When Karlissea Hives got engaged in 2019, she was really looking forward to marrying her fiancé and longtime boyfriend Jonathan Smith and planning her big day.
“Every girl dreams of getting married,” she said.
The couple began planning a wedding a year later in March 2020. Then the pandemic hit, stalling everything, and Hives worried that she might not have the big wedding she had always dreamed of. They considered just going to the courthouse, but Hives, 31, didn’t want to come to an agreement, so they kept planning.
“2021 came and things started going in a positive direction as more and more people got vaccinated, things opened up again – things were finally starting to look up,” she said.
Initially, Hives thought the pandemic was the bride-to-be’s biggest nightmare. Instead, it would be her bachelorette weekend in Houston.
Karlissea Hives and her fiancé Jonathan Smith are featured in their engagement photo. The couple plan to get married on August 7th.
Courtesy Karlissea Hives
The Hives bridesmaids called it their “last fling before the ring”.
She and five of her friends arrived on Friday, many driving from Baton Rouge to their Airbnb at 7530 Brompton Rd., Unit # 745 in the Weston Medical Center Apartments.
PROHIBITION OF SHORT-TERM RENTALS: Bellaire is considering short term rentals on sites like Air Bnb, Vrbo. to restrict
The first night went great. They had dinner at Mastro’s steakhouse, came back to Airbnb and talked, laughed, and had a drink in their pajamas.
Future bride Karlissea Hives, 31, is pictured in Houston on Friday evening, July 2nd, the day before Airbnb was robbed by her and her friends. She was at dinner with her friends on the last girls outing before saying “yes”.
Courtesy Karlissea Hives
Day two came and they hit town. They left the unit around 3pm on Saturday and went to the Amahle Bar and Lounge in Midtown. They returned to find that they had been robbed.
There was no damage to the unit indicative of a break-in, Hives said, but all of her belongings were gone.
Everything – her luggage, wallets, credit cards, food and drinks from the refrigerator, a ring light, one of her engagement rings, and even her toothbrushes and deodorant – were missing.
On HoustonChronicle.com: Authorities: Aggies sold counterfeit tickets as part of credit card fraud,
“That let us know it was someone with a key,” she said. “We went outside and our cars were gone and all hell broke loose.”
They came in three cars and only had one left, which Hives only said because a friend brought her key fob that night. The others had left their keys with Airbnb.
First, they called their Airbnb host listed as Sean. Hives said their cars may have been towed. Then they called the police who, when they arrived at the scene, confirmed someone had come in with a key, Hives said.
“We were set up,” she said.
Eventually, they couldn’t reach the Airbnb host, Hives said, but they filed a police report with the Houston Police Department, which is actively investigating the incident.
With the last remaining car they could drive home on Sunday morning, but without toiletries or even a change of clothes.
With the July 4th holiday weekend, the group couldn’t reach anyone on Monday. On Tuesday, Hives said she had requested an update to the police investigation, but was told it could take up to two weeks.
“There is no sense of urgency with the Houston Police,” she said.
The incident had not yet been assigned to an investigator by Wednesday afternoon, said HPD spokeswoman Jodi Silva.
“Every time someone is a victim of a crime we take it seriously, but it’s a priority,” she said.
“Given the amount of workable cases and limited police resources, they react faster when a person is in imminent danger than when items are missing.”
Then Hives called the apartment complex. She told her that management was unaware of the incident and that temporary subleases are prohibited.
“That means someone has rented an apartment illegally,” Hives said.
Now, just a month before their August 7th wedding, Hives and Smith are trying to regain everything they lost instead of focusing on their wedding.
“It really set us back both mentally and physically,” said Hives.
“My fiancé feels helpless because he wasn’t there to protect me, and it’s so much more than someone who steals your phone. They tried to steal our identity. “
Hives said the burglars took social security cards and COVID vaccination cards and tried to open lines of credit on their behalf.
“Someone even tried to spend me and remove the fraud warning from my Capital One credit card,” she said. “That’s bold! And not even getting a courtesy call from Airbnb is ridiculous.”
Ruthie Wabula, an Airbnb spokeswoman, made the following statement to the Houston Chronicle:
We are very sorry to hear about this experience, and our specialist community support team is working diligently with affected guests and hosts to better understand what happened and to provide our full support that includes a full refund and reimbursement of hotel costs.
Airbnb also shared their host protection insurance policy, and when asked about the protection it provides for guests, Wabula said the policy may include third party claims that may include guests, and Airbnb is working with the guest on that process.
Hives confirmed that after raising safety concerns, the company took her and her friends to a hotel on Saturday night, but still appalled by their trip, she said this was her final booking with Airbnb.
She doesn’t understand why the unit advertised as being hosted by a company rather than an individual is still bookable.
In her experience, she wants Airbnb to disable this listing, hold the host accountable and ultimately warn others to prevent this from happening to anyone else.
