Host robbery! Be careful out there!!

[Danielle115]

HI community!  I am still in shock from discovering this morning I had been robbed by my last guest.  I feel so violated and crushed and really don't even know how to move forward from here or how to protect myself from this happening in the future.  Today my mother (who helps clean our home in between guests as we live abroad) went to my house and found my place totally ransacked.  The person stole my massive and very expensive king size bed and bed frame, a record player, a stereo with an ipod, my kitchen trash can (???), board games, liqour, tools from my shed, all my linens and towels, my large stock of paper towels, and other things I have yet to discover because I am not there.  It is clear a real theif off the street would not take these things.  They would take applicances, my nice bicycle, the really expensive liqour, jewely, art...this person clearly needed to furnish his apartment or something.  Airbnb acted very concerned and said this was an emergency and someone would be calling me, but there have been no calls and no emails.  Total silence.  I'm getting very scared that Airbnb is not going to reimburse me or help me track this person down, or even investigate this person.  I just read another thread of this happening to someone else who had it all on camera and he got NO help and NO reimbursment and its been a month.  Does anyone know anything about how to handle this situation or what I should be doing?  I mean at this point, I'm scared to keep hosting.  And I have a lot of reservations coming up including one for tomorrow that I had to cancel and now I have lost reservation money in addition to belongings I HAVE to replace in order to keep hosting.  A new kind bed is not exactlty cheap...I just feel in such a scary and violating situation, Airbnb should be more present dont you think?  After all, this did happen because of their site and with a person I see they havent even verified!  I just want to protect other hosts from being in this situation.  Please dont host people who dont have reviews and all their info verified and HAVE CAMERAS!  Keep an eye on your properties because you never know!  I still cant believe this happened to me in San Antonio Texas after hosting for so long.  I just cant believe it.  Be safe.

[Annette33]

I am so so sorry this has happened to you, how awful!!!

I hope you will be getting something out of Airbnb, but these days, you probably can't count on it.

For your own good, if you continue hosting via Airbnb, I would immediately turn off the instant booking you have in place, and also change may cancellation requirement from flexible to moderate.

From reading some horror stories here in the forum, it seems to me that these things happen when nobody, certainly not the host , is around. It just seems too risky these days. Could you possibly find someone to go by each day you have  guests there, possibly with an excuse to bring new towels, or whatever, to go by the place and check on things? and if the guests are not there, just get in with an extra key? Whatever you would have to pay that person, add it to your rental price. 

I sure hope you won't have to deal now with the consequences of cancelling the next people, like having these dates blocked and $$ penalties leveled against you.  

my sympathies,

thanx for the heads up on this, I hope you got the police involved, took pictures, and absolutely, flag these people and insist Airbnb banish them. If not , at the absolute minimum, give them a terrible review.

Annette

[Robert343]

If you send people over they can claim you robbed them. This just happened to us. They kept calling for silly reasons, then ten minutes before checking out called to say that they were robbed for a very expensive piece of jewelry, which they blamed on our housekeeper. In the meantime a lot of our jewelry kept in a locked closet dissapeared. 

[Carissa2]

Hi, I am a host in Salt Lake City. My husband and I just had some guests staying in our basement apartment who we walked in on doing drugs. They had died her hair blue in my bathroom and damaged towels, as well as gotten blood on my carpet and bedding. When I left a review on the girls account it was brief professional but clearly stated the drug use. I was contacted by Airbnb and was told that my review violated their review policy and it was taken down. How are other hosts supposed to know that this person has brought illegal drugs into a family home? I have three small children!

[Adele15]

Airbnb, Your not the company I thought you were.  Too many unresolved issues.  I'm one of them!  Not a happy Airbnb host!  Community, so sorry for all of you that have been robbed, unforseen problems, etc.

 Not liking the community of guests right now either!!!  Kicked a guy out today because he wanted only to pay by cash after being a guest of Airbnb for 2 days. My gut was screaming, "get him out of here!" and so I did!!! 

[Sara245]

Hello! I'm so sorry to hear your story.

I just got robbed as of the moment I'm writing this. Just came back, paintings gone, all warderobbs open..

Please advice how to contat air bnb. I cant find any comunication chanel regarding this! 

So upseat :(((

[Debby-And-Kevin0]

Sad you had to go through that. Terrible! You homeowner's insurance should cover most of it, if you have a "rental" insurance clause. We live on site, so are able to meet our guests personally, plus keep an eye on what's happening at our little house. Did you get his license number? Anything that will help you find him? Good luck. Again, sorry for this awful experience. 

[Robert343]

Make a police report first!

[Amos7]

i also habe been robbed.  Everything possible.  Even cables...  Perfumes Guitar, flute, powerbank,  second phone( even with broken screen) etcetc...  My wall has now a crack and I may never rent my flat again... What is worse is that i am afraid to go to police cos i heard Airbnb in Berlin  is not allowed and i don't wanna risk to be fined...  Imagine...  I really do not know what to do...  😞

[David126]

@Amos7

You need to contact your Insurer as well as AirBnB, I would expect that both will expect you to have contacted the Police.

[Amos7]

But I do not have insurance.  Also Airbnb already told me there is nothing they can do about it  😞

So Annabel from Munich thinks she is safe... 

[Sherry66]

SERIOUSLY?  You do not have insurance?  What if a guest is injured on your property and sues you? What if someone is cooking dinner and accidentally burns the place down? You need to use some of your AirBnB profits to get insurance. It is NOT that expensive.

[Jessica-and-Henry0]

@Danielle115 @Sara @Amos7

How terrible!!!!!! I can't begin to image what you are going through.

Please get the police involved immediately. Based on what I've read from the reviews of other hosts, Airbnb will only respond if you file a report with the police regarding the theft. 

[Amos7]

Hi there, 

Thanks. Actually the damages are more psycological than material.  I don't feel safe at home they went through every single thing.... 

I think I will go to police today.  Only concern is that I may get in trouble and even high  fine?  For ranting as a holiday flat in Berlin as it is not allowed and surely even my landlord would not be too Happy 😞

[Sherry66]

Maybe it's Karma for your lack of ethics. If it is not allowed by the City or by your landlord then you shouldn't be doing it.