Missing bed linens after guests checked out

[Abby266]

Hello All,

We are new to hosting so we wanted to see what other hosts have done in a situation like ours. After our most recent guests checked out, our cleaner said that a queen fitted sheet and two pillowcases were missing. I sent the guests a message about a week ago asking if they placed them somewhere in our cabin or if they accidentally packed and took them with them. The guest has not responded to the message. We have already reviewed the guest with a good review because our cleaner did a walk through the day they checked out and said everything looked great but then when she cleaned two days later, she noticed the missing linens (after we reviews them). The guest has yet to review us but has about a week left in the 14 day review window. For hosts who have experienced this before, do you just eat the cost of the missing linens or do you request money from the guests? We are afraid that if we request money they could potentially leave a bad review which would hurt us because we just started hosting about two months ago so we don’t have many reviews yet.

Thanks!

[Lisa723]

@Abby266 you might still be able to edit your review, since they haven't left one yet. We have had guests "accidentally" take towels and even a tablecloth, but they have returned them when asked. In this case since the guest hasn't responded and you have no way to prove they took the linens I would probably not pursue it. (They may have stained or damaged them and disposed of them out of embarrassment.) Your thought that good reviews are really important when starting out is correct, and replacing linens pretty regularly is a cost of doing business.

[Abby266]

Thank you!

[Sarah977]

@Abby266  If you don't have time to amend the review you left, take this as a learning opportunity to not rush to leave a review. With a 14 day review period,, there is no reason to jump the gun until you know for sure if anything is missing or damaged, and how the guests respond (or totally ignore) your messages about missing or damaged stuff.

[Lorna170]

@Abby266   It is my policy to never review a guest until AFTER housekeeping has finished the turnover and made sure that everything is fine.  My spouse will go into a property to remove the trash, and he will tell me it looks perfect...then I get the phone call from my housekeeper complaining about the hair dye in the bathroom, or I go myself and discover that my pots and pans have gone missing...

Guests often will ignore messages from AirBnB after their stay has completed.  AirBnB and the other OTAs send soooooo many advertising emails to guests that they may have blocked your messages.  It once took me three weeks to get a guest who had asked me to mail her forgotten items to respond with her mailing address...she had blocked the messaging and I had no way to contact her except via Air.

Many guests will let you know in advance if they have had an issue but others think nothing of hiding or disposing of the evidence and heading home.  After all, if you have a rental property, you must be rich and can afford new sheets, towels and pillows every week.   Think carefully about what items you should charge for (torn couch cushions, burnt countertop) and what is the cost of doing business (2 or 3 new sets of sheets a year, a new teflon pan).