The Mystery of the Stolen Airbnb Artwork
We’ve hosted thousands of guests in 30 properties over the past 5 years and you can bet we’ve seen some pretty wild stuff.
But nothing comes close to topping this.
What started with an ordinary one-night reservation at our River House apartment turned into a story seen over 9 million times on social media and even made the Washington Post!
The day after that uneventful one-night reservation, I went to lead a zoom call in the apartment and did a double take when I looked up at the wall. My artwork was suddenly missing and in its place hung a large, colorful picture of a plane propeller.
What in the world?! My mind raced with possibilities and I’ll admit, I was pretty creeped out.
I looked around the apartment and the old artwork was nowhere to be found. Thankfully it wasn’t valuable, but that itself added to my confusion. Why would anyone want to take it?
Naturally, I took to the internet to share what had just happened…
A few hours after posting this video on Instagram, I noticed our followers had become extremely engaged with this story. “We have to know WHY he did it!” several commented. “This is better than any true crime podcast out there,” another said.
Marc and I wanted answers ourselves. Who steals artwork off the wall and then replaces it? Was this some kind of practical joke?
And then we checked the camera footage. Aha!
I took to the internet again…
The camera footage couldn’t have been more clear. It showed our guest walking to his car with our artwork hidden underneath a blanket, followed by him walking back to the apartment with the large plane propeller canvas.
We knew WHO had done it. But now the question was why?
Our Instagram audience was growing faster than I could keep up. I decided to upload the first video onto our TikTok account. (which only had around 50 followers at the time.)
Maybe someone on Tik Tok will find it interesting, too?
When I awoke the next morning, to my surprise, the TikTok video had almost 500K views and suddenly we’d gained almost 20,000 followers! This story was taking on a life of its own and I was shocked by the response.
Everyone was inventing theories as to why the guest had stolen our picture. “Maybe he painted it,” “maybe he planted a hidden camera,” “maybe he damaged the wall behind it,” and more.
I thought it’d be fun to debunk the most popular theories in my next video…
There were no hidden cameras nor holes in my wall. And the plane propeller artwork wasn’t the creation of our guest- it was a mass-produced canvas available online for $100.
The story of the Airbnb bandit was circulating online around the world so fast that I couldn’t keep up with all the press it was receiving. People across the country were texting me to say they’d opened their computer that morning and our video/story was on their homepage!
Maybe this was a bizarre game he plays from Airbnb to Airbnb? we thought.
We found his previous host and shared what she said…
As it turned out, he’d engaged in some strange activity with his previous host, but nothing as bizarre as stealing and replacing artwork.
I contacted Airbnb to request the cost of my stolen artwork replaced and included the “caught red handed” video footage in my claim.
After waiting several days, we FINALLY heard back from Airbnb…
Airbnb made the decision to reimburse us for the stolen wall art. And more importantly, the guest was also banned from using the platform altogether in the future.
You wouldn’t believe how many people online loooooved this replacement artwork and thought the bandit had actually done us a favor. (never mind the fact that he stole!)
Now, we’re certainly all free to have our own opinions about art. But for a business called “All Belong,” a world map was much more on brand for us than a random plane propeller!
No one talks much about the dark side of going viral. People are just downright mean, and it was HARD for me to shake off strangers’ judgments, especially when they were coming in so frequently. The comments became too much for me to read, so I hired some temporary social media help to give my stress level some relief. (In a cathartic moment, I created an “Ode for the Haters” to the tune of Beethoven’s 5th Symphony.)
I knew I didn’t want that propeller hanging on my wall- for one, it would’ve been a creepy reminder!- and since SO many people were expressing how much they liked it, we decided to turn the story around.
While we had the attention of the internet, it was time to raise some money for a good cause.
Some might find it ironic that an Airbnb business would be passionate about affordable housing in our community. My husband, Marc, serves on the board of Rush Homes, a local organization that works to create homes for those with physical disabilities and those without the financial means to afford housing.
We partnered with Rush Homes to hold a raffle. Tickets were $2, and the winner would receive the beloved propeller artwork PLUS a free night’s stay at our James Station caboose.
That’s when the Washington Post reached out for an interview. We were thrilled Rush Homes gained national attention from an Airbnb guest-gone-viral story.
The raffle was a success, and we raised almost $1500 from donors all over the country! (Give online to Rush Homes)
The next question was: what would we put back on the wall?
I walked through the wall decor aisle at Home Goods several times, but it didn’t feel right to just put anything on the wall. I wanted something meaningful.
(And if you know anything about us, you know we’re constantly leveling up for our guests.)
I reached out to a local artist, Jennifer Mancier to commission a painting of the James River view outside the window of the apartment. To our delight, Jenn entered the story in true artistic fashion, creating a series of Instagram reels in the style of Wes Anderson to document the entire story.
We’re in love with the gorgeous art piece in the River House apartment. (Prints are available if you’re interested in supporting Jen!)
We will probably never know WHY the guest stole our artwork and then replaced it. Some mysteries remain unsolved.
One year later, I still see plane propeller wall decor every time I visit Home Goods.
It’s like it FINDS me.
Book your own stay at the River House Apartment!