Leaving personal papers etc in an airbnb!!!

Leaving personal papers etc in an airbnb!!!

I am not a host but I have stayed in over 20 airbnb's (not with this profile!) and am curious about something. I just recently stayed in a very nice self contained airbnb, an older couple lived in the main part of the house and I had my own private bedroom, sitting room/study, kitchen & bathroom, so nothing was shared. In the sitting room there were several bookcases with heaps of lovely books, and in amongst the books were files marked 'bank statements', 'centrelink', 'tax', etc. There was also an unlocked filing cabinet full of personal medical records, legal documents, fines, house deeds, WILLS!!, just about everything you could imagine. I am a terrible snoop so I spent 2 days reading everything in this room. I now know more about these people than I should! Fascinating stuff... centrelink fraud, tax fraud, family disputes. I could not beleive that this couple would leave such personal stuff lying around like that for strangers to see. I know some of you will say don't snoop in people's private things, but I can't help myself, it's in my nature. And I don't care... the stuff was sitting on the bookshelf amongst the books. The filing cabinet had a lock on it but it wasn't locked. 

So why would a host leave personal papers lying around like that? Do they assume that no one would be interested in reading their personal things? Why didn't they lock the filing cabinet and put the personal stuff in their part of the house? And they have been doing airbnb for years, so I wonder how many other people have read their stuff? Or am I just some kind of curiosity freak? When I left I could barely look them in the eye given everything I knew about them. Something to think about hosts...

36 Replies 36
Moira21
Level 8
Bispham, United Kingdom

@Shelley198  Note to self, don't ever host a lady called Shelley. I offer a private room in my home. I don't lock any internal doors nor do I leave anything lying around for anyone to 'Snoop' in. I'd be very angry if I found out someone I trusted had been going through my personal property. I don't think this is the norm so I hope you send them some feedback regarding this.

Lisa723
Level 10
Quilcene, WA

@Shelley198 please let these hosts know that they are inviting identity theft or worse.

Rachel0
Level 10
London, United Kingdom

@Shelley198  Quite frankly I think you should be ashamed of yourself.  Instead, you come onto this CC almost bragging about how it is "in your nature" to snoop.  Appalling.

Chris232
Level 10
Petersfield, United Kingdom

Hmmmm

 

Am I the only one to think this is a troll looking for attention with a wind-up post ?

Rachel0
Level 10
London, United Kingdom

Possible I suppose but what would be the point?  She certainly got up my nose, silly moo.

Emilia42
Level 10
Orono, ME

@Shelley198 

Maybe these hosts spent weeks, or months, creating fake documents about their lives that they then put into their Airbnb and are secretly watching as guests spend their precious vacation hours obsessing over the drama. I might do something like that ... 

@Emilia42 I can't stop laughing!

Ana1136
Level 10
Ohrid, Macedonia (FYROM)

@Shelley198 were you too ashamed to open this thread from your real profile? I know I would be! 🙂 

ashamed of what? If the hosts are stupid enough to leave their paperwork in their self contained apartment that's their problem. They gave me an excellent review and I would like to return again, and I have 26 positive reviews so I'm not going to jeopardise that. 

@Shelley198  Really? There's no reviews on your profile at all. Why are you hiding your real profile if you're so proud of your disgusting behavior? If you're not just a troll making all this up, I hope some host rifles through all your personal possessions someday. 

yeah as I have stated twice this is not my real profile! And if let a stranger stay in my apartment with all my personal possessions available for them to see then I would half expect them to look at them and that would be my fault!

Sally221
Level 10
Berkeley, CA

Emilia,  I hope you are right & the joke's on sneaky Shelley!. We are all going to be giving side eye to  all the blameless Shelleys out there - it probably isn't a real picture either-trollish folks prefer to wear a mask, right?

No they were genuine documents obviously, and the fact that some of you are so HORRIFIED at someone snooping, which probably happens a lot, does that not tell you that I may have done someone a favour and made them think, 'Well maybe I should lock away these private documents!' I mean the bloke told me to help myself to his books, he was bragging about how many valuable books he has, so when I see a folder labelled Court Documents in between Shakespeare and Dickens I know which one I am going to read! We are all different, and being such a curious and intelligent person I get a kind of high from reading people's things. To see the difference between the public persona and the harsh reality of people's lives is fascinating! My point being just because you wouldn't do it don't assume that your guests wouldn't. I only ever stay in self contained places where I don't have to share anything, and this is the first time I have encountered so much stuff to read. My post is 100% genuine and I am not ashamed of anything.

Helen350
Level 10
Whitehaven, United Kingdom

@Shelley198 Have you got a Personality Disorder?