This is right on topic for a situation I now face as a host. I own a home in a very expensive area that limits me to rentals of 30+ days. I had guests who moved out yesterday. Within the first two weeks, they had broken a couple of TP holders and a towel rack off the wall on a 2 year old custom-built home... followed by somehow knocking a door handle off a high-end refrigerator.
They checked out yesterday, and left about 40 cardboard boxes in the garage from all of the deliveries they had during their stay, as well as leaving various pieces of baby furniture for me to dispose of, and an assortment of misc personal items left in the house. i spent almost 4 hours breaking down and disposing of their garage boxes/garbage while my cleaning crew spent 10 person hours cleaning the home.
They claim that a glass top to a marble dining room table "spontaneously" cracked in half. Replacing it will cost about $600. They also broke a sliding closet door's upper track without saying anything and continued to use it causing the previously unblemished door to be badly scratched. Two other walls were badly scratched and need to be repainted.
And, to give you further insight to their character, they asked me if I could arrange for my cleaners to do periodic cleaning at their expense. They were to pay them directly. I told them what the cleaners charge. They contacted the cleaners and had them clean and do all of their laundry for a family of 4. It took two women 3.5 hours. When they invoiced my guests, they said it was "too much money" and shorted my cleaners $100.
OK, so now the predicament under AirBnB's guest-biased rating system... I'm expecting a well-deserved 5 Star review, since I know they loved staying at my place and i jumped through hoops to attend to all of their needs. In fact, they have told me that they left a 5 Star review. Great, except for the fact that if I write an honest review, they can ask AirBnB to retract theirs. It is also my understanding that if i fail to write a review for them, their's is never published. This is insanity, and causes hosts to inflate the ratings of guests. The only one who suffers is the next host that ends up with lousy guests who should have been banned from the platform.
Also, from everything I've heard from other hosts, "Air Cover" is next to useless. Even with complete host documentation, guests dispute claims after AirBnB tells the host to try and work it out first before filing a claim. Then, even if part of the claim is ultimately covered following a stressful, time-consuming process, the guest can lie and ask that their rating be retracted. I've decided to just eat the damages and spare myself the hassle and aggravation of the AirCover process.
There are much needed changes that need to happen. Sadly, the rating system here is no more credible than the paid ratings on Amazon.