Beware of this guest

[Melissa1401]

**

Hello to all, as a host I wanted to warn others like me that so kindly and trusting open up our homes for other people to share, and I do not anybody to experience what I went through.

I let this woman stay in my apartment for 5 days as I was out of the country on holidays, when I returned I was shocked, after hosting many other times and everything going so smoothly I never expected this; this person had gone through all my personal belongings, opened up my closets and luggage that I left locked and she went through everything like it was a shopping mall, she robbed me, she took lots of things, from electronics to clothes, shoes, make up, even my lingerie! I was so frustrated and angry, on top of that she left the apartment a mess. I called my neighbor as witness to what happened, issued a report with the police and of course I wrote to Airbnb, they made me take pictures, write descriptions of the items and if I didn’t have invoices to find similar items online; this process took me hours, when I finally finished with this they replied that it would take them 72 hours to process my claim. They contacted the other person and of course she denied it and didn’t want to pay/return anything. After all this ordeal Airbnb responded saying they were sorry for what happened to me but they couldn’t do anything because in their policy it states that I had 14 days to report the incident, so after everything I went through and even though I attached my boarding passes proving that I was out of the country and came back day 20th they still didn’t feel a responsibility or a sense of empathy or human decency in doing the right thing. They made me go through the whole process for nothing, and ended up just writing an apology email but not doing a thing about it, I just lost all my stuff and didn’t get anything back. So I feel obliged to write this so other people here are aware of this person, because yes, her profile is still active on Airbnb as if nothing happened. Hopefully nobody has to go through what I experienced because the feeling of having been violated like that is horrible. Regards, Melissa 

**[Personal information removed in line with - Community Center Guidelines]

[Anonymous]

@Melissa1401 the appropriate place to warn people of a problematic guest is in the review. In cases of theft, a police report would make sense too. But most people outside of the Airbnb bubble would expect that when you give a stranger from the internet keys to your house with your personal belongings in it unsecured, things are going to go missing. 

[Melissa1401]

@Anonymous I appreciate your message but unfortunately because 20 days passed after the person’s first day at my home (because as I explained I was away) I couldn’t add a review anymore, Airbnb wouldn’t allow me so this was the only way. 

And yes, some hosts like myself, share our own apartments with our personal belongings in it but we do not expect to be robbed and if we are doing it through Airbnb we expect that they will be held accountable for something or at least take some responsibility about it. 

[Helen3]

Hello @Melissa1401 

Sorry you had such an awful experience and the guest stole your belongings. However you shouldn't leave valuable personal items in a whole listing which your guests can access. 

A  host should never leave their property to go abroad without having a local  Co-Host to manage things on the ground.

If you had done so,  they would have been able to check the property on check out, been able to leave a review and submit a timely claim.

[Anonymous]

@Melissa1401  It is true that the 14 day window applies both to reviews and to damage claims, as is quite explicit in the terms of service and the Help Center. It's strange that they made you go to the trouble of sending all that documentation knowing that your claim was invalid due to the time limits.

Anyway, it's not permitted to post personal info of guests here even if they've committed a crime, so the identifying information will probably get deleted. It's an exercise in futility to "warn" people about specific individual accounts on a public forum. However, I do think your experience serves as a helpful warning of the limitations of Airbnb's "accountability." I second @Helen3 's advice to securely store your valuables and enlist a local co-host when remotely home-sharing. Claims for physical damage are often successful, but it's far harder to prove theft when something goes missing.

[Mary312]

We all know the Airbnb review system is flawed. A review should be posted as soon as the guest or host writes one. I have about 5 reviews that probably will not be shown until the 14-day period is over. These are reviews that should be shown right away to warn other host. It does trouble me that these people have left my property, done horrible things and yes I did report them to Airbnb but we never know if they will even be talk to. Thankfully I've been paid out for all my resolutions even though not 1 guest agrees to pay. But it's just such a scary thought that people can continue on to other places and possibly do the same thing all because a review will not post until 14 days. Most all guest will never write a review when they know that they're getting a bad review. So I do understand this is not a place to warn people about other people but there has to be a better system in place. 

[Anonymous]

@Mary312  The review system has many flaws but I don't feel that this is the solution. Before the double-blind system was introduced, every review was published instantly - so if one party got a negative review, the other would simply retaliate with a more negative one. The very imperfect current system aims to prevent one person's review from influencing the other, which I think is fair in the cases where something doesn't go horribly wrong.

On the rare occasions where there's a user that others need to be "warned" about, I wish there was a more effective way to report them and initiate an investigation. But let's not kid ourselves here, someone with criminal intentions is just going to create a new profile whenever they see a bad review coming.

[Huma0]

@Melissa1401 

I am very sorry to hear of your experience, which sounds very distressing indeed. I also think it very wrong that Airbnb made you go through the whole process before telling you the deadline had passed.

I am probably one of those hosts who are too trusting in that, although I am usually here, I have sometimes left guests alone in my house when I've done away on work trips and I also do not have things locked away.

However, I've not left them for long periods of time, am usually back before they check out, there are other guests staying here (at least one long-term guest whom I trust), often a cat sitter dropping by twice a day, so no one is completely alone to do as they please and I also vet guests very carefully before they come and make sure to meet them on check in.

You story still serves as a reminder to be careful. @Helen3 is absolutely right that you should have a co-host or someone else who can check up on things while you are away. I would suggest always inspecting the listing as soon as possible after the guest checks out.

Could you pursue this further with the police? I have no idea how effectively the French police deal with such situations. From my experience (not Airbnb but other incidents of theft, property damage or personal assault), the police here would not pursue the matter very far. They simply acknowledge it, ask a few questions, fill in reports and then move on...

[Heidi588]

It is the unfortunate reality of life that one cannot trust someone they don't know because trust must be earned over time, and that one must expect a stranger left unattended may steal or do other harm and so take precautions. The blame is on the one who does the wrong, but the one it was done against usually has to bear the consequences.

At least moving forward you now know things for your own self-protection, such as having a co-host or guardian to check in on the guest and to be present at check out, to make your personal belongings and valuables inaccessible to a guest, and to be aware of the time limit for leaving a guest review. 

Some lessons in life are difficult, and I'm so sorry you've had such a difficult one. I empathize with you. 

[Sarah977]

@Melissa1401  My sympathies, what a violation. I'm a home-share host listing a private room in my home. I just can't imagine giving some stranger the keys to my personal home and leaving them alone there when I'm out of town. It wouldn't be any different than letting some stranger who knocked on my door do that.