My current guests picked the lock on my bedroom door and broke in.

[Cheyenne20]

What is my next step? My personal belongings are in my bedroom. My filing cabinets, jewelry, electronics. I called the help line and was told someone would call me back. That was 30 mins ago. 

I’m feeling really scared and violated and helpless. 

Advice? 

[Helen3]

Hi @Cheyenne20 

I am so sorry this happened - so scary.

At least you weren't on the premises.

What did the police say? Were the guests arrested?

As a side note if you have local co-hosts, they should be able to handle the more difficult situations, as well as the day to day. Whether it is at midnight or any other time.  In this case, so your belongings could be secured and they could have worked with you to ensure these guests left promptly.

[Cheyenne20]

My belongings are not worth someone’s life. They were supporting me throughout and continue to but I am not trying to put them in a situation that is completely unpredictable and potentially dangerous. Thank you for the feedback. 

[Cheyenne20]

12 hours later they are still in my home. Airbnb has not contacted them. Or me. I’ve called 5 times this morning and was hung up on twice. I asked to speak to managers, supervisors anyone and was denied. They keep telling me that they can only speak to the claims and whatever department that handles these situations and they put me on hold each time. They themselves are not able to reach this department and told me that once the lady who was handling it last night got off work it’s been sitting untouched and not been reviewed or handled this morning. I don’t think it would have been handled at all had I not called so many times. Absolute nightmare. 

[Kelly149]

@Cheyenne20 how are you today? any progress?

[Cheyenne20]

So much better. It was a very stressful 16 hours (especially for a pregnant lady whose husband is out of the country) but they left our home very clean. Followed all check out instructions and even did the linen laundry which is not required. I think they felt bad. Knew they screwed up. Sad situation. I tried to let them know that I had to cancel and rush them out because I don’t know them. I didn’t know what their motives were or if my things were being destroyed, stolen or at risk. I don’t know. Bad situation all together. I reviewed them fairly. Have no idea how they will review me but Airbnb says they will remove it once they do. Their policies on this type of situation were terrible. I hope to not have to communicate with them again. 

[Mark116]

@Cheyenne20  Did the cops come to the house?

[Cheyenne20]

I opted to wait for Airbnb. Based on the couple remaining in my home and realizing that the most likely reason my camera didn’t catch them leaving was because they left within 30 secs. Nothing I was worried about could have been accessed in that time. Airbnb didn’t officially Cancel the reservation until 10am the following morning and I couldn’t have the cops out unless the reservation was cancelled. The guests ignored all communication with Airbnb so I went ahead and personally let them know if they did not vacate I would call the police to remove them and they left shortly after. Leaving my house very clean. I think they realized they made a big mistake. I chose grace. I’m glad I did. Foolish or not. 

[Sarah977]

@Cheyenne20  Thanks for getting back here and letting us know how it played out and sorry about your nightmarish 16 hours. Airbnb's response, letting them stay the night after being recorded breaking into a locked area was so off.

Nice to hear they left the place clean, but hard to fathom how anyone would think that somehow makes up for purposely breaking into what was an obviously off-limits area. 

[Emiel1]

@Cheyenne20 

I am sorry to read your bad experience.

But on your listing you offer an entire house. So how can there be locked bedroom anyway ?

The listing also states: "You will have full access to all living spaces" and "there are no recording devices inside the home".

But there is a video of the guests forcing a bedroom lock ?

Do i miss something and was this incident on a different property ?

Best regards,

Emiel

[Cheyenne20]

My home is listed as a 2 bedroom 1.5 bath. My 3rd bedroom is locked and not part of the listing, it is not described or anywhere in my listing stated it is okay to break my lock and enter my 3rd bedroom. They do have access to all living spaces listed. Every Airbnb I’ve ever stayed in has a locked closet or room. Are you suggesting it is okay to break into those rooms because the listing said “entire home”? Come on guy. I list my camera that is outside and the only camera a guest should ever encounter. My camera inside my locked bedroom is motion activated only and does not record otherwise. Airbnb has no problem with my disclosure. You might want to check your moral code. Defending this creep. Get out of here. 

[Kelly149]

@Cheyenne20 I don't disagree that the way @Emiel1 phrased it is not ideal. However, many of us use security cameras as both evidence of and a deterrent of bad behavior. So, I could totally see you writing up somewhere (in post-booking communication) about how the door is locked and there is a security system that will notify you if the room is tampered with (a sign on the door even). That might give pause to someone whose curiousity or ill-intent was trying to get the better of them.

And btw, if I ever listed a space that I lived in then I certainly would have a room or closets locked off and I would absolutely have cameras in the off-limits spaces. They wouldn't have been on camera if they'd stayed where they should have!

[Cheyenne20]

Realizing that there are obviously people in this world that have no common sense or morals I have amended my listing stating that the locked room is not to be entered. I will disclose in the note I send to each guest that there is a camera in the locked room but I feel like it’s threatening, almost. I don’t know. I will figure it out. Thank you, Kelly for your feedback. 

[Sarah977]

@Cheyenne20  It could be phrased in a way that doesn't come across as threatening. "We want to assure you that there are no interior cameras in any of the spaces available to guests, only in a locked "off limits" room not listed as available to guests. We have had to do this after an unfortunate incident- please don't take it personally, we understand that the majority of guests are respectful."

[Sarah977]

@Emiel1  Of course Cheyenne will have to answer as far as her specific listing goes, but my understanding is that "entire house" doesn't necessarily mean that every room is available for guest use, as long as it's made clear what areas are off-limits. What it means to me is that the guests won't be sharing the space with anyone, they will have complete privacy, and of course if you advertised an entire house, you couldn't tell the guests they couldn't use the kitchen or living room and you couldn't advertise it as 2 bedrooms if one of those bedrooms was off-limits. I think many hosts have a locked storeroom on a whole house listing, where they might keep extra bedding they don't want the guests to use, perhaps giant packages of toilet paper and other supplies they don't want the guests to just be helping themselves to, or a locked garage that isn't for guest use or access. 

As I read Cheyenne's original post, the camera was in the locked room, not anywhere available for the guest's use.

[Emiel1]

@Sarah977 

You correctly  mentioned "as long as it's made clear what areas are off-limits"

But i don not see such information in the listing, and a bedroom is not a locked store room.

It's just the explicit information in the listing (see my post above) which i think should be tuned.

A see there is a whole house presented which is having 2 bedrooms, there is no mention of more (locked) bedrooms in the "whole house".  I do offcourse not want to trivialise the bad experience of the host, but the listing raises questions to me about the specific bedroom the incident refers to, which seems not to be part of the "whole house" (?) and also having a "recording device" in it.

Best regards,

Emiel