Guests lost/took things from my property

[Suzanne1119]

Hello,

I had guests over the Christmas holiday. When I came in to clean the house I noticed that the remote control for the TV in the living room  and a bag of a set of 10 smores skewers from the kitchen are missing. 

I messaged the guests asking them where they left them. I have not heard back from them. 

How do you suggest I handle this situation? 

Thank you ahead of time for your time and advise. 

Suzanne. 

[Shelley159]

Hi @Suzanne1119 

It's a good idea to have a spare universal remote control (they also break sometimes), and when something like this happens, just move on. 

Even if you don't end up finding the remote, losses will likely not happen very often. Think of it as losing one remote every XXXth stay, rather than assigning it to a specific guest in your mind.

Hope it helps!

[Suzanne1119]

Thank you  Shelley159....  Agreed. It could've been worse.... Moving on... 

[Greystone0 · Accepted solution]

Hi @Suzanne1119 ,

This is an extremely frustrating part of this business! Small things disappearing. This happens to us fairly often. Not every guest but probably 30% of our reservations have something that goes missing. Here's how we handle:

- in general, small value items are part of the cost of doing business. This doesn't make it any less frustrating though. 

- we have had good success in getting items returned by asking. So reaching out is worth a try. We keep reference video so when something goes missing we send a photo and say something like, 'we can't seem to find the 'whatever that was on the table in the living room' (see photo) and wondering if you or your guests can direct us where to look.  I have also learned to keep searching as things have turned up that I was convinced were gone though. 

- in some cases, I think items get damaged and the guest doesn't wish to say anything. So they just dispose of the item and leave you guessing. In some cases it is probably the guest of the guest so the person you are dealing with has no idea that something was damaged.

- in some cases items go missing because of unintentional packing mishaps. People bring kitchen items or bathroom items and just end up packing up things that are house items along with their own items. 

- in the case of the TV remote. People do bring their own devices that have remotes so it is possible for remotes to be packed up by mistake.  You can label your remotes to help avoid. 

- in the case of the skewers it is possible the guests didn't understand they were meant to be re-used and just tossed them.  

Oddly,  our garage push broom has gone missing multiple times. So annoying. I think it may have gotten damaged by a vehicle and another time it was found across the street in the woods adjacent to the lake - we surmise it was used to 'clear' the ice for skating and just never put back. So annoying.  It was missing for 6 months and we had already replaced. We found it as we were taking a canoe into the water in spring. Weird stuff happens!

Wishing you much success!

[Suzanne1119]

Thank you Greystone0....

Very helpful insight... I guess it comes with the territory.... It could've been worse I suppose....