About security deposits...

[Michael5689]

I'm going to focus on facts in this post so please try to focus on those in responses as well.  I have many opinions about the process, drivers of policies, but I'd like to hear facts and non emotional opinions from others.  If some of the responses aren't civil I'll probably reach out to the community support to get those type of responses removed.

Guest gets sick on carpet. (It happens...it's vacation home after all.)  Guest tries to clean it up with bleach (Noooooooo.)  Ruins carpet, ruins towels, covers up the mess with a hassock before checking out AND doesn't tell the guest who booked the reservation.

I as host arrive after guests leave very late at night (after 14 hour drive due to roads closed due to winter storms, ugh), do my walk-around, notice the hassock has moved and the carpet is a bit stained, but don't realize the severity.  I figure I'll take care of it in the morning with a wet vac and push the hassock back into the right spot.  Wife checks more thoroughly and notices the severity of the problem and the bleach smell.  I do a bit of searching online that night on how to estimate costs of replacing carpet, take a photo and head to sleep and decide to take care of it in the morning as I don't want to send the guest a nasty note in my state of sleep deprivation.  Of note this is 2 days after Christmas at the height of the US Covid spike.

Another complicating factor in this whole saga may be that on the day of scheduled check-out the guest couldn't leave but we didn't extend the reservation until AirBNB had already automatically checked him out so I have to send a supplemental payment request for the extra night.  He eventually pays this extra amount right at the 72 hour deadline before AirBNB has to get involved.

We call in our house cleaner the next day to help out.  The next morning when more calm I submit the estimate I came up with the previous night $2.5k as a request directly to the guest.  The original reservation was a Christmas reservation so this is still less then their full reservation cost.  The renter replies rather quickly.  I can tell he is upset, but...because he didn't know anything about it.  I call him and talk to him.  I believe him so I give him a bit of an overview of the damage reimbursement policies and tell him he'll probably only be out his security deposit and not the full $2.5k I put in the original request.  He says he's going to call his friend. 

I spend a lot of time over 3 days using the rug cleaner to get the carpet as good as it can be.  We take the after photo showing the remaining bleach damage.  The room airs out of the smell after a few days of having the windows open.  We then go and buy a $200 area rug to cover it as we have guests booked pretty solid for the next month and don't want our guests to have to deal with the carpet looking like it does.  I feel bad for the guest so later when we find the ruined towels hidden in a cabinet in the bathroom and realize the bed skirt is ruined too, I decide not to document or add anything else to the reimbursement request because $2.5k is going to be painful enough.

Because of Covid getting a contractor in to give me a real quote is a real pain.  I get one guy in about 7 days later, but can never get an actual quote out of him.  I end up PAYING Home Depot $50 just to give me a real quote about a week later that I can use as documentation.  The quote itself doesn't come until after the 14 day post checkout date and it comes out to a bit over $1k.

Due to the age of the carpet 10 years, I am only reimbursed 20% or a bit over $200.  My security deposit if $625.  No matter how much I protest about the incongruity of my "security deposit" amount and the amount I'm being reimbursed.  I try to add the other items back in but don't have great documentation and receipts so of course it's all rejected.  Eventually I get into a back-and-forth with support about why I can't get my security deposit.  They keep saying how the area rug I bought isn't damaged so they can't reimburse for the area rug completely misses the point that I'm trying to recover the full security deposit for the original ~$1k in damages that they have acknowledged.  For the first time in my life I almost yell at a support person on the phone when calling AirBNB support to try and get access to the full security deposit despite the resolution request run-around.  

Without trying to get into recriminations and opinions about the policy and the meaning of "security deposit."  I'm curious of other's opinions of what happened.  I think my initial estimate being rather high is a factor here especially when the actual quote came back in much lower.  I chalk up the bad initial estimate up to sleep depravation.  Some potential explanation options for how the rest of the process unfolded I have outlined below:

1) Guest didn't admit that he caused the damage.  (I believe he didn't know about it due to the hiding of it with the hassock and the hidden ruined towels we eventually found stashed in a cabinet.)  Therefore AirBNB didn't give me access to the security deposit and only reimbursed me through AirCover policy which has the 10-year deprecation built-in and leads to the 20% reimbursement.

2) Because I didn't get the final actual quote in past the magic 14 days I wasn't able to access the full security deposit.

3) The guest admits the damage was caused by his group, but since he personally didn't cause the damages, AirCover policy is invoked and only results in 20% recovery of the quoted damage.

I've gone through the "Host Damage Protection" terms and "AirCover" terms/documents and they are confusing at best.  I've tried to answer the question of what happened with the process myself with the documents, but I'm giving up at this point and turning to all your collective knowledge and experience.

Please try to limit your responses to your guess based on your experiences to 1-3 above or propose #4-X of what I didn't consider...and keep it civil.

Thanks all!

Mike

[Michael5689]

@Elaine701 I wouldn't quite say it was "settled."  🙂

I basically gave up as I couldn't get through to support that my key question that was unanswered was "Why I wasn't allowed to access the whole of the security deposit for reimbursement and when a guest admitted the damage?" 

I was trying to get that answer out of support, but the whole discussion got too confusing due to the additional costs I tried to add to the reimbursed once I figured out how they were going to nickel-and-dime me on the carpet replacement. 

I wish I still had the photo of the after picture of the carpet.  The carpet looked perfect after wet-vac'ing...except for the bleach stain.  If they had actually just left the stain and not cleaned it up at all it would have had a better outcome actually.  I would have been upset of course and given a terrible review, but I also would not have been out ~$1300.

[Frances90]

How do you collect your own deposit through Airbnb? Please describe. We would like to implement this as well. 

do you list on other sites as well or direct book? We hope to stay exclusive to Airbnb, though know it isn’t beneficial.

[Michael5689]

I haven't used anything beyond the built-in security deposit feature at AirBNB.  I've seen some other add-on sites mentioned in these bulletin boards but haven't tried them myself so I'll defer from recommending that at this point.  I don't like the idea of having a guest book and then having them go through an additional step for a security deposit on another site so I don't think I'll be doing that.
Mike

[Elaine701]

Yes, well, that's Airbnb host support. Best to avoid it if you can. Still, you got something. Count your blessings. 

Oh, and, well, there is no "security deposit", unless you collect it yourself. 

[Michael5689]

@Elaine701 But your reply is part of my point.  🙂  As what you say suggests, the hosts that have experienced the process are so jaded on here so it's a take-what-you-can-get attitude.

My target with this post is partially the community managers lurking in the background.  If you don't stand behind a policy like a "Security Deposit" that is a feature that some of your revenue generators think is their fallback option to deal with the risk of particularly bad customers than why not get rid of the feature all together.  It's also a good idea to limit a public company's risk/exposure when not really providing a service that they claim they are providing.  Or, alternatively change the level of enforcement of that policy feature.  Right now all it's leading to is dissatisfied partners that are the ones enabling your revenue stream.

[Elaine701]

@Michael5689 

Yes, I understand. Thanks. 

I employ a different tactic that doesn't depend on Airbnb for illusionary "protection". 

[Helen744]

Helen @744. looks like a murder scene. I think we can set a security deposit in australia but honestly every guest does something. wrecking the lock box so we have to replace the keys blood on the carpet broken hand basin .it goes on .insurance is not really designed to take care of day to day issues and there are always some.in a normal tenancy a security deposit has to go to court in Australia to retrieve it from an ordinairy tenant . Its not a matter of witholding at all or an extra cost . And you cannot have both or if the bond is witheld it is deucted from the insurance.I would try and uses a scotch guard or a protectant for your carpet . There is too much bleach around these days horrors . I think I will put a sign on ours to say please do not use except in toilet H.

[Michael5689]

@Helen744 Yeah, it was pretty bad and hilarious that they put the hassock on top of it thinking it wouldn't be noticeable.

I agree deposits shouldn't be used for normal wear and tear things unless something really big is broken.  There are tons of small things under $300 in value that I let go and usually even up to $500.  This case was so egregious that I went the reimbursement route thinking I could get a majority of the costs back.

I understand there are tricky legal issues with security deposits as well that AirBNB has to weigh, I just think if they are going to so heavily defer in the guests favor they should just scrap the security deposit all together so hosts go into it with a clearer picture of reality.

[Helen744]

Helen@744I dont know how you retain the deposit but there must be a way to prevent it being released the change of carpet cost should not have been a trigger although you left it open to them to talk the cost down . you can replace especially since you have to organize it etcetera at the cost you consider correct but getting payment back is the thing. I think the guest must have to pay the deposit or have a hold put on their card at the very least until you can work out costs . a claim should only begin with you saying you want to claim for a damaged carpet so getting costs in a time frame shouldnt make a difference H.I do not think asking the guest for the payment is your job 

[Michael5689]

I think the way it works here in the US there is a hold on the card,  but I don't control the outcome.  AirBNB controls the outcome.  I think the guest admitted his friend caused the damage, but for some reason AirBNB still didn't give me the deposit amount.  Instead they only gave me the amount deprecated amount.  It's like they ignored that the security deposit existed and just focused on more of an insurance-like payout.

[Colleen253]

@Michael5689 There is no hold placed, if it’s a host required SD.

https://www.airbnb.ca/help/article/140/security-deposits

[Michael5689]

Sorry, I keep confusing myself on that.  Here's what I see in the US so yes I agree that is correct.  https://www.airbnb.com/help/article/140/security-deposits

I'm guessing that page has slightly different wording in each country though too.

Mike

[Tania646]

Well, if this outcome is unacceptable to you, you could use a platform like https://www.ownerreservations.com, and integrate that with AIrbnb.  If you did, you could require them to buy an insurance policy (you could actually mark it up).  See https://www.ownerreservations.com/support/articles/damage-protection-overview

In addition, you could require a security deposit, and depending on whether you are the merchant of record YOU would have control of it.  You could also have a signed agreement with the primary renter, which would give you additional ways to approach it (e.g., a small claims court claim (where I live is goof for a claim up to $7K).  

It's not expensive to use owner reservations.com.  The base rate starts at $35/month, but there's a setup time and expense.  But you could have a LOT of control and protection.