[72f988bf]

Sympathetic to your story, it's a really unfortunate situation, and glad you were able to salvage your trip.

> Also what would have happened if we weren't fortunate enough to be able to pay for this in the first place? Would we just be out on the streets?

You would go to your home's country embassy and explain the situation? Having your passport/luggage locked in the Airbnb isn't different from having it stolen on a train or something like that. This unfortunately could happen to travelers whether they're staying at a hotel or an Airbnb. At least you had your phone and means of payment available, and were able to recover the documents/luggage after some time.

I wonder what help Airbnb provides if the situation is flipped: let's say the owner has to change the locks for $750 because the renter never returned the key. Is the owner eating that cost?

In your situation, you're the party who lost the keys. Maybe Airbnb rental terms should have a clear cost for lost keys situation, $1k for this is steep!