A local guest left a hand gun under the bed?

[Bernadette82]

I am really beginning to wonder if this is worth it. My guest was a local. He rang my doorbell and was instant booked only 25 minutes prior. I was in the pool and the kids answered the door. I immediately checked my phone and it was an instant book. So I let him around into the room.

After they checked out when I moved the futon to vacuum under it there was a pink cloth bag and inside was a small 22 hand gun. He never responded to my text with the phone number he left on Airbnb when he was here and still hasn't. I don't think it was his number.

I am not opposed to guns, but having a stranger in my home with a weapon is weighing on my mind. I'm not sure why they rented but I seem to be having problems with locals. I don't want to rent to them but don't know how to weed them out. Now a gun....hmmm. 

[Ellen33]

I dont care even he could carry one on him by usa law. It is still my house and wouldnt not want a gun or other weapon in my house.

I would think that that would be a violation on me.

[Bernadette82]

I can put that, but how would I really know. Strip search....hahaha. jk. If you have a CCW permit you can carry it consealed. He obviously put it out of the way and forgot it. 

[John1574]

@Bernadette82

It might seem counter-intuitive to you but raising your price to $75 and setting your notification requirements to 24 hours might eliminate many of the locals booking.  Raising the price sometimes bring you more and better business.  At the very least a better class of customer.

As for the gun, was it loaded, were there bullets also?

Did you message the guy through AirBnB?

I'm never sure about getting involved with the police because it sometimes turns into a nightmare.

But those small pistols are easily dismantled so you could dismantel it and scatter the parts all over or bury them in different locales. Alternatively take a 5 pound hammer to it after making sure there arer no bullets in  it.  Render it inoperable.

[Bernadette82]

If I raise my price I am way out of the price range by about $35 then. I keep getting those stupid messages saying that I am overpriced by $6 or $8 dollars. If I raise it it will be way over. Other Airbnb are way low on their pricing here. I don't know how they can afford to pay the AC bill at this time of year when it is being run all day cuz it is over 100 degress every day. I don't want to rent to locals. All my problems have been with locals. I want to weed them out. When their stay goes bad, and it has, I'm not comfortable with someone knowing where I live that lives here in town. I feel unsafe for a few days. 

As for the gun, it was loaded with an extra clip inside of the bag. I did not touch it only the outside of the bag. Didn't want my prints on it. It obviously was a concealed gun because of the type of gun. I called the guest and he came to get it in a hurry. They looked high when they left so they just forgot it I'm sure. (Pot is legal here.) Don't want to cross their path in a bad way since I know they have a gun. Everything is all good now. I don't feel quiet as weird about it, thanks to all the comments. And thank you for you advice. 🙂

Bernadette

[Emilia42]

@Bernadette82

Airbnb Rule #1: Don't EVER believe those crazy price tip messages!!

[John1574]

@Bernadette82

You handled it well, B. 

And in the West, don't over 50% of the population own guns?  I though it was not that big a deal out there.

You can't be paying attention to those pricing emails: they are computer generated by

algorithms and have little to nothing to do with reality.  Ignore them and run your business your way.

I still think raising the price will help weed out locals.  Just go a little higher than the competition.

And you charge the same 50 for one as for four?  That's what it looks like. 

I'd set a price for one guest at 50 and 25 (or 20 or 15 or 10) for each additional guest up to four. 

That is the system I use. It won't effect your listing's search ranking but will bring in better guests and weed out locals.  There are many ways to structure that style of pricing.  I'd recommend it. Try getting out pencil and paper and run the numbers in differing sceniarios.

You can try different settings in your listing to find the right combo.  I think it's doable.

Keep tinkering.  I do it all the time, always tweaking my listing as I learn more.

Good luck.

[Bernadette82]

Thanks, that is some good advice. I will try it. I don't have a kitchen in there so I don't get many long stays. Which is okay to me. My neighbor has a full casita and a local rented it for 2 days just to do laundry. She was not okay with that. All her detergent/softener was used. It's so hard to limit everything. Thank you again for your advice. 

[Lizzie]

Hello @Bernadette82,

Lovely to meet you. 

I bet you were quite shocked when you saw this under the bed, I do hope you are ok. 

If you haven't already, would you mind contacting our Support Team about this please? Here is the number for calling from the US: +1-415-800-5959 / +1-855-424-7262 (toll-free). Also, here is a useful Community Guide on the different ways to reach our team. 

I hope this gets all sorted out soon. 

Thanks,

Lizzie 

[Bernadette82]

Are you suggesting I should report this to Airbnb? Will they contact the guest? I don't want to start any trouble with him. He does live here locally. No harm came from it, I was just unsure what to do and how to handle it or feel about the situation. I have 3 children that live here with me so I don't want any attention since he does have a gun and knows where I live. 

[Kenneth12]

In the situation above,  guest appears to not have declared the weapon and to be in violation of Airbnb policy. 

However,  in the context of the US today,  legality of the presence of a firearm in a place of public accomodation,  specifically a hotel/motel "private room," as well as  local police policy (and their likely response) in such a situation,  is alas likely very unclear.

For anyone who might be unaware:

https://www.airbnb.com/help/article/1529/what-are-airbnb-s-rules-about-weapons-in-a-listing

I might note that there appear to be huge ambiguities and faults in the above policy as written,  from the status of airsoft and other non-threating/non-destructive projectile  "guns" to whether our locked garage or basement might have ammunition left by previous owners.    (I might suggest:  senior management at ABB should call Antone Johnson,  former MySpace General Counsel;  tell him he should have made it to Renunions last month,   I referred y'all,  and I expect 30% of fees to keep you in line).

Without further review of the applicable law (I just finished O'Scannlain's opinion for the 9th,  on open carry),  I could certainly see a permitted carry holder in many US jurisdictions,  filing a civil rights / public accomodations lawsuit against a host in most circuits in the US-- a significant potential liability,  potenially very expensive to hire an attoney to defend against even if one did prevail.  

Egads!!!   Good luck to the OP;  I'd lock the guest out,  insure the weapon was unloaded (and dispose of any proximate potential ammunition,  if found),  call ABB as @Lizzie has suggested,  and try to figure it out... while praying that I wasn't about to lose a few $100K in litigation.

[Bernadette82]

The article says nothing in reference to a CCW permit. If they posses such permit then they are allowed to carry the weapon and conseal it. It was that type of gun so I am not sure if they had a CCW permit for it or not. I didn't ask when he came to pick it up because it was after they had checked out and were done with their stay here. I will be calling customer service because I do have a resonsibility as a host to ensure/help other hosts with reviews. Thank you . 

[Letti0]

@Bernadette82  In all honesty he probally had a CCW permit otherwise he would not have come back for it not knowing if you involved the police. It's amazing how stupid some guests can be.  My idoit husband almost left a 45 Colt in a hotel room once years ago. If not for my practice of checking everywhere after he's bringing out the bags it would have been left.   

[Kelly149]

any person with a concealed carry permit would certainly be in jeopardy of losing said permit for leaving an unlocked, LOADED gun out and about and off their person. A concealed carry gives you license to carry a gun, NOT to leave it lying about in someone else's HOME.

This guest should get a Thumbs Down, 1* for cleanliness, 1* for House Rules. They should be reported to ABB & they should not be allowed to stay in other people's homes. Furthermore, they should be reported to local law enforcement. Concealed carry is designed for responsible gun owners, not for people who don't know where they've left their loaded gun.

Very glad your family was safe @Bernadette82