Items stolen from the common area of our Airbnb (Guest)

[Andrew666]

Hi there,

Inquiring to get some information on our situation:

A friend and I rented a private room in a shared apartment with 3 rooms total. Last night my friend left his jacket, with his wallet out on the couch of the common area. When we woke up today, we found that jacket gone, wallet on the table that had apparently been gone through with all the USD removed and cards rearranged.

There were 2 other parties occupying the 2 other rooms at the time, they left this morning. Also to important that we have concerns about the overrall security of the unit. It is a apartment in a town house and there are 2 layers of security. 1) Front door leading to the street and 2) Door leading to the apartment. We found that both doors may have comprised security as the locks often do not work and the doors don't even close properly.

We are unsure of who took the jacket and the items from the wallet but the possibilities are 1) The other guests or 2) External individuals from outside the apartment.

Unsure of what to do for next steps. We've contacted the host who told us to contact airbnb.

Thank you for your help!

Andrew

[Jeff158]

@Andrew666  you need to involve the police so you can claim on your travel insurance, if you have no travel insurance airbnb will require the police report and if they are in a good mood might consider compensating you.

[Matthew285]

@Andrew666 I sorry this has happened to you! (Well, to your friend.)

I am not sure why the host told you to call Airbnb... what is Airbnb supposed to do?

If you have no idea who stole the jacket and money, and the host has no idea, is Airbnb somehow magically supposed to know who took the stuff?

Surely the host cannot possibly believe Airbnb's host guarantee is somehow supposed to cover incidents like this.

Anyway: next steps would include calling the police (you don't say what country you are traveling in).

And if you take another trip where you book a shared room:

1. For goodness sake, don't leave any of your personal belongings in the common areas.
   (This would be the equivalent of leaving your jacket and wallet in the lobby of a hotel.)
2. You might consider Travel Insurance, which is designed to cover events like this.

Also, if the locks are somehow not fully secure, you should let the host know that the host needs to fix the locks. If the host seems reluctant to fix the locks, it would be entirely appropriate to mention that the locks did not seem entirely secure to you, but that you hoped the host would fix it soon.

However, if the host jumps to it and fixes the locks, then I would avoid mentioning the locks.

[Sandra126]

Cancel your cards immediately. As in right away, do it now!

[David126]

Notify:

The Police

Your Card Issuer

Your Insurer.

[Michael956]

I agree.  Leaving a jacket with a wallet in it in a commonly shared room is like leaving it in the lobby of a hotel.  

[Gordon0]

@Michael956 - While I wouldn't do it, I do wonder if Airbnb hasn't set people up for stuff like by illustrating it as being akin to 'staying with friends'. Their advertising (you know, beautiful smiley people, laughing, chatting and so on...) certainly paints a picture of perfection.  

[Andrew666]

Smiling, chatting, having fun. Then at the end of the day they steal your things.