Guest held up by gangsters inside guest house , tied up and robbed of all possessions.

[Bonjour-BandB0]

My son and his partner were held up in their room, stripped and tied up and robbed of all their posssessions.

This incident happened last night in Johannesburg South Africa.

Is the Host accountable or can a claim be lodged against Airbnb.

We are aware that many hosts are not registered as guest houses or B&B's  and do not carry insurances .

Can anyone shed some light on how my son and his partner can recover their losses from this traumatic ordeal.

As far as we are aware Airbnb does not ask for proof of insurances, public liability or trading licences which naturally suits their pockets too. i FEEL THAT THEY SHOULD  BE HELD ACCOUNTABLE

Your response is appreciated

[Branka-and-Silvia0]

@Bonjour-BandB0 

OMG 😞 I am so sorry, it must be a terrible experience.

I am not a lawyer but I spoke with a few insurance agencies and found out they would cover the robbery only if the main entrance was fully locked with a key  ( the key has to be rotated 2x) and there are signs of forced entry on the entrance door or windows. The insurer will cover the loss of valuables only if they were stored in a locked safe and the safe was open by force.

They also require a police report.

Obviously, they held the user responsible to take all the measures to keep the property safe against theft and robbery and will not cover the loss if the user was careless and left the door unlocked or windows open.

Of course, it is the host's responsibility to have good quality locks and the keys shouldn't be easy to duplicate.

Don't get me wrong, I am not accusing anyone and have no idea what happened but...

I am the host, I have an expensive digital lock on the front door and it automatically locks itself when you close the door. 

But you have to manually close the door! 

I always warn my guests (multiple times) to properly close the front door + I have 3 notes on the door and in the hallway, written on 6 languages to remind them.

I have notes taped on every window + I always tell them to fully close all the windows while they are sleeping or are not present because the apartment is on the mezzanine floor.. 

But still, my guests often leave the front door and windows wide open during the entire night while they are sleeping.  I don't understand them :(((  Our apartment is in the residential building in the city center of the Croatian capital, it is not a little house on the prairie, but guests are often very, very careless and the host is helpless.

[Branka-and-Silvia0]

@Bonjour-BandB0 

OMG 😞 I am so sorry, it must be a terrible experience.

I am not a lawyer but I spoke with a few insurance agencies and found out they would cover the robbery only if the main entrance was fully locked with a key  ( the key has to be rotated 2x) and there are signs of forced entry on the entrance door or windows. The insurer will cover the loss of valuables only if they were stored in a locked safe and the safe was open by force.

They also require a police report.

Obviously, they held the user responsible to take all the measures to keep the property safe against theft and robbery and will not cover the loss if the user was careless and left the door unlocked or windows open.

Of course, it is the host's responsibility to have good quality locks and the keys shouldn't be easy to duplicate.

Don't get me wrong, I am not accusing anyone and have no idea what happened but...

I am the host, I have an expensive digital lock on the front door and it automatically locks itself when you close the door. 

But you have to manually close the door! 

I always warn my guests (multiple times) to properly close the front door + I have 3 notes on the door and in the hallway, written on 6 languages to remind them.

I have notes taped on every window + I always tell them to fully close all the windows while they are sleeping or are not present because the apartment is located just 1,5 meter above the street level.

But still, my guests often leave the front door and windows wide open during the entire night while they are sleeping.  I don't understand them :(((  Our apartment is in the residential building in the city center of the Croatian capital, it is not a little house on the prairie, but guests are often very, very careless and the host is helpless.

[Gerry-And-Rashid0]

@Bonjour-BandB0 Horrible experience- the best route is for them to file a claim on their travel insurance- I assume they called the police and have a case number etc. You would usually have to prove negligence on behalf of the property owner to have any chance of making a claim.