My Host Stole Cash from me! HELP!

Lily218
Level 1
Taipei, Taiwan

My Host Stole Cash from me! HELP!

I stayed in an Airbnb in Barcelona, when I checked in, I realized the place is shared flat with other guests and it was not introduced in the profile when I booked. The host told me the lock to my room is broken and he will give me the lock in two days. Because he emphasized that there's still lock to the whole flat and the building so it's still very safe to stay for the first two days. It was almost 1am at night, so I don't have any choice.

 

However, the day before he came to give me the lock to the door, I realized the cash in my wallet is gone ($1100 euros), I have put the money in my wallet and also in my suitcase so I pretty sure it has been stolen in the airbnb. I contacted my host, he only asked me "When will you check out? when is your flight? I will ask the cleaning guy." after that, he never replied back. I went to police already but I am trying to look for other solutions.

 

After all this happened, I checked the host's review. Under his 1000+ reviews, there were another guest who faced EXACTLY THE SAME situation in 3 months ago, I can't believe no one has ever reported this to airbnb and the listing is still on the Airbnb.

 

What should I do? I called the host 10+ times and he never picked up the phone and the Airbnb customer service didn't reply me either.

3 Replies 3
Emiel1
Level 10
Leeuwarden, The Netherlands

@Lily218 

1100,- Euro's in cash is a lot of money to carry with you or leave in an  accomodation without a proper lock

 You went already to the police, so they will have to investigate. I fear there is not much Airbnb can do, despite the host failing to provide a basic amenity like a lock on your room.

best regards,

Emiel

Sarah977
Level 10
Sayulita, Mexico

@Lily218   I'm so sorry this happened to you. You do say that the place was shared with other guests, so how do you know it was the host who stole your $, not one of the other guests? And that could have been the same case with the other guest whose review you read. But this host doesn't sound good, I agree, even if he wasn't the thief, if he is not bothering to reply to messages and was lax about making sure you had a lockable door.

Try contacting Airbnb through Twitter to report this host or the listing, if he doesn't make it clear that it's shared with other guests- it is said to get the best and fastest response. You can also go to the host's profile and flag it.

But, as Emiel pointed out, travelling with that much cash and leaving it in the room (even if there is a lock, hosts usually have keys to all the rooms in their homes) is pretty risky.

Cormac0
Level 10
Kraków, Poland

@Lily218 

 

It sounds very suspicious to me, this is the second time this has happened and the Host did not find it necessary to provide a lock for all the doors in his listing the first time around, I’d say on the balance of probability he has had a hand in it.

 

There is very little you can do, it's your word against his, is your cash covered by travel insurance?

 

Report it as a unsafe listing to Airbnb they might do something and they might not.