Theft of bicycle by a non-guest

[Kirk60]

Hey all. I'm a guest at an Airbnb where use of their bicycles was allowed. I've taken the bike for a trip, locked it up, and returned to find it stolen. Any advice on how to approach the situation and handle with the host? What support is available via Airbnb? Appreciate any advice. 

[Sarah977]

@Kirk60  I would just be immediately straightforward with the host as to what happened. If they leave bikes for guests to use, of course there's always the possiblilty of this happening, so they may have them insured, or have a fund set aside for replacing them, and may in fact have had it happen before. They certainly can't be shocked that such a thing might happen, it's not something totally uncommon.

Most hosts will be much less upset if a guest loses, damages, or in this case has something of the host's stolen, if the guest reports it immediately. And they may want to file a police report ASAP- it could possibly be recovered. 

If they get really mad, tell you that you have to pay for it, then post back here and people can give you further advice on how to proceed.

[Kevin1322]

Hi @Kirk60 I'm a host, from my point of view you took every reasonable care of the bike, you are not to blame, I would take the hit or look to my insurers.  Hope this works out for you.

All I would expect from the guest was them paying me the courtesy of co-operating with a police report if required.

Not your bike, not your problem. I hope your host is of a similar mindset.

[Kaylee18]

@Kirk60 

As a host I would not blame you for a theft of a bike. Not something you can prevent. 

I would let the host know ASAP so that way if they decide to file a police report they can. There may have been cameras where the bike was locked up, and they can also file the bike serial number with the report (sometimes bikes have been recovered that way). 

Hopefully they will be understanding!