Guest possibly left something at my place but I am not in town to let him check. What to do?

[Christopher950]

My guest's girlfriend possibly left something at my place. He would like to go back and check (even though another guest stayed). But I am not in town for another 5 days. What should I do? Is he covered under the Airbnb insurance and stuff if he isn't booked? My friend already looked and she didn't find anything. Any advice would be great. 

[Lisa723]

@Christopher950 if your friend already looked and didn't find it, I would just say "I'm sorry, but we have checked and your item is not there." I would not give the guest access to the space. And no, I don't think the loss will be covered by Airbnb.

[Anonymous]

@Christopher950 I agree with Lisa, neither the host nor Airbnb is liable for items that the guest claims to have left behind after their departure.

In the interest of good customer service, you can ask the guest to describe the item and the location in the home that they believe it was left. You can say that you'll notify them if it is found. But definitely do not offer any access to the property. 

[Colleen253]

@Christopher950 You've been given good advice already. I would just add that making efforts at heading this kind of dilemma off at the pass is worthwhile. Add a note to your checkout message/and or in your house manual check out page, and even put a little notice by the exit door "Please check and double check you have all your belongings before checking out. We regret that we will not be responsible for items left behind." While it won't eliminate it altogether, it will go a LONG way in reducing the problem. Dealing with forgotten items can end up taking up a lot of your valuable time, between looking for them, possibly having to pack them up, getting advance payment for shipping through resolution, going to post them, arranging to meet the guest etc etc.

[Christopher950]

Thank you friends. All the advice is really helpful. Thanks for taking the time to respond.