Dishonest guest

[June237]

I am new to airbandb hosting. Recently had a young couple staying for 2 days

 The female seemed nice and friendly, but I thought that her partner was strange. He never said a word when they arrived

 At the end of their stay they drove off without   us noticing.

 Their review was good. I thought they were ok

 When I went to clean the cabin I noticed that the fire blanket and a saucepan were missing

I messaged the guest asking if there had been an incident that required the use of the fire blanket and got no answer

 Also noticed that the brand new non-stick frying pan had deep cuts in the non-stick coating, obviously made with a knife cutting into something

 Bit worst of all was the overpowering smell of mens cologne! I have opened all the windows to air it out and used the ceiling fans full blast and I can still smell it!

 Maybe it was used to mask the smell of a burnt saucepan ?

 They must have taken the evidence with them ( saucepan and fire blanket) 

My first hosting experience was slightly worrying

[Helen3]

You can make a claim using the Airbnb guarantee if your next guests haven't yet checked in @June237 

@hopefully you left them an honest review 

[Mike-And-Jane0]

@June237 If you have seen their review then I guess you didn't leave an honest review of them? We learn't early on that we shouldn't leave a review until the cleaning has been finished as it is during cleaning strange things can become apparent.

[Alexandra316]

@June237 You could send these guests a request for money for the missing and damaged kitchen items. If you've already reviewed, it's too late to do much else, unfortunately, but on the plus side they can't write a bad review because you asked for reimbursement! I would definitely always wait until after cleaning to write reviews. 

Unfortunate that the guest chose not to tell you about the accident. 

[June237]

Unfortunately I wrote the review before I did the cleaning, however it was not a glowing review, only that she communicated well and was quiet

 I have now learnt my first lesson!

 Thank you @Mike-And-Jane0 @Alexandra316 @Helen3 

I will know better next time 

[Pat271]

Over time, you’ll gain experience handling problems that occur as you host. Even more importantly, you will gain experience with how to safeguard against problems happening in the first place. 

One thing that might help you accomplish the second goal is to provide stainless-steel cookware only. Non-stick coated cookware can quickly become unsightly with fading and scratches, and some of the materials used, especially on the more economically-priced models, are said to be hazardous to your health if the material flakes off into your food.  Whether or not this is true or not, enough people believe it that it could result in unhappy guests and personal liability issues for you.

As far as theft, extra cleaning, etc., I really think that Airbnb should be able to support a *real* security deposit, collected on the platform and administered by the owner.  This is how long-term rentals have been set up since time immortal, so I don’t understand why there should be any difference here. The majority of problems with guests would be reduced or eliminated with this simple change.

[June237]

@Pat271  Thank you for your lovely response

 I have taken on your advice and learning fast

 Thank you