Islington: Airbnb host returns to flat to find thieves raided home and stole £5,000 in electronics

Raided: The £129-a-night Islington flat where the Airbnb guests stayed.
Francesca Gillett23 October 2016

A London Airbnb host returned from a holiday abroad to find guests had raided her flat and stolen £5,000 worth of electronics.

Tour guide Camélia said she “cried non-stop” when she returned to her two-bedroom flat in Islington to find the thieves had made off with items including her Apple TV, Macbook Pro, iPhones, iPad, laptop and even her perfume.

French-born Camélia, who did not want to give her second name, said: “We came in the flat and for the first couple of minutes we thought everything was fine.

“But we saw all our hard drives on the living room table and it was like, why are they here?

“They were piled on the table. My partner was like, this is weird, these are in the cupboard. He had a look in the cupboard and started shouting, 'oh my god.'”

Raided: The flat is on Upper Street in Islington.

Over the next 24 hours, the 29-year-old said she and her partner kept discovering more items had been taken from the Upper Street flat, near Islington Town Hall.

Among the missing possessions were hair straighteners, a hard driver, webcam, keyboard and computer monitor, a Nike sport bag and prescription sunglasses.

“It was only the next day I wanted to put something on the speaker and we realised the speaker was missing,” she told the Standard.

“At that moment I was shocked. I cried for like two hours. My neighbours were there and telling me to breathe. I was crying non-stop that day, I was so upset.”

The pair returned from their holiday on September 8 which is when they discovered the items stolen.

'Perfect': Reviews on the Airbnb listing praised host Camélia's flat.

Camélia had agreed to rent the flat – which costs £129 a night – to three people from September 5 to September 8 and the guests had given ID before booking.

She said after realising more things were missing, she realised the guests had rooted through all her personal property.

“We have never had any bad experiences,” she said.

“I had hosted so many times. I had really great reviews, I really liked doing it. I liked the way of offering people a place to stay.”

Since the incident was reported, Airbnb said they have removed the guest from their system.

But Camélia, who has lived in the UK for six years, said she was disappointed in Airbnb for the way they dealt with what happened and was ignored for more than two weeks.

It was only when she tweeted the company that they responded, she said.

She claimed they then responded with a "ridiculous" offer of money under the guarantee.

“Some of the stuff we had bought a while ago but the total was £5,000,” she said.

“They finally got back to me but only offered £770. Even changing the locks cost us £200, plus all the stolen stuff.

“They said when you signed the terms and conditions you agreed to be the sole decision maker for any dispute and so they are not providing details.

“They are saying take it or leave it. The way they interact with the host once there’s an issue, there’s no support.”

Airbnb have apologised to the host and admitted their initial response did not meet the high standards they set themselves.

An Airbnb spokeswoman said: “We have zero tolerance for issues like these and have removed this guest from our platform.

“We are providing the host with our support and are assisting the police with their investigations.

“Over 100 million guests have stayed on Airbnb and problems for hosts and guests are incredibly rare."

A spokesman for the Met Police confirmed they were investigating the theft but said no arrests had been made so far.

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