Guests left the door unlocked - and now there seems to have been a theft. Economic responsibility?

[Inger-Merete0]

Hi,

I have been an AirBnB host since this spring, having more than 35 visitors and generally enjoying the experience a lot. I always leave a letter with practical information on the dining table, ranging from wifi password to restaurant recommendations to information about how to check out.

Last weekend I had three young women staying over. As usual, I told them that the letter contained wifi password and practical information. However, they did not bother to read it, and when they left the apartment, they left the front door unlocked, contrary to the request in the letter. They did not tell me about this. Since I naturally believed the door was locked, I did not enter the apartment until more than 24 hours later. It would seem that an expensive item forgotten by one of the guests as well as the three keys they left on the dining table are all gone - that someone most have found the apartment empty (the building is a big one) and helped themselves to it. Now we disagree about the cost. I think they should bear the cost of replacing the lock and keys, because instructions were given, an if they were unsure they could have asked me - I would have answered readily. They think I should have given the information about the keys orally or through the web page. I find the idea that I should have to tell someone not to leave someone else's apartment unlocked pretty surprising, to say the least.

Have any of you been in similar situations? How did you solve it?

[Branka-and-Silvia0]

@Inger-Merete0 Eh... you assume that all of your guests are caring, responsable adults who think and read instructions. In fact they are on vacation, they change 7 ABB units in 7 cities in  7 days and their brains are overloaded with to much informations. Their concentration is somewhere at level of 7 y.o. kids . 

Printed house rules and house manual is not enough! You have to tell them AND to show them all important informations AND have notes posted on all the critical places .

For example we have a note on the entrance door and it says: "ALWAYS lock this door with a key !"  + we have "Self check out instructions" printed on several languages and placed near the entrance door + we show them + we tell them ....and it is still not enough. We still often find the entrance door unlocked 😞 

Only automated wifi locks can save us

[Inger-Merete0]

Thank you, that's useful and disheartening. But would do you do when there appears to have been a break-in afterwards, as in this case, causing a dispute about the economic responsibility?

[Branka-and-Silvia0]

@Inger-Merete0 well keys are missing and you have to change locks and make new keys so I think you should make a damage claim through resoulution center. They will deny, you will involve Airbnb and see . You have nothing to lose.   

[Inger-Merete0]

Thank you!

[Allison116]

So sorry this happened to you.The hard thing is how do you know there was a break-in and it wasn’t your guests. That is the problem in establishing blame when you did not check the unit immediately.

This was not from Airbnb, but another short term rental site. There was a major  theft by the renter in San Francisco California in September. They stole $68,000 worth of merchandise and used drugs while on the property.

Now it seems the person used a fake ID and a fake credit card to rent the unit. And the theft is not covered by homeowners . insurance because it was a rental

[Inger-Merete0]

Thank you for replying! The reason I think it was a break-in was that the only things missing were the keys on the dinner table and a small loudspeaker the guest says she forgot - there are few other valuables in the flat that would not be a little difficult to just take off with. But when I read about that San Francisco horror story I guess I should be glad that damages here only seem to amount to $ 560.

[Edwin57]

My second Host witch is my Dad welcomes guest in and out he explains to the guest double cheack the door make sure is lock he explains in person and on the day of cheack out I explains to make sure to cheack door is secure and put the keys in the mail slot in case of y Dad being late witch is my second Host of the day of cheack out

[Momi0]

EDITED:  to fix typo.

@Inger-Merete0   

Hello Inger, its always difficult when dealing with this kind of situations, and I hope things work out for you and your guests.  However,  if you don't mind my saying, it would be a good idea for you to spend a bit more time on your listing.   In particular, the area of your House Rules.  Your House Rules do not stipulate that your guests will be held financially responsible for the loss of keys because you didn't write that.  Every standard lease in the world, or short term rentals should have that in the House Rules, and I have yet to see one American lease that doesn't state this.  I am an owner (landlord) of a property that has an annual tenant, and in my lease, its written that my renters will be financially responsible for the garage opener, keys, mailbox key if any of these items are lost or damaged.  They actually sign an addendum that list how much each item cost to replace.  Especially since we give them 2 garage openers, 1 mail key and 2 house keys.

I currently Co-Host 3 properties in Hawaii, and each of the hosts who hired me also did not have this in their listing either and were extremely happy that I was able to point this out.  I rewrote all of their house rules to protect them against matters like this as well as other possible scenarios.

QQ:  You seem to encourage having parties at your apartment by the statement in your house rules, which is very odd.  Typically this is not something neighbors want to experience from strangers going in and out of a unit all month long.  This is the biggest issue in Hawaii which is why so many residents are trying to shut ABB down.  (for entire homes and apartments)

I also noticed that you rent out the entire unit on ABB but you have chosen breakfast is included.  But I couldn't find any details on breakfast in your listing.  How do you provide this?  I read every listing as if I am a potential traveler and that part had me scratching my head.....are you stocking the fridge for every guests?  Do you deliver the breakfast? Definitely want to add more details to your listing which will help you avoid getting a lot of questions.  Your listing has 4 stars for Accuracy, so maybe that's part of it?  Not sure, but to answer your question about the guests responsibility.....its my opinion that you can always "TRY" to file a claim but chances are you won't get it since your listing does not make the guest responsible for the replacement cost. 

A good idea going forward would be to update your House Rules, and also, verbally tell each and every guest that they MUST lock the door or they risk these kinds of things happening.  I am in the process myself of installing an electronic keypad on my MAIN entrance door that can be locked via WIFI on my Iphone, but I also host in my home, so its a bit easier to remind folks to lock the door.  Plus, I don't give out keys....keys must stay on our property in a secured lockbox, but are used to enter the home. (we have 2 doors they enter to get to our main door. ) - Feel free to check out my House Rules, it might help you.  Many many hosts have "borrowed" my house rules. 

Another good idea would be to send a friendly reminder on check out day, (create a saved message) , so you just select the message in your account and send to every guests reminding them they must lock the door upon Check out. 

Congrats on making Superhost and let us know how things worked out for you.  I hope my post was helpful.  🙂

[Inger-Merete0]

Hi, Momi,

thank you, this is very helpful!

Some questions, though.

I'll add a paragraph about the keys immediately.

I'm not sure in what way I encourage parties?

Also: When it comes to breakfast, I usually leave home-made baked berry muffins in the fridge (they're lovely, if I may say so myself). However, there may be times that I will not have the time to make any, and will have to leave the guests something else. I don't want to make promises I cannot keep, which is why this field is left deliberately vague. This is also the reason I prefer to leave instructions for how to leave the keys in the flat - the routine will vary a bit, depending on whether I am in the city or not when the guests arrive or leave. What are your thoughts about being precise and keeping flexibility at the same time?

Thank you so much for taking the time.

[Inger-Merete0]

One more thing.

The view that guest are not economically responsible for the keys because it is not stipulated, sounds a bit strange to me. After all, they have access to every item in the apartment, not just the keys. Would every item have to be listed specifically for them to have the responsiblity? After all, there is not such a big difference between breaking the tv and losing the key - in both cases, things that are left in their care, is not returned in usable condition and will have to be replaced. Why should the keys be mentioned specifically?

Thank you in advance for advice, I really appreciate it.

Best wishes,

Inger Merete.

[Rene-and-Zac0]

@Inger-Merete0 Two things that will end this issue for you in one hour are a Schlage zwave keypad door lock and An automatic door closer. No lost keys, the door closes automatically and the lock automatically locks the door after 30 seconds. It seems like an incredible amount of energy to spend wondering if people ‘read’ the rules. Both of these items purchased together are about $200. I installed the lock myself, so you don’t need a locksmith. Look at your current situation, you buy a new key lock for $50-$75 and you still have the possibility of losing the new set of keys too. So if two guest in succession lose your old style key, your cost is about the same as buying an electronic keypad lock. I keep a backup key in a traditional lock box as a back up to the battery failing. As far as the guest leaving an item, ‘You left the apartment door unlocked. Please file a police report for your lost or stolen items. Thank you’. I also make it crystal clear, ‘ no parties’ and if you have a party, I’m charging you $300 for cleaning. 

[Madison17]

Forget the keys, that's my best advice. I'd suggest this lock I recently got and that I think you'd benefit from to help avoid the whole key situation and having to explain rules with locking doors, taking the risk of doors being left unlocked, etc. It connects to your AirBNB calendar and once guests book a stay with you, it automatically emails them a key code with instructions, it auto updates with each new booking, and instantly deactivates codes at time of check out for you! (: It's seriously the best, saves me so much time and handles everything for me https://www.amazon.com/AirLocking-Smart-Lock-for-AirBNB/dp/B0759NPC5Y/ref=as_sl_pc_tf_til?tag=airloc...

[David126]

Breakfast to me is something cooked, I do leave pastries etc out but do not advertise Breakfast.