Airbnb Answers: A new claims process that’s faster and simpler for hosts

[Airbnb]

You asked: What is Airbnb doing to better support hosts if things go wrong?

The short answer is: a lot! Before we dive in to the exciting changes we’re working on, there’s one important thing to keep in mind: Instances of property damage on Airbnb are quite rare. On average, significant claims of damage happen less than 0.004% of the time.
That means, you could host a new reservation every day for 63 years and never expect to have to file a significant damage claim.

But it’s true that accidents do happen, and if they do, we want your home and valuables to be protected. That’s why we created safeguards like the Security Deposit and $1 Million Host Guarantee in the first place, and that’s why we’re committed to making sure they work for you. 

We’ve heard from you that the process to access these safeguards feels like it takes too long and is too complicated. And that it’s hard to access your Security Deposit or get reimbursed through the Host Guarantee. And that’s unacceptable.

So we’re completely revamping the process for damage claims to make it more host-friendly. Here are four big changes you can expect:

Now, you’ll have more time

You used to have to report damages within 72 hours after check-out or before your next guest's check-in, whichever was earlier. Now you have 14 days, or before next guest's check-in, whichever is earlier. We’re also going to be giving you a lot more time to complete the claims process— it’s longer than two weeks now.

You don’t have to do as much legwork

We’ve reduced the amount of documentation required for most claims.

You can expect a fair payout

We’re now consistently including sales tax and other associated costs in our reimbursement to hosts.

You can expect quicker answers

We’ve revamped the way the Airbnb support team handles cases like these to make it faster and easier for hosts. Already, since we’ve introduced these improvements, claim-resolution time has decreased by more than 20% in the past few months.

We’re looking at the full picture here, and we realize we have a ways to go. But we’re actively working on making the entire experience better for you when you need support.

Thank you for your feedback on this important issue so far, and please keep letting us know how we can improve. We’ll be sure to keep you posted as more improvements roll out.

View this and other answers from the Host Q&A here.

[Lada9]

Apart from property damage, there is an issue of clients who have mental illness. We had a client who came to our home, left his belongings in our appartment, parked his car, and then went away, texted us that he is afraid of us and even called the police!!! police never came, but we spent 4 hours begging him to take away his belongings and his car and he would say to me things like" What if you would lock me in your garage?". Finally he got tired of this game, took his things and went away. We have reported this accident to airbnb and...the guy's profile is still there!!!

I've seen other stories of people with mental issues which create problems for their hosts and airbnb leves them on the platform as if nothing happened. Once we were to accept a fellow who had mixed reviews but when we have read that he was smoking in his host's room, we decided to decline him and explained honestly the reason for our decision. He became verbally absusive, and when we pointed it out to airbnb, nothing was done either.

It's as if airbnb wishes to include everyone no matter what. It does not work, because each time we are faced one to one with a traumatic experience of dealing with a crazy person, we start thinking of shutting down the whole operation.

I think it is a serious problem which should be paid attention to.

[Susan1028]

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@Lada9 wrote:

Apart from property damage, there is an issue of clients who have mental illness. We had a client who came to our home, left his belongings in our appartment, parked his car, and then went away, texted us that he is afraid of us and even called the police!!! police never came, but we spent 4 hours begging him to take away his belongings and his car and he would say to me things like" What if you would lock me in your garage?". Finally he got tired of this game, took his things and went away. We have reported this accident to airbnb and...the guy's profile is still there!!!

I've seen other stories of people with mental issues which create problems for their hosts and airbnb leves them on the platform as if nothing happened. Once we were to accept a fellow who had mixed reviews but when we have read that he was smoking in his host's room, we decided to decline him and explained honestly the reason for our decision. He became verbally absusive, and when we pointed it out to airbnb, nothing was done either.

It's as if airbnb wishes to include everyone no matter what. It does not work, because each time we are faced one to one with a traumatic experience of dealing with a crazy person, we start thinking of shutting down the whole operation.

I think it is a serious problem which should be paid attention to.

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This is what the review/reply process is for.  I refuse to be intimidated by threats of being "demerited" when a guest direspects me or my property.

[Sharon579]

We only discovered damage was done by the last guest when we went to inspect the property some 4 weeks after they left. As it was the end of the season and we don't live in the city our property is, we had no need to rush and do an inspection. Of course this was too late for ABB and all I got was the runaround which took me 4 weeks and no claim back (approx. $330 worth of damage).

It's left me with a feeling that ABB don’t care about their hosts once they have their money. I've seriously considered pulling out of ABB after this. It’s not about the cost its more about the lack of support from ABB.

Oh but you must give a review in a timely manner and you cannot cancel bookings otherwise ABB will drop you. All one sided!

[Susan1028]

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@Sharon579 wrote:

We only discovered damage was done by the last guest when we went to inspect the property some 4 weeks after they left. As it was the end of the season and we don't live in the city our property is, we had no need to rush and do an inspection. Of course this was too late for ABB and all I got was the runaround which took me 4 weeks and no claim back (approx. $330 worth of damage).

It's left me with a feeling that ABB don’t care about their hosts once they have their money. I've seriously considered pulling out of ABB after this. It’s not about the cost its more about the lack of support from ABB.

Oh but you must give a review in a timely manner and you cannot cancel bookings otherwise ABB will drop you. All one sided!

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It might be helpful to review your homeowner's claim policy and timeframes so you can pursue that route...which airbnb seems to require before we approach them anyway.  If airbnb is the "secondary insurance" they are only obligated to pick up a portion of what the "primary" coverage does not, often with a 50-80% max, depending on the... conditions.

[Surendra4]

Recently, we have a guest from airbnb. He was given 5 keys for the apartment, wardrobe etc. He has lost one key. He has never accepted that he has lost any key from the bunch. Now what shall we do? We do not have a duplicate key and the lock can not be used. For this small matter I can not inform airbnb too. Now if I say something harsher to the guest then my raitings will go poorer. I think that airbnb guys shoud think about all this. 

[IManageAir-Bnb0]

This is great to hear and I appreciate that Airbnb is trying hard to improve this as they always do.  I have an additional concern though regarding damage claims which involves reviews. I don't think it's right that some hosts are afraid to make a valid damage claim in fear of getting a bad review. Last time I made a claim because the guest smoked in the lsitings and caused other damages which the guest admitted to but then left me a one star review on my superhost account and told severla lies about the listing. Airbnb refused to remove it. This seems to still be a bit of a flaw in the system. Some guests get angry that you have asked them to compensate for damanges and retaliate in their review which is completely unfair to the host.

[Surendra4]

I agree.

[Sada1]

🙂

[Carolina605]

What happens when small details are missing , like hair dry,  towels , sheets etc ? It’s possible to do a claim ?  There only for damages ? 

[Sean265]

The biggest problem is the time frame, we have back to back bookings constantly and have no time to work lodge claims before the next booking starts, 

i have this issue at the moment, i used the resolution centre thinking air bnb would assist with this but they couldnt care less, i recieved the rudest arrogant message back from airbnb saying that the claim didnt count, im still not sure why but assume its because we didnt log the claim before the next guest.

We have 2 cottages and host a huge number of guests a year and airbnb couldnt care less, now im up for replacing a 1 year old benchtop because airbnb duck for cover anytime someone tries to use their airbnb insurance cover.

I assume the .04 percent of claims is based on what Airbnb actually pay out not what claims are lodged! 

[Daniela-Vincenzo-Skol-Ma0]

we're property managers and we get our apartments trashed every now and then, regardless of the platform they have booked through and the only way to guarantee a security deposit is to collect it in cash on arrival and give it back to tenants after departure.

Which is not allowed, I understand, but if guests do not play by the rules, why should we?

[Hilary109]

This is our 10th year offering holiday rents.  With the other site we use and direct bookings I ask for and willingly receive, a modest returnable breakage deposit.  This is returned promptly on exit.  Yes it's a bit of bother but it keeps guests focused and has worked well for us.  This sum will not cover large damage but isn't what insurance is for?

It annoys me that Air does not allow us the option request a breakage deposit.  It doesn't sound as if their alternative is very user friendly.....

[Daniel1451]

Wow, a whole lot of distrust for the host guarantee / damages program!

[Mary146]

I agree that the time to make the claim is unreasonable when you are busy preparing for the next guest which may be that same day. This is unreasonable. What about this liability insurance that you offer? Is there nothing there that supports large scale damage by guests? Not enough support with lots of promises.

[Jeffrey30]

These changes are not enough. The policy of reporting before the next check-in is absurd. I have many times where guests check-out and check-in within hours of each other. There’s no time to get costs let alone receipts in before the next guest checks in. Furthermore, this new policy doesn’t address one of the biggest problems I face and am rarely compensated for is guests who rob me of per person fees by booking for a few people and bringing 20. There’s no difference between not paying or walking out the fron door with a tv and Airbnb does not enforce or compensate me unless I go through the entire stay’s worth of video footage and make each person’s entry and exit and even then I’m not compensated. Additionally, when claims are entered, it usually results in retaliatory reviews which have affected my overall rating and superhost status. Completely unfair and this policy ‘improvement’ as it’s described, is vague and I don’t feel it’s going to change much.