Airbnb thefts

[Polkadottydot]

I'm in one now and there's supposed to be an item here that's not. The hosts said where to look and it's not small but definitely not here. I'm not panicking we'll be accused of nicking it !
It got me to thinking about owning one of these properties and how often things have to be replaced. Everything is quite nice here. Good crockery etc and a nice coffee machine. I wonder what people do actually steal and how brazen folks are. Any owners out there can reassure me I won't be accused of stealing it? I asked where it was kept as didn't know there was one and wanted to try it out. Only then did I find out it was missing. Not left yet so if they did visit they could search but I wonder how common theft is and why?!

We have some friends who rent out their 2 cottages to travelling theatre groups. They say they have to replace wooden spoons nearly every time. Wooden spoons!

I once stayed in a b&b in Brighton where the owner lived a few streets away. I got chatting to her and she said someone once turned up with surprisingly light, but huge, suitcases. The next day she went to clean the room and the duvet, pillows, towels, rugs, bathmat, lamps, kettle, and pretty much eveything that wasn't nailed down was gone.

I had wondered why the ones we had recently stayed in had exactly the right amount of dishwasher tablets in a box. Must be beucase people take them. Owners can't say anything as they'll get a bad review

But surely you charge them for what they've stolen?

Imagine having the brass neck to do that?

Some people are just awful and think they can just help themselves to someone else's belongings.

You could bill them but they might not pay it.

I'm wondering this. Will they bill people before us ? Do they not do an inventory check? To be fair, this item wasn't advertised as being present so maybe it's not included on Airbnb rental, but the brass neck of some folk beggars belief. Duvets and pillows!!! Mind you there was a thread on here a while back where people were admitting to stealing hotel pillows.

Was hoping for more CF stories tbh ! Whilst I've got my eye on some of the rugs and crockery , it's more so I can buy it myself!

We have been able to afford some amazing hols using Airbnb and I wouldn't dream of thieving from one as that could spoil it for lots of others.

Oh gosh it would occur to me to take anything. How awful of people but after some CF flatmates in my youth I can imagine it happens more often than not.

First thing I thought when I read your post was that the owners will think you have broken something and you are trying to spin a yarn of it being missing to try and get out of paying for it!

I am a bit paranoid like you though so I would be worrying if something was missing!

What is it? Is it expensive?

I own a house that I rent through air bnb. The most common item to go missing is waiters friends (corkscrew). It’s in a wine region, I assume people pack picnics and the corkscrew leaves the house and never makes it back.

Also tea towels and face washers. I think people get them really dirty and throw them out.

The only weird thing was the ironing board disappearing. I’m pretty sure that was my ex husband, although he swears blind it wasn’t.

We’d never charge anyone unless it was a valuable item and I knew for a fact it was in the house before those guests arrived (I didn’t know exactly when the ironing board went missing).

DH and I worked abroad for 3mths of each year and used to rent our London flat on AirBNB. We had a company manage it for us- so other things may have been stolen. The company didn't conduct an inventory of every, single knife, plate etc, but I did expect them to check larger items which were on the listing like a hairdryer. Some things I know were stolen:
-a throw rug
-hairdryer
-a framed print ( not expensive, but fairly large for a suitcase!)
-air plants

Equally- we acquired several random things!
-A large, plastic hello kitty bowl
-A strange, straw, fold out hat
-A witches hat
-Children's books written in Farsi (Persian)
-A heavy duty, glass drink bottle
-Thai chilli sauce

People steal all sorts we’ve had books, entire unopened xl packs of dishwasher tabs, an xl box of washing powder, bedding, towels, fruit bowl and even an electric plug in radiator stolen.

My sister owns an AirBnB in Wales. She had a dining chair go missing from hers. That's pretty hard to sneak out. And why only one? Surely you'd want at least a matching pair.

Things like this I think are broken and they take it away to make it less obvious

We stayed in an Airbnb a few weeks ago. Someone had previously smoked in the property. We made the owner aware as soon as we arrived for fear of being blamed & then charged a deep clean fee. They weren’t happy, said we were lying about the smell. We’ve a holiday let of our own - so far it’s only teaspoons we’ve had to replace. Teaspoons?!

I had a pair of middle aged women steal two forks and a knife from my Airbnb recently. I assume they were taking a picnic with them and wanted cutlery. They could have asked if I had any plastic cutlery (I do) rather than make me have to buy a whole new set...

We live next door to ours and usually say hi to the guests at some point, so I like to think that guilts them into not nicking stuff. Plus I do the bed changes so can see pretty quickly if something's not where it should be, even if the cleaners miss it.

The only things that go missing are entire boxes of dishwasher/laundry tablets, books (they're not a free library, they're mine!) and big packs of loo rolls.

I've stayed in a lot of Airbnbs, and yet to find one with dishwasher tabs in the first place!

It doesn't occur to thieves, I suppose ,that in the end the rest of us pay for their dishonesty.

How despicable to steal stuff like that, do people have no conscience?

I stayed in an Airbnb recently and DH managed to chip a mug (typical). I left it there and messaged the owner offering to pay for it. Of course they said it was fine and thanks for telling them as most people don't.

Given the high cost of Airbnb places, I guess some think owners factor in that stuff goes missing, as it does in hotels.

I’m the opposite - I often leave things behind. We’ve just stayed in one and it had no tongs so I bought a pair, used them while we were there and then left them - I have my own tongs at home!
Ive also left books I’ve read and don’t want to read again behind.

Nearly every one we’ve stayed at over a couple of weeks gets a pizza roller slicer donated!

When I stay they normally gain a jigsaw and maybe a book if I’m finished with them before I leave.

the last one also gained a double pack garlic baguettes I’d forgotten about in the freezer 😳

May I suggest taking a pair of scissors as they cut a pizza very well and are easy to keep packed in one of the bags.