Hello,
We are new to hosting and have a weird situationat our hand.
Our guest stayed for five nights (Jan 05 to 10) and at the end of his stay, wanted to extend for another night. He said that he's unable to make the reservation because he's transferring some funds from bank to credit card and then he will complete the booking. We said okay fine as long as you do it before the midnight it shouldn't be a problem. However, he did not make the reservation and the next day stayed there. We contacted him in the afternoon asking if he had checked out as we have to send in the cleaners. He responded that he is more than an hour ago and cannot be there. We asked him to message us ASAP when he is there. We did not hear back till 4 pm and messaged again, he said he is still away and would not be able to get back.
Around 6 pm, not receiving any update from him, we sent in the cleaners. We messaged him every hour and tried to call him but the phone was off and VM was full. did not we did not hear anything from him. Around 8 p.m. he messaged 'Hi' and then nothing, he just disappeared! So we kept on messaging him every hour till after midnight till 2 a.m. in the morning, and till the next day we did not hear back from him. Mind you it was the day when we had the ice storm in Ontario and we were concerned about his safety.
The next day in the morning we received a message from him that it was a bad day and he could not come. For the next two days, we messaged him to schedule a time to give us the keys back and get his stuff back, but no response. After three days, we contacted AirBnB and explained the situation. Meanwhile, we had to decline any reservations as we did not have the keys and cannot host with the situation that someone unauthorized has the key.
AirBnB security specialist recommended changing the locks and notifying the authorities. We messaged the guest day before yesterday, giving him till yesterday to respond otherwise we will go ahead with the lock change. As per AirBnB, the reimbursement would be provided by the guest.
Yesterday, when we did not hear back, we ordered the lock and changed them today and submitted a reimbursement through the resolution center. Soon after that we received a message from the guest (finally!) that the charges are far from fair and should schedule a time.
In our defense, we are not charging in for the declined reservations and loss of business that incurred during the last 6 days that he had the keys, not to mention the anxiety and frustration faced. The locks are already changed due to safety reasons so that cost us already incurred. However, we still have his stuff and honestly, do not want to face him at all.
What should we do with his stuff? Any suggestions? Advices?
Thanks