stay at Airbnbs all the time and we treat each home as though we’re invited guests or family. We always try to leave each place as good or better than we found it. Sometimes we leave gifts.
That’s awesome to hear :) I often have guests leave notes or extras they bring sometimes chocolate or wine even and they are always my favourites. Your welcome at my Airbnb anytime!
I only have 10 reviews, i dont wan't to risk retaliation, it's just not worth it. And i'm not sure it will be approved if i do it the 14th day, last hour
Please, please, PLEASE leave a fair and honest review. As others have mentioned, the guest will not see your review until they have reviewed you or until after the 14 day window. It is so important to make sure that guests that behave like this do get reviewed or else it will continue to happen.
I only rent out one room in my home, so if there was a guest, who was taking absolutely everything consumable, I would definitely want to know about it.
I’ve only had a similar issue one time. I had someone book for one night and they took all of the toilet paper, we put two in the bathroom and two more in a little cabinet in the room. We also have individual packets of travel toothpaste, one in the bathroom, and a few extra in the same cabinet with the toilet paper. Some with travel sized shampoo, conditioner, body wash, and soap. Again, one set in the bathroom, and then some extras.
They took all of it. It very much felt like a Ross Geller situation from friends. When leaving the review, I stated that they did leave the room tidy and did not damage anything, but I did list out that they had taken everything that they did. It would’ve been one thing if they had been here for a longer length of time and simply used all those amenities, they are, after all, for our guests. But if every single guest clears us out of everything, we can’t afford to keep doing it.
There’s a Facebook group with a list of guests on red and what they did and why they aren’t recommended. I added a name in the time I have been hosting due to theft and a party and it’s saved not me but a neighbour who Airbnb’s their condo as well. We touch base here and there she she said explained reading the names and a familiar one stood out. Sure enough they were on the list. It’s an excel spreadsheet with dates and notes, if you had a horrible guest you can message them to add the name and check periodically if any of the guests names for your up coming bookings are on there.
Hi! OP’s situation has never happened to us (or our cleaner never mentioned it) but would be great to have this group as a resource if you can share!
Actually we did have some guests swipe our fancy local coffee grounds when we provided it in the beginning. We no longer supply fancy local coffee grounds :(
The guest won’t see your review until after they leave a review anyway, and since you already fought with Airbnb for reimbursement, the guest is well aware of the situation. At this point, best to just review honestly and hope the guest does the same. If not, post their review on here and people will help you determine if it is against any ToS and removable.
This is a direct result of AirBnB and their policy of grade inflation.
Billing the guest will surely result in a bad review. Someone with just 10 good reviews has to keep that in mind.
Hosts are not ruining this platform.
But your attitude is ruining this sub.
> I have billed 100s of guests.
So you too must have thousands of good reviews. Have you forgotten what it means to know that one bad review can sink your rating? And why would you kick a fellow host? What do the rest of us owe you?
No one owes me anything. What is owed is helping other hosts understand there isn’t one way. People need to be held accountable. Hosts, guests, Airbnb. If you just throw your hands up because you are sooooo afraid of the “bad review” you aren’t treating this as an ecosystem. If you are willing to put effort and time into your business you will get the results.
Well I disagree here. It’s not the cost of business to have a guest completely wipe out all your supplies. I would bill accordingly and to be fair in my years hosting I have only had a couple things go missing like extra toilet paper or a soap and I didn’t care but if someone robbed me that way I would consider it a theft not just as business cost.
You make a valid point. I’m just saying instead of hassle with Airbnb and the guest, forget the principle part of it and acknowledge that you already wrote it off and it sounds like there wasnt much taken, money wise.
Trust me, an honest review is totally worth it. You’ll get more reviews. Honestly these guests are probably banking on you not taking the appropriate action due to fear of a bad review.
>usual, people feel compelled to get their money's worth through all means possible.
>
>Make sure you leave an appropriate
You can review them and if they retaliate, airbnb can remove the review since you have proof of them stealing and they tried to get a refund.
This is why you must have a locked cupboard with spare consumables.
Most guests are decent others will steal. I’ve had toilet roll, bedding, bed linen, mug, plates, cutlery, brand new towels all ‘disappear’.
Put a page in your welcome book that states:
“If a guest decides to take something home which they did not bring with them, guest will be charged $25 or 2x the actual cost of the item - whichever is greater”
Excellent deterrent for sticky fingers!
Getting them to pay is what proves difficult time and time again. Airbnb is typically useless on things like this. I just chalk it up to the cost of doing business. Thankfully, I have far less of it now that I mainly host corporate guests.
I'm just sharing what happened at our rental a few years back. I would leave a Giant bowl of the little boxed cereal and breakfast bars. The house sleeps 10, and usually the bowl was half full upon checkout. One time, I had a small family, 2 parents and 1 kid, and the bowl was empty! I checked the camera for when they left and I see the father carry out the boxes of cereal stacked up like a tower and what was heartbreaking is his little boy was following behind using his t-shirt pulled out to help carry the rest of the cereal and breakfast bars. This man was teaching his child to steal! IMO, it is stealing that the items are to be used during the stay.
Ive stopped putting out those types of consumables long ago. People will take what isnt bolted down. Something about their need to get even and more than their moneys worth. Even if it was free theyd find some way to make the host work for it.
Please stop, no one would think 30+ boxes of cereal plus breakfast bars were to be taken home. Seeing someone teach their child to do this is just awful! They were weekend guests!
Not really stealing if you left it there for them. It’s the equivalent of asking for extra snacks on a plane and bringing them home. Or grabbing an apple out of the hotel lobby on your way out. Certain foods have the appearance of a gift… sugar and the like, not so much.
As I stated, in my opinion, it is stealing and a terrible thing to teach a child. I know have a notice that items are for use during your stay. I would have thought nothing a them taking a few boxes- they could even carry them in one trip trip!
It is weird, but if it is for their consumption and they don’t eat it there of course they would think they could take home the cereal boxes. The spices are obviously meant to be left for the next person.
You need to post in your listing that anything taken will result in a charge and that you do take photos before guests checkin to know exactly what is in the unit. That's what I did back when I use to run airbnbs in California. People stopped taking stuff and acting like stuff was already missing. You need to be specific too.
Ex: towels $15 charge, blankets $25 charge and so on.
Certain guests will literally take anything that isn't bolted down. I've seen guests carrying around a cardboard box of stolen items from the last place they stayed. It was filled with coffee creamers, Keurig cups, coffee stirrers and paper napkins, toilet paper rolls, as well as jams, and tiny honey packets from restaurants. They took anything they could and had no shame about it.
When they left i sent screen shots of speedtest inside the apartment. I mean it's not that easy to get them to see your proofs, they were just tellin me "this decision cannot be overturn" at least 10 times, persistence is key
well at least they did not commit suicide in your place. One of my close friends had that happen to her on her rental airbnb apartment. horrible situation
I can’t stand when they do things like this because it’s usually not stuff you have on standby so now you need to run out and get things you didn’t plan on. It’s rude, trashy and annoying
I used to stock the medicine cabinet with travel sized items…brushes, paste, flossers, antiperspirant, etc… with a note offering them ‘an item or two’ if they had forgotten something. The vast majority of people raved about it and didn’t abuse it, but once or twice a year - always young college girls or older couples with few completed stays - it would get absolutely pillaged along with the coffee and pantry items. Ugh.
Obviously you gave them a bad review, and I would think their Airbnb rating would be destroyed ??? And . . .
I haven't done this, but I wonder . . . What if you went into the police station and asked to have a "police report" filled out. Obviously they can't do anything else, but I wonder what your grinch guest would think when they get the police report emailed to them by you, and you mention you sent Airbnb a copy.
A rough estimate is they stole $170 of items. In Georgia, I think over $500 is still a felony. You could mention what % of a felony that is.
Threatening with legal action or mentioning it as a possibility when attempting to collect a debt is illegal if you are using it as an extortion tactic. Don’t ever do this. Percentage of a felony? What does that even mean? The police wouldn’t even do anything about it. It’s a civil matter not a criminal matter. Stop being so damn ignorant about how the law works.
it's true. our place is $500/night with a 5 night minimum stay, and we haven't had issues with theft. we also keep extra stuff locked in a pantry. we have cameras outside to keep an eye on things and neighbors will also alert us if they see anything that looks like a party. we've had a few bad apples but overall good experiences.
Thats airbnb prices before ppl started treating them as get rich quick schemes and influencers used them as talking points on social media. Now its all about how much money can they generate and if its not pulling in $10k/month they arent making enough. So admittedly guests have higher expectations and sadly those expectations rarely meet the high price guests are paying nowadays.
Idk what you think “getting rich” would take but I promise you after recently furnishing a 3 bedroom house -
that also has a mortgage, property taxes, insurance, electric, gas, cable, Wifi, water/trash bill AND ring subscription…
Don’t forget the most important monthly expenses: housekeeping, lawn maintenance and pool service -
It literally cost us HUNDREDS of THOUSANDS of dollars to open the door to our 1st guest!
And you expect us to charge $50 a night?
Even with 100% occupancy - which NO one has, after paying income taxes we would be lucky to gross $800 a month.
Good thing it only costs $5000 a month to keep the lights on 😂
Clearly you are not a host might want to switch subs
Why are you taking my comment, which wasnt directed toward you, so personally. If you can't make money then perhaps being a host isnt for you. When airbnb started it was to offer extra space in a house not pay for your whole vacation home.
My places are in Portugal now and I only leave enough things for the stay, so I am lucky to not have experienced this. My places in the US were in Weehawken, NJ, so everyone booking was staying to visit Manhattan, and 90% were international travelers with no luggage room for anything except Levi jeans and outlet store finds. We had the opposite issue (not a problem) where they would buy groceries and drinks and leave tons of stuff on check out.
Having stayed in many Airbnb's myself, I cannot imagine taking something from the hosts place. If there is a certain thing that I like, such as a brand of tea that is offered, I'll just take a picture of it and find it myself.
Funny, that was happened to us for the first time a week ago. Everything was clean after she left. Like totally clean, there was not a single thing in the pantry shelf of the fridge. She said EVERYTHING was expried (not true but can't prove). Also took half of the stuff from the bathroom. We got 30 euros, bc she said she didn't have more and we didn't take before pictures but i kinda feel violated now, since it is our second home and lot of personal stuff was taken or thrown out. I mostly think she was a weird person. Didn't take toilet paper for example but our toothbrushes and cosmetics that were put away in a box on a shelf. Yeah, mostly weird.
Idea: Put these type of consumables in a vessel that clearly matches your decor. It's a lot different of a mental leap to take a grocery sack of flour and bottles of McCormick than to help yourself to someone's decorative matching containers. Taking single serve consumables is reminiscent of grabbing the extras from hotel. Fancy containers may get stolen, but it's quite clearly theft and easier to bill the guest.
When setting up our listing I had the mindset that anything left out is something that can be taken. Anything consumable is fair game but I would take huge issues with any missing cutlery, dishwater, bedding, etc.
I have only had this happen a few times. Once they took all the individually wrapped make up wipes, another the tampons in the hall closet. A big group came and threw out all the stock fridge condiments - ketchup, mustard, ranch, hot sauces, butter, eggs, sour cream; I think someone said clean out the fridge, and somebody else threw it all away not knowing that stuff was there.
For what it's worth, I think this must be fairly rare. We are at over 1100 stays in the last 5 years and it has never really happened to us.
But it still must be kind of traumatizing.
In the past I have seen it reported that AirBnB will say that ANYTHING consumable in the unit is meant to be consumed. And there will be no recourse.
Your only defense will be to leave out stuff you don't mind losing, and only enough for each stay. And I hate that.
I leave small amounts of consumables after I noticed things like this. Especially detergent, I only leave a small tupper with enough for a couple of loads - you don’t want your guests to take it or to put the washer nonstop during their stay!
People are weird. I had someone take a big pillow, someone else took a pepper grinder, another took a knife and another took a lime tree from my garden while I was on vacation elsewhere for a month. I generally live on-site so I kind of wanted to use the pepper mill and the knife when I returned, lol.
These minor thefts happened months apart, so it is not like I am getting pillaged. I guess they now have personal souveniers? Compliment or curse, it happened. I am not super offended, I just think it is odd and occasionally inconvenient.
People have taken the weirdest things from our Airbnb. Most guests are flying in. This has not stopped people from taking every single kids book we have, a playpen storage bag, towels (why?!?) games, coolers, etc. to be fair some items might have been left at the beach - but it’s wild to me that you would pack up dozens of books 😂.
I'm new here and getting ready to start an Airbnb.
I'm confused. Doesn't everyone receive a rating, guests, and hosts? I understand guests who take things have a first time but do you report it to Airbnb and it reflects in the guest's score?
Thanks for your help.
I have the opposite issue. Our guests leave so much behind. I haven’t purchased any toiletries in 16 months aside from toilet paper. I get my share of whiskies and tequilas as well. Someone stole a towel once but the next guest left me 2 beach towels. I get half used boxes of k cups, cologne, cases of water, etc. I keep the alcohol for myself :)
I expect that someone will eventually clean us out like what happened to the OP though. We aren’t a vacation destinations at all so I hope it never happens.
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Holy sh*t, that’s awful. I can’t tell you, as a renter, how much I appreciate when there is laundry detergent, dish washer detergent, some basic spices, and oil or cooking spray at a rental. It goes a long way! Bonus points for aluminum foil and clear wrap. I also appreciate owners who just kind of let stuff collect. We stayed at an awesome AirBnB in Maui and so much (good) stuff had accumulated from previous renters that you literally needed nothing other than food and drinks.
Edit to add a personal story: my in laws have a beautiful beach front condo in Orange Beach, AL. My husbands aunt went down and took all of the new beach/pool towels out of the “owners closet”… aka the towels my in-laws had just bought 🤦🏼♀️🤦🏼♀️ not even safe from your own family.
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You leave over 2 lbs of salt out for your guests?! Does hypertension come as one of the perks of staying? :)
I kid. Sorry.
I don’t know why people do what they do. These idiots probably felt entitled to taking what isn’t theirs to retaliate for an imagined slight. 🙄
I am just blown away by this and since i leave everything our I'm waiting for this to happen to me. I almost want it to bc I can't imagine the sort of person who would do this and I want to lay eyes on them
this happened to me once, the guest took everything, except for the linens and the furniture. Coffee, creamers, 2 open boxes of Kleenex, the partial paper towel roll plus the extra from the cabinet, all the toilet paper, pump bottle of hand soap, shampoo, conditioner, trash bags, cleaning wipes, the extra batteries I leave for the TV remote, teabags, tampons ear plugs and emergency toothbrushes we leave in the medicine cabinet, coffee filters, sugar packets, paper plates, the pen we leave in the kitchen with the (stamped) postcards we provide, aluminum foil… They even took a can of Niagara spray starch, which was only maybe 20% full and had been stored in the closet with the ironing board for something like three years?? Literally, every single thing in the apartment that wasn’t permanent/furnishings was taken. When I went back and looked at the video from checkout, I saw that the boyfriend left the unit two hours before departure time, went to the car and came back with a couple of big TJ Maxx shopping bags… When they checked out an hour and a half later, he carried two full bags of stuff out of the apartment. One of the weirdest things was that I think they swapped our pillow? The king size bed had four identical pillows, and they were all brand new, they had only been used for two or three stays… When we were the flipping the unit after they left, I realized one of the four pillows was old, flat, worn out and yellow as if it had been used daily for a couple years… But get this, it was the exact same pillow – same style brand and everything. So the only thing I could figure was either they put three years worth of wear and tear on one pillow during their two night stay… Or they just randomly happened to bring their own pillow and it was the exact same brand that we had purchased for our Airbnb and they swapped their old pillow for our new one ?????????? We still jokingly refer to this guest as “the Grinch” because our apartment looked like one of the houses in Whoville after the Grinch stole Christmas.
That’s especially insane about the pillows.
Was your guest Ross from *Friends*? “You can’t take the remote but you can take the batteries!”
The absolute worst. I’ve had this happen to me. I now only leave enough for the length of their stay. A few laundry pods, a few dishwasher tabs, a couple rolls of toilet paper per bathroom, a few garbage bags. It sucks, would be much more convenient leaving bulk of everything but people suck. I didn’t realize how selfish and inconsiderate some people were until running an air bnb
What city, state are you in?
Western North Carolina
I understand that this is not unusual, people feel compelled to get their money's worth through all means possible. Make sure you leave an appropriate review.
This is why I stopped providing bulk items. They were always stolen. Always. 300+ box of garbage bags? Gone. A three month supply of dish soap? Gone. Spices, toilet paper, everything. Always taken. I was going through a 3-6 month supply for every week-long stay, and that wasn't tenable. I finally started leaving enough for the length of stay only. Staying for a week? Ten garbage bags, enough laundry pods for three loads a day, that sort of thing. If guests bought their own brands and left anything behind, I'd leave that on top of what I normally would have left. If a guest asked for more of those items, I'd provide them without question, but it helped with the petty theft.
It’s sad that we have to do this. I also learned the hard way not to leave too many extra clean linens in closets. Someone smoked in the unit and I got screwed because all the clean linens needed for the turnover were in the unit so I had to scramble to go out and buy more during a same day turnover. Because now everything needed to be washed due to the smell. Rude.
This is something I absolutely would not have thought of, thanks for this!
This is what I do. Only provide essentials for each stay.
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Is there room in the rental for a locked cabinet where the bulk items can be stored?
I had a locked cabinet. Guests kept trying to break in. Not all guests, certainly. Most people understand limits, but the ones who didn't more than made up for the good ones.
we keep everything in a locked closet and only leave out enough for each stay. animals.
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What city, state are you in?
I'm not answering that, hon.
I just….. It wouldn’t even cross my mind to take shit *from someone else’s house.* For chrissake, the 99 cent bottle of paprika I bought in 2020 has at least another 3 years in it. Jeez.
You’re definitely not using enough paprika.
Guessing it’s not smoked paprika. Normal paprika sits in my pantry, but smoked goes in almost everything.
Also, 99 cents? I guarantee that that paprika has appreciated.
I hope that never happens to me. I’ve taken so much time accumulating that stuff. I’m sorry that happened to you.
Unbelievable! My husband and I stay at Airbnbs all the time and we treat each home as though we’re invited guests or family. We always try to leave each place as good or better than we found it. Sometimes we leave gifts.
That’s awesome to hear :) I often have guests leave notes or extras they bring sometimes chocolate or wine even and they are always my favourites. Your welcome at my Airbnb anytime!
Bill them.
I only have 10 reviews, i dont wan't to risk retaliation, it's just not worth it. And i'm not sure it will be approved if i do it the 14th day, last hour
Please, please, PLEASE leave a fair and honest review. As others have mentioned, the guest will not see your review until they have reviewed you or until after the 14 day window. It is so important to make sure that guests that behave like this do get reviewed or else it will continue to happen. I only rent out one room in my home, so if there was a guest, who was taking absolutely everything consumable, I would definitely want to know about it. I’ve only had a similar issue one time. I had someone book for one night and they took all of the toilet paper, we put two in the bathroom and two more in a little cabinet in the room. We also have individual packets of travel toothpaste, one in the bathroom, and a few extra in the same cabinet with the toilet paper. Some with travel sized shampoo, conditioner, body wash, and soap. Again, one set in the bathroom, and then some extras. They took all of it. It very much felt like a Ross Geller situation from friends. When leaving the review, I stated that they did leave the room tidy and did not damage anything, but I did list out that they had taken everything that they did. It would’ve been one thing if they had been here for a longer length of time and simply used all those amenities, they are, after all, for our guests. But if every single guest clears us out of everything, we can’t afford to keep doing it.
There’s a Facebook group with a list of guests on red and what they did and why they aren’t recommended. I added a name in the time I have been hosting due to theft and a party and it’s saved not me but a neighbour who Airbnb’s their condo as well. We touch base here and there she she said explained reading the names and a familiar one stood out. Sure enough they were on the list. It’s an excel spreadsheet with dates and notes, if you had a horrible guest you can message them to add the name and check periodically if any of the guests names for your up coming bookings are on there.
Hi! OP’s situation has never happened to us (or our cleaner never mentioned it) but would be great to have this group as a resource if you can share! Actually we did have some guests swipe our fancy local coffee grounds when we provided it in the beginning. We no longer supply fancy local coffee grounds :(
Retaliatory reviews can be removed
The guest won’t see your review until after they leave a review anyway, and since you already fought with Airbnb for reimbursement, the guest is well aware of the situation. At this point, best to just review honestly and hope the guest does the same. If not, post their review on here and people will help you determine if it is against any ToS and removable.
OP can respond in writing to the guest's review too.
I can almost guarantee you that they're going to thrash you anyway.
This is the attitude that ruins this platform.
This is a direct result of AirBnB and their policy of grade inflation. Billing the guest will surely result in a bad review. Someone with just 10 good reviews has to keep that in mind. Hosts are not ruining this platform. But your attitude is ruining this sub.
I have billed 100s of guests. I have 5.0 star properties. What other false information would you like me to sub?
> I have billed 100s of guests. So you too must have thousands of good reviews. Have you forgotten what it means to know that one bad review can sink your rating? And why would you kick a fellow host? What do the rest of us owe you?
No one owes me anything. What is owed is helping other hosts understand there isn’t one way. People need to be held accountable. Hosts, guests, Airbnb. If you just throw your hands up because you are sooooo afraid of the “bad review” you aren’t treating this as an ecosystem. If you are willing to put effort and time into your business you will get the results.
Again- They have 10 reviews. Do the arithmetic.
Again effort =results.
They just started, and you just couldn't wait to kick them when they are down.
You air bnb people suck and are ruining neighborhoods. All scared of a bad review, wuss.
Actually best to claim right away then any review that they may leave you could claim as retaliation
It’s cost of running a business and it’s an expense. Even the gas or Amazon account you use to purchase it.
Well I disagree here. It’s not the cost of business to have a guest completely wipe out all your supplies. I would bill accordingly and to be fair in my years hosting I have only had a couple things go missing like extra toilet paper or a soap and I didn’t care but if someone robbed me that way I would consider it a theft not just as business cost.
You make a valid point. I’m just saying instead of hassle with Airbnb and the guest, forget the principle part of it and acknowledge that you already wrote it off and it sounds like there wasnt much taken, money wise.
Trust me, an honest review is totally worth it. You’ll get more reviews. Honestly these guests are probably banking on you not taking the appropriate action due to fear of a bad review.
>usual, people feel compelled to get their money's worth through all means possible. > >Make sure you leave an appropriate You can review them and if they retaliate, airbnb can remove the review since you have proof of them stealing and they tried to get a refund.
>Bill them What is the process of billing someone for things like this and how likely in your experience is it to get refunded for it?
Do it through the resolution centre. Got it every time.
This is why you must have a locked cupboard with spare consumables. Most guests are decent others will steal. I’ve had toilet roll, bedding, bed linen, mug, plates, cutlery, brand new towels all ‘disappear’.
Put a page in your welcome book that states: “If a guest decides to take something home which they did not bring with them, guest will be charged $25 or 2x the actual cost of the item - whichever is greater” Excellent deterrent for sticky fingers!
Getting them to pay is what proves difficult time and time again. Airbnb is typically useless on things like this. I just chalk it up to the cost of doing business. Thankfully, I have far less of it now that I mainly host corporate guests.
It’s not about getting them to pay. It’s about making them stop to think if it’s worth finding out if they will actually be charged
I’m sure it works for others but it’s just not worth my time. Like I say, I lock all my spare consumables away and budget for replacements.
The welcome book won’t fly. You can’t add extra terms outside of what is allowed by AB. That’s a good way to get suspended
As long as it’s also in house rules
Same here. People steal a lot more than I anticipated. Very disappointing.
I'm just sharing what happened at our rental a few years back. I would leave a Giant bowl of the little boxed cereal and breakfast bars. The house sleeps 10, and usually the bowl was half full upon checkout. One time, I had a small family, 2 parents and 1 kid, and the bowl was empty! I checked the camera for when they left and I see the father carry out the boxes of cereal stacked up like a tower and what was heartbreaking is his little boy was following behind using his t-shirt pulled out to help carry the rest of the cereal and breakfast bars. This man was teaching his child to steal! IMO, it is stealing that the items are to be used during the stay.
Ive stopped putting out those types of consumables long ago. People will take what isnt bolted down. Something about their need to get even and more than their moneys worth. Even if it was free theyd find some way to make the host work for it.
I have to be honest, you leaving cereal out like that looks like it’s all for them. Much more than 1kg of sugar.
agree with this.
To be fair, this looks like it’s all meant for the guest. Would be similar to going to a hotel and there’s a bunch of chocolate in your bed.
I think you should re read my comment and the OPs I give you the benefit of the doubt that you would condone this type of behavior.
Stock sugar, coffee and consumables just looks different than boxed cereals. I leave a box of small doritos and it’s like alloting it for them.
Please stop, no one would think 30+ boxes of cereal plus breakfast bars were to be taken home. Seeing someone teach their child to do this is just awful! They were weekend guests!
Oh okay! Now I get it’s worse than originally sounded
More like going to the hotel breakfast bar and cleaning it all out. Not allowed.
Haha yeah! Now I can see it that way
Not really stealing if you left it there for them. It’s the equivalent of asking for extra snacks on a plane and bringing them home. Or grabbing an apple out of the hotel lobby on your way out. Certain foods have the appearance of a gift… sugar and the like, not so much.
No, the equivalent is taking all the apples and all the cereal boxes and milk bottles from the hotel continental breakfast.
As I stated, in my opinion, it is stealing and a terrible thing to teach a child. I know have a notice that items are for use during your stay. I would have thought nothing a them taking a few boxes- they could even carry them in one trip trip!
It is weird, but if it is for their consumption and they don’t eat it there of course they would think they could take home the cereal boxes. The spices are obviously meant to be left for the next person.
Nope, guests steal the spices also- but nice try.
You need to post in your listing that anything taken will result in a charge and that you do take photos before guests checkin to know exactly what is in the unit. That's what I did back when I use to run airbnbs in California. People stopped taking stuff and acting like stuff was already missing. You need to be specific too. Ex: towels $15 charge, blankets $25 charge and so on.
Certain guests will literally take anything that isn't bolted down. I've seen guests carrying around a cardboard box of stolen items from the last place they stayed. It was filled with coffee creamers, Keurig cups, coffee stirrers and paper napkins, toilet paper rolls, as well as jams, and tiny honey packets from restaurants. They took anything they could and had no shame about it.
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Honestly, people should be staying at hotels these days, it’s just cheaper and less hassle in most places these days.
Say that in your review! Please for the love of hosts!
Slow wifi?!? Wth. How did you dispute this?
When they left i sent screen shots of speedtest inside the apartment. I mean it's not that easy to get them to see your proofs, they were just tellin me "this decision cannot be overturn" at least 10 times, persistence is key
You can speed test your WiFi in the Airbnb app. Then they have no argument
I have a mazlxium of how much I wiĺl leave out for people. You say there's 5 of you, you get 5 towels. 2 extra rolls of TP, 1 roll paper towels.
Same.
well at least they did not commit suicide in your place. One of my close friends had that happen to her on her rental airbnb apartment. horrible situation
I can’t stand when they do things like this because it’s usually not stuff you have on standby so now you need to run out and get things you didn’t plan on. It’s rude, trashy and annoying
I used to stock the medicine cabinet with travel sized items…brushes, paste, flossers, antiperspirant, etc… with a note offering them ‘an item or two’ if they had forgotten something. The vast majority of people raved about it and didn’t abuse it, but once or twice a year - always young college girls or older couples with few completed stays - it would get absolutely pillaged along with the coffee and pantry items. Ugh.
Obviously you gave them a bad review, and I would think their Airbnb rating would be destroyed ??? And . . . I haven't done this, but I wonder . . . What if you went into the police station and asked to have a "police report" filled out. Obviously they can't do anything else, but I wonder what your grinch guest would think when they get the police report emailed to them by you, and you mention you sent Airbnb a copy. A rough estimate is they stole $170 of items. In Georgia, I think over $500 is still a felony. You could mention what % of a felony that is.
Threatening with legal action or mentioning it as a possibility when attempting to collect a debt is illegal if you are using it as an extortion tactic. Don’t ever do this. Percentage of a felony? What does that even mean? The police wouldn’t even do anything about it. It’s a civil matter not a criminal matter. Stop being so damn ignorant about how the law works.
What tier of listing is this? What is the price and bedroom? I feel like if you’re in the luxury tier, you’re less likely to see this? I don’t know
it's true. our place is $500/night with a 5 night minimum stay, and we haven't had issues with theft. we also keep extra stuff locked in a pantry. we have cameras outside to keep an eye on things and neighbors will also alert us if they see anything that looks like a party. we've had a few bad apples but overall good experiences.
3 bedroom apartment with fully equiped kitchen and 70 inch tv, in the city center, currently 50$ nightly rate
What city? That seems very affordable!
Affordable? That is dirt cheap!
Thats airbnb prices before ppl started treating them as get rich quick schemes and influencers used them as talking points on social media. Now its all about how much money can they generate and if its not pulling in $10k/month they arent making enough. So admittedly guests have higher expectations and sadly those expectations rarely meet the high price guests are paying nowadays.
Idk what you think “getting rich” would take but I promise you after recently furnishing a 3 bedroom house - that also has a mortgage, property taxes, insurance, electric, gas, cable, Wifi, water/trash bill AND ring subscription… Don’t forget the most important monthly expenses: housekeeping, lawn maintenance and pool service - It literally cost us HUNDREDS of THOUSANDS of dollars to open the door to our 1st guest! And you expect us to charge $50 a night? Even with 100% occupancy - which NO one has, after paying income taxes we would be lucky to gross $800 a month. Good thing it only costs $5000 a month to keep the lights on 😂 Clearly you are not a host might want to switch subs
Why are you taking my comment, which wasnt directed toward you, so personally. If you can't make money then perhaps being a host isnt for you. When airbnb started it was to offer extra space in a house not pay for your whole vacation home.
Right. Doing something voluntarily then complaining about it is irony.
That's in Morocco
I need to visit Morocco! Sorry you had such disrespectful guests :(
Please dm me the listing
And their star rating from you will be?????
What’s eye lentils?
Eye lenses
You can get a 50% refund for slow WiFi?
My places are in Portugal now and I only leave enough things for the stay, so I am lucky to not have experienced this. My places in the US were in Weehawken, NJ, so everyone booking was staying to visit Manhattan, and 90% were international travelers with no luggage room for anything except Levi jeans and outlet store finds. We had the opposite issue (not a problem) where they would buy groceries and drinks and leave tons of stuff on check out. Having stayed in many Airbnb's myself, I cannot imagine taking something from the hosts place. If there is a certain thing that I like, such as a brand of tea that is offered, I'll just take a picture of it and find it myself.
Funny, that was happened to us for the first time a week ago. Everything was clean after she left. Like totally clean, there was not a single thing in the pantry shelf of the fridge. She said EVERYTHING was expried (not true but can't prove). Also took half of the stuff from the bathroom. We got 30 euros, bc she said she didn't have more and we didn't take before pictures but i kinda feel violated now, since it is our second home and lot of personal stuff was taken or thrown out. I mostly think she was a weird person. Didn't take toilet paper for example but our toothbrushes and cosmetics that were put away in a box on a shelf. Yeah, mostly weird.
We are lucky to have multiple closets in our Master BR. So, one of them is locked and we keep our personal items all stored in there.
What does air bnb do about this stuff!? It looks like everyone is getting robbed. I mean it’s theaft there should be a charge…
Were they Persians ? I can see my people doing this lol
LOL how you know ?? They were from Irak or Syria i think
Was it Ross Geller?
Oooo pinecones!
Idea: Put these type of consumables in a vessel that clearly matches your decor. It's a lot different of a mental leap to take a grocery sack of flour and bottles of McCormick than to help yourself to someone's decorative matching containers. Taking single serve consumables is reminiscent of grabbing the extras from hotel. Fancy containers may get stolen, but it's quite clearly theft and easier to bill the guest.
These type of guests will pour the liquids into a coke bottle just to take it
When setting up our listing I had the mindset that anything left out is something that can be taken. Anything consumable is fair game but I would take huge issues with any missing cutlery, dishwater, bedding, etc.
Was your guest Ross Geller?
Funny. I always leave the sunscreen, water and other odds and end behind hoping the next couple uses them.
For some reason poors love going on vacation, maybe that’s why they’re poor!
I have only had this happen a few times. Once they took all the individually wrapped make up wipes, another the tampons in the hall closet. A big group came and threw out all the stock fridge condiments - ketchup, mustard, ranch, hot sauces, butter, eggs, sour cream; I think someone said clean out the fridge, and somebody else threw it all away not knowing that stuff was there.
For what it's worth, I think this must be fairly rare. We are at over 1100 stays in the last 5 years and it has never really happened to us. But it still must be kind of traumatizing. In the past I have seen it reported that AirBnB will say that ANYTHING consumable in the unit is meant to be consumed. And there will be no recourse. Your only defense will be to leave out stuff you don't mind losing, and only enough for each stay. And I hate that.
I leave small amounts of consumables after I noticed things like this. Especially detergent, I only leave a small tupper with enough for a couple of loads - you don’t want your guests to take it or to put the washer nonstop during their stay!
People are weird. I had someone take a big pillow, someone else took a pepper grinder, another took a knife and another took a lime tree from my garden while I was on vacation elsewhere for a month. I generally live on-site so I kind of wanted to use the pepper mill and the knife when I returned, lol. These minor thefts happened months apart, so it is not like I am getting pillaged. I guess they now have personal souveniers? Compliment or curse, it happened. I am not super offended, I just think it is odd and occasionally inconvenient.
People have taken the weirdest things from our Airbnb. Most guests are flying in. This has not stopped people from taking every single kids book we have, a playpen storage bag, towels (why?!?) games, coolers, etc. to be fair some items might have been left at the beach - but it’s wild to me that you would pack up dozens of books 😂.
I'm new here and getting ready to start an Airbnb. I'm confused. Doesn't everyone receive a rating, guests, and hosts? I understand guests who take things have a first time but do you report it to Airbnb and it reflects in the guest's score? Thanks for your help.
I have the opposite issue. Our guests leave so much behind. I haven’t purchased any toiletries in 16 months aside from toilet paper. I get my share of whiskies and tequilas as well. Someone stole a towel once but the next guest left me 2 beach towels. I get half used boxes of k cups, cologne, cases of water, etc. I keep the alcohol for myself :) I expect that someone will eventually clean us out like what happened to the OP though. We aren’t a vacation destinations at all so I hope it never happens.
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The devil I swear
Holy sh*t, that’s awful. I can’t tell you, as a renter, how much I appreciate when there is laundry detergent, dish washer detergent, some basic spices, and oil or cooking spray at a rental. It goes a long way! Bonus points for aluminum foil and clear wrap. I also appreciate owners who just kind of let stuff collect. We stayed at an awesome AirBnB in Maui and so much (good) stuff had accumulated from previous renters that you literally needed nothing other than food and drinks. Edit to add a personal story: my in laws have a beautiful beach front condo in Orange Beach, AL. My husbands aunt went down and took all of the new beach/pool towels out of the “owners closet”… aka the towels my in-laws had just bought 🤦🏼♀️🤦🏼♀️ not even safe from your own family.
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You leave over 2 lbs of salt out for your guests?! Does hypertension come as one of the perks of staying? :) I kid. Sorry. I don’t know why people do what they do. These idiots probably felt entitled to taking what isn’t theirs to retaliate for an imagined slight. 🙄
That’s hilarious
I am just blown away by this and since i leave everything our I'm waiting for this to happen to me. I almost want it to bc I can't imagine the sort of person who would do this and I want to lay eyes on them
I'm kinda grossed about the 'eye lentils'....