Being nosy - Holiday home owners - do people steal stuff?

[Polkadotpjs]

On the back of the other thread about what people want to see in holiday homes I wondered if half of it is practical or workable. I was thinking about y work where we have a dishwasher that can't be used because if dishwasher tablets are left for it, people steal them ! Ditto spare loo rolls in the cubicles or nice hand soap! I'm not a journalist so don't think that. Just wondered if there's a balance between nice stuff and risking it going walkabout.
We went away last weekend and was pleased to see dishwasher tablets and laundry liquid but then disappointed there was no foil ! I'd have taken some and left it if there if I'd thought

I always think this. People say why don't they leave tons of toilet rolls and dishwasher tablets but I keep thinking I'm sure people will take any spare ones and just put them in the boot of the car and take them home!

Yep, books, cushions, cutlery, an entire box of who gives a crap toilet roll, towels, a photoframe (wood and no glass, so they didn’t break it).

Yep. My parents had their hoover stolen twice.

We have a locked cupboard where we keep supplies. Our cleaner leaves out 7 dishwasher tablets in a little jar, a new sponge and dishcloth etc, and makes sure the washing up liquid and soap dispensers are about half full. We leave 3 toilet rolls.

We’ve definitely learned this after a box of dishwasher tablets disappeared, and a pack of toilet rolls and various other things. So yes, people do steal things like that.

Yes. They do. Boxes of wine glasses, a night light, books, DVDs - you name it….

They also seem to save up their home hair dyes for when they’re on holiday. The number of sets of bedding and towels I have chucked out because of this!

Do they ever. If nobody is watching and they can convince themselves it's not real theft, a significant proportion of people are lightfingered as fuck. Price to account for things being stolen on the reg, is my advice.

Not at all. We would always leave a full box of DW tablets and loads of loo roll. Guests generally left more stuff than they used.

All bathrooms had sop dispensers which never went missing but we got left loads of shower gel. People would leave games, DVDs even pans.

I honestly can't think of anything that was taken in 19 years of renting.

Don't you charge a deposit or refundable bond to help prevent this ?

Only opened last summer. Brand new bath towel disappeared in the first month. I suspect it was an oversight but they could have fessed up and offered to pay. I don't charge much and it cost half of a one night stay.

There'll be a mixture of people who deliberately take things and people who take things by accident.
Some people think that if it's removable and left there then it's for them to take.

I remember getting home from one holiday and finding a potato masher in the car. Dh thought it was ours and put it in. Why he thought we'd have taken a potato masher on holiday, and it looked nothing like ours, I have no idea. We didn't even mash any potatoes while we were there.
I did email the owners apologising and posted it back. It probably cost more on the postage than it cost originally. :)

Hair dryers often got nicked from my friend's holiday rental.

Not a holiday home, but I used to work abroad several months of each year and had a company manage my flat via AirBnB.

Thinks taken that I know of: blanket, air plants, hairdryer and small kitchen items like cutlery.

We always end up leaving stuff,rather than stealing anything.

Oh yes, my mother in law ran ours before me and had a bed taken.

What was the other thread @Polkadotpjs can you link. Love a holiday cottage chat.

I've just donated two apple chargers it appears. FFS. Kids had them plugged in down by side of their beds and did zero packing up. Bother. Not sure how to link to the other thread on the app sorry

And a bed???!!

DH stole 2 serving spoons last summer. I didn't know until a while afterwards as he'd forgotten he'd taken them and left them in his suitcase.

I've no idea what possessed him but I was too embarrassed to own up!

Definitely. And it is not just breakables and small kitchen utensils that go either. Bedside lights, rugs, waste paper baskets, laundry boxes are the larger things I remember off the top of my head. Lovely items, like crockery with a quirky design disappear far more quickly than bog standard equivalents eg plain white crockery. Funny that.

Eye opening thread. People are so bonkers. Can’t imagine taking anything from a holiday home.

Who are these people who nick stuff? I'd only refund a deposit once the inventory has been fully checked. Loo roll? Honestly?

No, never (so far).

But some dishonest numpty unscrewed the radiator, caused a flood, and then swore blind he hadn't touched it. £1,000-worth of damage.

How do you even go about stealing a bed?! That is bonkers.

We once inadvertently stole a pair of underpants, hung my washing out on the line at the invitation of the hostess, her husband hung theirs out too, later on the day mine took ours in. We both had teen sons, hers way older than mine but typically for a French lad was whip-thin…I found them when we got back, felt it was even weirder to apologise/return them than nick em😬

A bed??? A whole bed? Please give more details because my mind is slightly blown!

The only thing we've had stolen (so far!) Is a slimline fold away clothes airer! Just seems like a bizarre thing to take! People leave books in the bookcase though, which I like, and one lady left felt tips and paper for children and further recommendations in our information folder 😂