Guest stealing items

[Cheryl130]

I am new to Airbnb and have just hosted my very first guest in a fully self contained home. We went over and above to host this particular guest and find now that the guest has stolen a desk lamp (of all things). It's only worth $6, but nevertheless, I would have expected better of an older couple who had good reviews. I am wondering how the deposit works with Airbnb if they were. for example, to steal the television set.  Are such items covered by the Airbnb insurance policy? How much is the insurance excess if I make a claim? How long have I got after the guest checks out to make a claim? Does Airbnb hold onto the guest's deposit for 'X' number of days unless I make a claim in the meantime?

[Helen3]

Never leave anything in your listing that you would be unhappy to lose @Katrina206

I'm a homeshare host and anything that is valuable to me in sentimental terms or costs goes into a lockable room.

[Linda108]

You make a good point, @Katrina206 . Theft is not always about market value of the items, but often the "story" of the item.  Having been rob a few times in my life, the most devastating was the loss of jewelry handed down from my grandmother or given to me by my former husband, that I expected to give to our daughter.  Probably not great street value but very personal.  Yes I got a few dollars from insurance, but never would give my daughter a cherish family heirloom.

Now, these losses were a result of professional theives, not Air BNB guests.  However, I would not set myself up for loss by strangers by leaving my "beloved items" in my space unattended. You should have a locked area to move these items to when you are allowing these guests into your home.

[Katrina206]

Since it will be my home (it's an 800 Sq ft space) I will not be able to put everything away in a closet each time it rents. I will be closing the airbnb when I move into it. These stories confirmed my decision. 

[Lisa5203]

I have listed my self contained guesthouse since Nov 2019. There were 1 group of young men leaving my place smelling like a beer bath but they didn’t break or take anything. Until

Two days ago, Feb 20th, 2020 a girl and her partner booked for 1 night. The next day I found out they took 2 kings size Kate & Spade blankets, a high end bed sets (fitted sheet....) in a large plastic container I provided as spare stuffs, hair dryer, all the shampoos and everything in the showers, all my Tide pods and dryer sheets, and many other household items include garbage bags (I guess they used them to hold other items and prepare for the next host victims). I phone Airbnb and was told to report to police then fill out claim in ‘resolution centre’. Hosts have i believe 72 hrs to make claims. I did that but when I did the claim it’s actually a request for payment  to that guest. If the guests refuse to pay then Airbnb will step in. I will post results after hearing from Airbnb. 
It’s very discouraging when we encounter these types of guests. I always go above and beyond to make sure my guests have as enjoyable stay as possible. I wish those people had asked me to give them some stuffs if they were in need that badly. They also took the key with them. I am assuming they planned to go back for the tv and other stuffs but I changed keys and code. 
Does anyone know if hosts are allowed to share profile of those bad guests? How am I able to make other hosts aware of these guests? Obviously the girl provided government ID because she was able to make instant booking. But her ID could be fake and her profile picture could be fake. Cops have the same suspicions as me. Cops said unless I have evidence of them stealing my stuffs they won’t be charged. 
I am in Calgary and the girl profile says she is from Calgary also. Perhaps do not accept bookings from local guests? Any advice will be appreciated 

Thanks

Lisa

[Sarah977]

@Lisa5203  The way you warn other hosts about these people is to leave an honest review. You have to be careful what you sayin the review, otherwise it can be taken down, so it's best to post a review draft here so other hosts can give you some pointers about what ypou may need to remove from the review or another way to state things so Airbnb doesn't take it down.

If you post it as a new topic in the Host Circle section of the forum here, only hosts can access the posts there, whereas the Help and Hosting sections are open to be read by guests as well.

So sorry this happened to you- it's awful. Hope you can get some compensation.

[Teresa1435]

Hi Lisa, thanks for the comment. What do you suggest if guest are stolen little things. Like decoration, or a plate. The value is not huge but is really disappointing to be missing a complete set of plates. 

[Sarah977]

@Teresa1435  A guest stole a whole set of plates? Or you mean they steal one so you don't have a whole set anymore? 

It's best to not use sets of things in a Airbnb that you can't buy individual replacements for when something gets broken or goes missing. Ikea and other stores sell dishware that you can buy by the separate price. So you can easily pick up a few more dishes that will match.

Guests break things sometimes- we all do. Little things aren't worth fussing about- set aside a few dollars from each booking so when things need to be replaced, you have a fund for that.

Sometimes a guest accidentally breaks something and hides the evidence, throwing the pieces in a dumpster or out with the garbage, rather than stealing it. Sometimes they even move things to some strange place and you don't find it for awhile.

But if a guest steals a whole set of plates, of course you should charge them for that.

[Charlotte742]

Hello, I am a fairly new host with Airbnb (as of last summer). I've had some lovely guests (some more than others, of course!) and I'm nearly always around all the time for my guests, apart from a few unavoidable moments. However, I noticed just today that a silver-plated runcible spoon in my cutlery drawer has gone (and, no, it's nowhere else in my place). It's something I like very much but not something I use that often. I think I've just got to swallow that loss but it feels bad...I think I know the guest who did this. Unfortunately, I've left them a review - a positive one. They never responded and left me one at all.

I can't tuck away every single thing that means something to me - I haven't the space to do that and it's my home and I use and/or look at those things. I don't know what to do - quite frankly it's putting me off hosting at all...

[Andre260]

I've put it in my house rules that you are NOT allowed to "shop" in my home. It's my home, not a hotel and I push back hard on those whose answer is "lock it up" or "it's not that big of a deal".  For those of us who host inside of our homes, we can't just "lock up" everything - it's our HOME and taking something without permission is commonly referred to as STEALING. Stop normalizing theft. It's never okay to come to someone's HOME and take things that don't belong to you under any circumstances. I don't care if it is "just" a bar of soap, or a $6 lamp, or a plate - it wasn't yours to take. Period. Walmart has $6 lamps, i'm sure - but go in there right now and put one in your bag without paying for it -  will it "just" be a $6 lamp then? Will Walmart excuse you because it's inexpensive? Exactly.

You didn't have it when you checked in, you shouldn't have it when you checked out unless it was GIVEN to you. And if it was "just" a bar of soap, why didn't the guest "just" ask, "may I take an extra bar of soap?" - i'm almost 100% sure the host would have agreed, but nooooo, they had to steal it, so yes, it's theft. Stop normalizing this and gaslighting other hosts into thinking they shouldn't be angry about it.

[Sarah977]

I can't see that anyone here on this thread has "normalized" stealing.  Of course guests shouldn't take things without asking. Some hosts suggesting that valuable things be locked up or to only leave enough supplies for the number of guests on a booking and the length of stay isn't saying that stealing or helping oneself to things without asking isn't a big deal or "normal", it's just giving practical suggestions for making theft less likely.

The fact that most people lock their doors when they go out doesn't mean they are normalizing burglary, it just means they are taking precautions to deter it.

As a home-share host myself, I have never locked up anything, nor do I have a lock on my bedroom door.  Nor would I home share if it came to me having to do that.

I wouldn't leave my wallet or money or credit cards laying around in shared spaces if I wasn't present, but I have always been careful about that quite apart from having guests- like when my kids were teenagers and there could be lots of their friends hanging out in our home, some of whom I knew well and totally trusted, but others who were unknown to me.

I guess I've been lucky- I've never had any guest steal anything or use anything of mine without asking, aside from maybe borrowing some milk for their cereal when I wasn't around, but they always tell me they did such things and always replace it when they go to the store.

@Andre260

[Catherine2812]

I was wondering if anyone has any good ideas for a polite or funny/quirky sign I could make asking them not to steal towels? I’m in Buffalo and in the cold months can only get $40 per night and when they steal $10 worth of towels it makes it really not worth it. 

[Lisha199]

I also had similar issues recently. I had a girl booked with me for 20 nights. I have noticed during her stay, my vitamin E oil which I hardly used were 80 % gone.  Our food has been eaten and taken..

She also took a few jars with her. After her checked out I noticed one new bedding set was missing, which costed us 30 pounds. 

Those are things which I have noticed. God knows what else is missing.😠 Really annoying.

I haven't told Airbnb yet as I can't approve it!