How do I approach this as a guest?

[Laura2592]

True confession time. I was a potentially bad guest LOL.

I am so stressed about this as I know the reputation that hosts have as guests. We booked a place for a weekend getaway a few hours from where we live. When we got there I discovered that my foundation (face make up) bottle had broken all over the inside of my suitcase. How it happened? No idea. Those bottles are thick glass and I have even dropped them on the floor and had them survive. But it was EVERYWHERE. In order to rescue my other possessions from being covered in Doublewear by Estee Lauder Bone colored paint, I tried paper towels but ended up using a small hand towel to wipe down the inside of my bag and other items.  So the towel is ruined. It was white. 

I brought it home with me and have been trying to launder it but chances are good that it will be forever stained. So how do I broach this? I was planning to send the host a new towel. Should I mention this? Not mention this? Its a corporate type rental but I still feel incredibly bad. 

Also, when we got to this space I found an insulin needle and some insulin meds under the sink in the bathroom. I left it there with a note for the cleaners that it wasn't mine but I wanted to make sure they let the owner know. I don't want to say "oh I ruined your towel but there was a needle under the sink" because it totally sounds like it was mine too lol. And the dishwasher wasn't emptied nor a bag in the trash can. As a fellow host I feel like if I mention this stuff it willl go in the pile under "hosts are terrible guests." But I know that some guests would freak over any of these things. What would you do?

[Sarah977]

@Z-2  You would logically think that other hosts would be great guests, but many hosts have experienced the opposite. They've had other hosts ignore house rules, sneak in extra people, sneak in pets, leave the place a dirty mess and leave low star, super critical reviews. In other words, just because someone is a host, doesn't necessarily mean they will behave any better than anyone else. And some have found that other hosts have been their worst guests.

Of course, that's not everyone's experience. I've had several guests who were also hosts, and they've all been lovely guests. 

[Sarah977]

@Laura2592  I'm chuckling over your post. You've had so many entertaining posts about the weird things your guests do, like disappear the bath mat, and here you go taking a towel away with you and not mentioning it at the time.

I would have just messaged the host, explaining about the make-up explosion and ruined towel and offered to reimburse.

I once had a bottle of shampoo come open in my luggage. It didn't stain anything, but it was a real mess. I now never travel with those type of bottles that have the push down, flip up lids. Solid screw-on only.

[Anonymous]

@Laura2592   What I would have done in this situation is left behind 3 things:  the stained washcloth, an apology note, and a cash "tip." That way, the host is not deprived of any choices:  she still has the damaged item if she decides to reinvent it for another purpose, and the money means she can decide whether she wants to get a new towel to her own liking or something else, if she has too many towels already.

Sending a new towel in the mail gives the host fewer choices. I think it would be a kinder gesture to offer money through the Resolution Center along with a brief explanation and apology. Then the host is free to spend the unexpected extra money however she wants, or refuse it if it that's how she prefers to handle things.  You can probably deduce from the brand label on the towel what it's roughly worth.

[Lisa723]

@Anonymous is it possible to refuse money sent via the resolution center?

[Anonymous]

@Lisa723   I don't have a way to test it now, but every resolution is initiated as a "request," so the language suggests that it can be declined. 

But if it never occurred to the product team that a payment can be unwanted, they at least have the functionality to send it back.

[Lisa723]

@Anonymous in my experience sending money is not framed as a request. I just did it about an hour ago in fact and got an instant confirmation that the money was sent. Of course it’s true it could be sent back.

[Sarah977]

@Anonymous  I was going to suggest leaving a note and a $5 bill, but since Laura indicated this was a corporate-type property manager listing, the tip and the note might never make it past the cleaner 🙂 If it was a hands-on host situation, that's exactly what I would do.

[Laura2592]

@Sarah977 yeah I thought it would never get to thr host.  I did think about leaving some cash. 

So far no response whatsoever just fyi. 

[Jennifer1773]

@Laura2592  As a host I expect a stained/missing washrag or towel every now and then and don't worry about that at all. But @Anonymous 's "3 things" and a quick note through the Airbnb messaging system to ensure the host got them would be perfect. The cash tip reminded me of a story that might make you feel a bit better.

Once upon a time, almost one year ago today, I arrived at my cottage to collect a $100 bill off my kitchen table and begin to survey the damage. My guests had messaged me that morning through Airbnb to let me know to expect this "cleaning tip," that was "a start toward a charge" as I saw fit. After a bit of in-person investigation of my cottage in conjunction with the events relayed by the guests through the messaging system during their 10 day stay, I pieced together this story:

My guests left their dog unattended in my home with a teapot left on an electric eye that had not been turned off. They went to view a home for sale in the neighboring county, a 1.5 hour drive from my cottage. Once the water had all boiled away and the teapot started to smoke, the dog went ballistic and tried to exit the home via the windows in the living room and in the bedroom, thoroughly scratching the 80 year old stained wood frames in the process...and the paint on the teapot melted to the electric eye. My guess is that it was around this time that the guests arrived back at the cottage to find their poor pup in my smoky home. They stopped communicating with me for five days (trust me this was rare compared to the constant string of special requests made previously)  and worked to repair things the best they could... they opened all storm windows and ventilated the home. They ordered a new eye for my stove and replaced it. They left the destroyed teapot (they said they had tried to find a replacement but could not) on the counter beside the $100 and a couple of broken glasses. They replaced the dog-chewed window blind slats with undamaged ones from the bottom of the stack and turned my dad's homemade table around so that the dog scratches were not as visible (never mentioned either of these things to me). They crafted their story for me by separating the actual events into two separate stories that they sent to me about 12 hours apart the day before and the day of checkout: one in which the dog "saw a squirrel" outside while they were away and scratched up my windows (he had never done anything like that before!) and one in which they had left the teapot on the stove too long while they were home. The amount of damage to the teapot, the undisclosed damage to the furniture and the blinds, and a previous fib they had told me all lead me to believe that this is the actual sequence of events. I could be wrong, but I don't think I am. What made me the maddest was that they blamed their poor dog and my completely innocent squirrels. And I had just bought that cool retro teapot from the thrift store...

By comparison, towel thieves are my favorite guests!

[Helen427]

@Laura2592 
It was great you let a note about the Insulin as it's extremely distressing for those who require it to misplace or lose it.

I hope you ensured the Corporate Manager was also advised about a Guest's Medical Needs being left behind as they to have a Duty of Care as it's a serious Health matter, a life or death matter in fact.

It sounds as if across the board someone, or some haven't been fulfilling their roles.

Why wasn't the cleaners work checked up on?

Foundation bottles no matter how well made they are can and do break but far better to have glass than plastic, isn't it?

Good on you for being upfront about the towel damage and trying to restore it to it's cleanliness.

Be upfront & honest when you send a message outlining what you did, found and how you tried to resolve it.

Most normal people would be fine with that and appreciate your Honesty which is an important part of Society in general, isn't it?