Nightmare Scenario: Guest Stole Cat, Lied About It and Caused Extensive Damage

Ryan639
Level 2
Jeffersonville, NY

Nightmare Scenario: Guest Stole Cat, Lied About It and Caused Extensive Damage

Hey AirBnB Community:

 

I hate to even be sharing this story, because it was that terryfing scenario that existed in the back of my head, but it happened and wanted to seek advice from other hosts, so here it goes: 

 

I had a group staying of 4 young guests staying for 2 nights. They had one previous good review, a verified profile and no indication during their stay anything for me to be alarmed of or raise suspicion. Until the last night of their stay. It was about 9pm and I had left my phone at a friend's house, so left the house to go retrieve it. Upon doing so, I noticed that one of our cats was sitting in the window of the listing, looking toward our house. It seemed strange, as he is a very social cat and if inside usually sticks around people, so I asked my fiance to stay behind and go try to knock on the door and retrieve him. She went to knock on the door and noticed that almost all of the windows of the house were open, during a 15-20 degree winter night in upstate New York, and that they were blasting music (both of which break house rules).  She banged on the door, yelled for their attention and still got no response, even during breaks in the music. So she sent them a message telling them asking to close the windows and let the cat outside so that he could make his way back to our house. Still...no response. We waited up many hours, presuming they just hadn't seen the message, finally going to bed, though in retrospect should've followed our instinct to go inside to retrieve the cat. I awoke in the middle of the night with a bad feeling. 

 

The next morning we awoke, expecting to find the cat outside, but he didn't come home. We live in a rural area where nature sometimes takes it's course so it made us somewhat concerned, as did the fact that the first of two winter storms were hitting the next evening, but they are outside cats and have been known to hang outside for a couple days. So we went to work, thinking he'd be there when we got home, but later in the day were informed by a friend who went to check on the cat while we were gone that he hadn't returned. The guests checked-out that day while we were gone. 

 

When I returned home that night around 11pm, after still no cat and no response from the guest, I immediately went straight to the listing to check on its status. At first, everything seemed reasonable, though they had still left windows open in the winter cold. Then, I noticed that the comforter on the bed was missing. After checking all the beds and rooms and not finding it, I looked in the closet and found it, wrapped in a ball, soaked in human urine. I looked through the trash and found empty alcohol bottles, the remnants of a joint and vape supplies (house rules 3rd strike). I looked at the guest's profile again, seeing that it was verified, and also on second notice that the secondary pictures on her profile showed someone very young and a listing wish list called "Prom." Clearly, an underaged party that got out of hand. Still no response from the guest. 

 

The next morning my fiance called the guest directly to ask her if she knew anything about the whereabouts of the cat or about the urine soaked comforter, to which she claimed to have let the cat out that night in question and laughed about the comforter, "Oh, that was probably my friends." The guest was informed of the cost to replace the item and responded, "I'll pay whatever it costs to fix it. But everything else is okay?" Which seemed super suspicious in hindsight after they got off the phone. 

 

Immediately I initiated a call to AirBnB for damage, as the next guest was to check-in the following day, then during daylight I noticed extensive additional damage to the drywall, small wholes in the ceiling, tape on the walls, stains on multipe pieces of furniture, items out of place, a broken cabinet, and a urine smell. I documented everything to AirBnB, who escalated the case, highlighting to them my immediate concern that I believed they were involved in the cat being missing and that two impending winter storms narrowed the possibility of finding him. After an hour on the phone explaining the situation, and my fiance and I already missing our entire day and afternoon of work, the case manager called the guest to ask her side of the story. She claimed everything was great, they let the cat out and that was all she said. As I've heard many times now from the case manager that all phone calls are "on a recorded line."

 

I didn't believe her and my instinct told me they were lying and had done something to our cat. My mind went a million dark ways, but with the urine, damaged property, odd behavior and clear lies, I believed that they had either killed the cat or messed with it so severely that it ran away. I felt seriously violated their behavior and deeply saddened by the potential that I wouldn't see him again. I spent the rest of the afternoon looking for the cat's body in ditches and properties surrounding the listing, expecting to, but hoping not to find him.

 

Upon returning, I directly called the guest myself to ask her about the cat. At this point, she had told two people that she last saw the cat after letting it out before going to bed, which is what she told me as well the first of several times I asked her. I continued to press her on the issue, then turning to the urine situation, as that seemed totally strange and multiple parts of her story didn't line up. Her responses took on an increase tone of guilt and finally she admitted, "I'm sorry, we took the cat. We thought it was a stray." I had gotten her to admit that she stole our cat (now have evidence of it), but was immediately most concerned with getting the cat back. To which I was able to force them to meet me halfway and return him, not wanting to risk them harming the cat.

 

After a treacherous 3 day ordeal, I'm happy to say I got him back and that is resolved. But the question is now about the damage from the stay and the experience we just endured:  

 

-Do I even have to write her a review or will her profile just be banned for breaking AirBnB policy? 

-Besides the obvious damage to property, extra cleaning fees, transportation costs, lost wages, is there anything else I should include in our claim? 

-Can I ask for the price of installing security cameras as we now no longer trust for our safety? 

-Since I don't want underaged guests any longer and AirBnB doesn't display a guest's age or indicator they are 21, is there any way I can prevent underaged guests?

-I've extensively cleaned the floor where the urine happened, but since I didn't find out about the urine until more than 48 hours later and it seems to have soaked into the floor, what if I have to replace the flooring if the smell doesn't go away? 

-I've been informed that the case has been moved from the resolution center to the "Host Guarantee" program. There is extensive damage and the guest has already expressed resistance to paying it. I am somewhat concerned, as the guest knows where the house is, that they would potentially come back and inflict damage if I were to actually put the real cost of damage repair. 

 

Any and all (postive) advice is welcome.

 

Thank you so much and here's hoping that this never happens to anyone else! 

 

7 Replies 7
Kelly149
Level 10
Austin, TX

This is a guess only,goodness knows anything could happen. 

1. Be glad you have your pet! (Don’t ever let guests have access to your pets!)

2. Yes, write a bad review. No, this guest won’t be banned. 

3.  You may get $20 for your blanket. 

4. I don’t envision any scenario where abb gives you money for anything else. 

5.  Rules breaches give you the right to enter. & to ask guest to leave. Abb will not problem solve for you , nor make you whole when guests cause damage. So, when guests are bad (loud music, windows open, pet in the wrong place...) deal with it yourself & immediately. 

 

Glad you have your cat back. 

Really? In New York State and presumably elsewhere, it is illegal to steal someones pet and then lie about it. Not enough to close the account? Ha, or am I just not cynical enough. Could a guest can commit a criminal act at an AirBnB and not violate the theft policy of Community Standards "you should not take property that isn’t yours, use someone’s property without their permission"

 

 
15.4 Airbnb may immediately, without notice, terminate this Agreement and/or stop providing access to the Airbnb Platform if (i) you have materially breached your obligations under these Terms, the Payments Terms, our Policies or Standards, (ii) you have violated applicable laws, regulations or third party rights, or (iii) Airbnb believes in good faith that such action is reasonably necessary to protect the personal safety or property of Airbnb, its Members, or third parties (for example in the case of fraudulent behavior of a Member).
 

Yes @Ryan0,

You are not cynical enough. You are a professional getting paid money to house strangers.

They can and will lie, steal and mistreat your cat. 

You have to protect yourself. When someone breaks important rules and mistreats your property, you must subdue the bad acts with your presence, communications and eagle watch or you must kick them out.

Over time, you will learn that you can protect yourself better and you won't have to fear for your cat.

Glad your cat is fine.

 

 

 

John1080
Level 10
Westcliffe, CO

Leave her a 1-star review and a thumbs down. It's infuriating just reading this and that person, using the word person lightly, has no business even being on Airbnb. Thank goodness the cat has been returned, but I wouldn't expect much help on recovering any damages from CS. 

Mark116
Level 10
Jersey City, NJ

@Ryan639If I were you I would give long and hard thought about how to protect your pets from future guests.  I'm glad you got your cat back but it could have ended very, very differently.

 

Airbnb isn't too good usually in paying damages, so getting lost wages is probably a lost cause, they will my guess is, pay something for the comforter and maybe a small $$ to repair the floor.  There is a product called Nature's Miracle that is used for pet urine, but it might work for human as well, it's an enzyme cleaner, try to get the 'original' formula.

 

I doubt airbnb will ban them, but you can click on their profile and report them for stealing your cat and lying about it repeatedly and ask airbnb also to ban them for this. 

Lisa723
Level 10
Quilcene, WA

I have successfully recovered damages from Airbnb via the host guarantee. Submit your photos and receipts or professional repair estimates and cross your fingers. Glad you got your cat back.

Susan151
Level 10
Somerville, MA

Everything else aside, thank goodness your cat is back home with you and safe. Our pets are so important. 

 

I have no suggestions on how to work with AirBNB, but please do what you can to keep your animals safe from stupid and/or predatory people.