I was very disappointed at how my hosts at Mexico City handled the situation after 700 USD was stolen from my suitcase while staying at their house. I thought that in a system based on trust as it is, it worked both ways. I trusted that they knew the person who was coming to clean my bedroom – a cleaning service which I had already paid for – and for whom they asked me to leave the door unlocked for her to clean up. I thought that they knew the people who they let into the house and that could be in contact with my belongings. They never offered me a safe place to leave my valuables, like a safe or a locker, nor did they warn me that they didn’t know the maid.
When I returned to my bedroom at that night, I found that I was missing more than half the money that I had brought with me. I asked them about the situation; I was very distressed, on the verge of tears. They passed off responsibility to the cleaning company, who obviously was not going to give me back anything. The hosts never accounted for what had happened in their house with their guest. I still had two more days there and I was scared for the rest of my belongings.
I left Mexico without a resolution, having received better attention at the time of reporting the crime to the authorities than that with my own hosts or the Airbnb call center. They never offered to give me back the money for my stay or give me any compensation, but they wanted to find someone to blame. Almost a month has passed and the Airbnb “resolution center” hasn’t given me any answer.
P.S. Their cat would also enter my bedroom at night (it couldn’t be locked from the inside) and pee on the floor…
Kevin. I’m not being a dick. I’m just pointing out the realities of life.
Is carrying large sums of cash the norm while travelling in Mexico? Can you not credit card your purchases or take smaller sums of cash out each day?
Just trying to understand why you would carry such a large amount in the first instance, and then leave it somewhere that doesn’t and didn’t advertise having a safe, in an unlocked room, in a house where you don’t know the security measures the owners go to if they go out, in a country where theft is rife,etc etc etc. I don’t know, maybe I’m too cautious, I leave my rings at home for fear of having my fingers cut off in a robbery when travelling abroad.
Yes, it completely sucks you’ve been robbed off a large amount, but I’m sure you’re kicking yourself now for being a bit too casual!
I also feel a bit sorry for your hosts who you’ve now cast doubt on their credibility for future guests.
David you are a dick. Sure she shouldn’t leave money like that, but seriously, how would you feel if despite knowing it’s risky, you didn’t think for a second it could happen and it as result happened to you? Seriously.
Who in their right mind leaves 700 cash in their room? I think you need to learn about travel BEFORE you travel.
Sadly people get lulled into hypnosis by the Airbnb marketing that brags about “trust, hospitality and the sharing community” but they are just a platform that more and more scammers use to rip people off.
It’s an entire underground world without regulations and no assurance of safety or resolutions.
People need to stop trusting Airbnb as if they were a legitimate hotel or business. They have no consistency across properties and no established level of common expectations for guests.