Guest stole our boat

[Jill365]

Hello,

 I had a guest host some friends at our cabin for a “guys weekend”.

I verbally conveyed rules as well as sent an email. 

While on site, guest texts me and asks if they can use our bow rider boat. I decline the request, and say “no. Boat is off limits. We are not insured”.

The following day, I received a phone call from my neighbour asking if I gave guests permission to use our boat, because they were out on the water with it causing disruptance to neighbourhood in a no wake zone. Thankfully no one was injured (guests or public). 

I had initially asked the group to leave immediately, but retracted my request as I am 2 hours away and could not escort them off my property myself. I was also fearful that they would retaliate and damage property on their way out. 

After check out, I was relieved to find our property in good condition (taking out their trash, leaving it the way they found it, etc. I cannot tell if there is damage to the boat and will not be able to until we take it out of the water this fall. They tied it up and snapped cover back on.

3 things:

1) guests stole our boat after I told them they were not permitted to use it  

2) they found our hidden battery pack to boost it

3) they endangered others and potentially damaged waterfront property

What would you do now? I have left an honest review (* house rule, *** communication, ***** cleanliness).

I would like to charge fee for violating house rule (and breaking the law).  How likely is it that I will be compensated fo gas, theft, etc? I’m wondering if they’ll leave a revenge review after I summit request for payment (which I now only have 24 hours to do)

please be kind, this was a very stressful situation and I’m not up for hateful/unhelpful  comments. 

[Ana1136]

@Jill365 I am sorry you had to deal with such disrespectfull guests. But to be fair they didn't steal the boat, it is still there. You can not charge a fee for breaking the law because you are not authorized to do that. If maybe someone called the police they may have fined them, but this way there is nothing you can do about breaking the law. You can ask them to be compensated for gas but I don't think they will pay and you can expect a revenge review for sure.

[Letti0]

@Jill365  As @Ana1136  says they will probably not pay for anything, but I would contact AirBnB and request his account be pulled and that your case be escalated to Trust and Safety team asap. Taking an unauthorized boat that you specifically stated "no" to the use of and endangering others with it was a huge liability to both you and AirBnB as you say someone could have been hurt. The Trust and Safety team would need to investigate, but in this case I would let them. This was not a minor look the other way kinda thing. It was dangerous and reckless and he should be penalized for it by AirBnB.  

[John1080]

@Jill365, stealing is kind of a strong use of words here, as I was imagining they took it off the property to keep for good.

In any event, I would be severely upset over their behavior but would be thankful after the fact that no one was injured as, as you mentioned there would be major insurance issues. 

I would take the opportunity to find a way to lock up the boat to prevent use. We hosts shouldn't have to be parents as such or go out of our way to do things like lock up boats, but unfortunately we have to because many guests do not follow the rules.