Guests leaving items behind

[Mary-And-Kelly0]

Hi all

I just have a general question: if a host finds items left by guests is it the hosts responsibility to contact the guest or is it up to the guest to call the host?

Any responses will be greatly appreciated!

Thank you, Mary M

[Alexandra316]

@Mary-And-Kelly0as a host, I would immediately contact a guest if I found they had left property behind and try and get it back to them right away.

If I was a guest and noticed I was missing something, I would contact the host ASAP. 

I'm not sure there is a rule for this, per se. I would just want to get the property back to the guest if I was hosting, or get my property back if I was the guest. 

[Sarah977]

@Alexandra316I totally agree. This is not any issue of airbnb policy regarding responsibilities of hosts and guests. If I found something left behind, of course I would contact the guest, just as I would if a friend or family member did. It only takes a minute to send a message, text, or make a phone call.

[Mary-And-Kelly0]

 Thank you for taking the time to reply!

[Mary-And-Kelly0]

 Thank you for taking the time to respond! I appreciate all the time and effort other hosts put in to responding in this community center! 

[Sarah977]

Funny story- a guest recently left a somewhat ratty Tampa Bay Buccaneers T-shirt behind, but since I had seen him wear it a lot, I figured maybe it was a golden-oldie he'd like back. His response was- "Thanks for letting me know. Throw it away, pass it on, or you might consider becoming a Buccaneers fan, all other disappointments in life will pale in comparison."

[Kate1891]

hahahahaha.. love that. 

[Marzena4]

Hello @Mary-And-Kelly0. It was not the first time for me recently that a guest left something, but it was the first problematic guest to do so. So I went to some lengths to check regulations and so on. Here it is: if a hotelier discovers lost property, they are obliged to inform a guest (though there is no punishment if they fail to do so); the items, if sent to the guest, are sent at their expense; if the guest fails to respond, the items are kept for some time - and here it depends what it is and may vary locally - I came across the periods stated from just 0 or a day (food items) to 90 days. Usually the guest should contact the hotelier within 14 days. After that the hotelier has the right to utilise the items. You must check your local regulations on that.

[Fred13]

This is a thing that falls under 'common sense'. if it is of any importance, the guest should be informed and every effort made to return it. Being in a foreign country returning  jewellery, cameras, laptops & tablets, etc is not so easy, so I send it with the next Guest (if of the same country) and they send it to who left it.

[Jacqueline58]

Upon departure from my stand-alone cabin, a guest left an inch of milk in a jug, almost empty salad dressing, (messy frig), her chipped coffee cup, a thrift-store wine glass, wilted flowers, and a phone jack.  I texted her, saying she had left items behind. She said not to worry about them, they were "gifts" except for the phone jack which was inexpensive so not to worry about.  Gifts? I thought she was just manipulative and didn't want to clean up after herself. I provide 4 nice coffee cups, wine glasses, other drinking glasses, but she left 2 dirty coffee cups and stuck artifical flowers in them!  I would never have her back again but was unsure how to write a review. The place wasn't left as nasty as some but I clearly state to remove all food and wash dirty dishes with soap.  Your thoughts?

[Sarah977]

Haha. Yes, as a sometime property manager (not my airbnb listing) I've had renters who, when they were moving out and I saw all the junk they were leaving behind and said, "Oh don't forget all those bent hangars and the cracked blender container", said, "Oh, you can have that stuff."

It's called lazy and irresponsible for their own mess.

I'd give her a low rating for cleanliness and send her a personal message letting her know that no one considers garbage left behind to be a "gift". However, if she was an okay renter in other ways (respectful of house rules other than cleaning up after yourself, not demanding or nasty), I'd add something positive as well in the personal message. People take criticism better if it comes with some praise in other regards.

[Jessica-and-Henry0]

@Mary-And-Kelly0

I'm an on-site host with a private room (shared home) listing so Henry or I usually do a quick walk-thru of the room and bathroom to check if the guest missed anything. It hasn't happened yet, but I think I'd take a picture and message the guest to ask how they would like to handle it. I'd be open to sending it to them if they were willing to pay for shipping. Personally, I would not hold onto anything for more than 2~3 weeks.

[Lauren-and-Sam0]

We were just contacted by someone who says they stayed at our house several months ago. We don’t recognize the name as a guest we’ve hosted, so they must have stayed with someone else who completed the booking. They said they had something shipped to our house but it never arrived and they’d forgotten about it. We had an unknown package arrive several months ago,  addressed to our house. We set it aside for a month or more,  waiting to see if anyone contacted us about it. We finally opened it a couple weeks ago. It was some olive oil, which we used. I now assume this is what they are referring to.  What are/were our obligations? 

[Mark3608]

Hello!  We are kind of  new to hosting and were wondering how you would respond to  finding a handgun under the pillow of the bed?  

[Helen427]

OMG @Mark3608  It's times like this that we are glad we don't live in America, that said, it can and does also happen in little ole New Zealand.

Contact your local Police / Law enforcement office and ask them for advice.

Personally I'd be inclined to ask them to pop by and pick it up for your own Personal Safety.

They should be most obliging to do so because you also should technically know if it's loaded with ammunition or not, do you?

Be careful what you say online here!

All the best and keep safe