Damages and how to handle odd situations ....

[Sue682]

We just had three men check out yesterday.   Quickly, upon arrival to the home, I realized all three men slept in the same bed.   Next, look for damages, which there were many: wine-spills on hard-wood floors, a set of designer hand-towels ruined from wine,  broken glass, a soiled comforter (ruined by trying to wash and/or bleach it) and finally, a towel rack pulled out of the wall, creating dry wall damage.   Next, I had the most uncomfortable experience of contacting them, via AirBnB,  to let them know of the damage.   This seems like a crazy system to me.  You're already upset about the property damage and you are forced to be nice to the perpetrator who just disrespected your home.   Anyway, he only admitted to the towels, because, honestly, how could they deny it?  They denied everything else.  This drives me more crazy because, then, you have to get AirBnB involved.  And, I checked them in and was here within 15 minutes of their departure.  So, as advised by this board, I took pictures of everything.  And,  I'm gathering up quotes and now have to beg them to repay me for the damage or get AirBnB involved.   And, because there is damage, I'll get a horrible review, despite the fact, upon departure they texted to say they had a wonderful time and enjoyed our home.   Finally, as they departed, and were saying their good-byes to each other, in front of the Arlo camera, as clear as day, "I hope you enjoyed the P0rn.  I made sure to shut the shades every night - HaHaHa!"  Then, I spend the entire next day doing 10 loads of laundry of every towel, blanket, comforter and even the couch cover, scrubbing surfaces, walls, and everything.   It's been exhausting.     

I have to learn from this   I usually get one horrible renter a year and I'm trying to create a profile of what/who they are:   My worst three renters all have this in common: They are friends, who knew someone in town, but needed a place to stay usually with the friend, as they can't stay in the friends home  (that says I need a place to party),  less than 5 reviews, and usually not a responsive communicator.   In this case, he had one, 5 star review and never communicated and had a friend in town.    So, I have to figure out how to weed this out of my AirBnB and I think I have to go off instant book.   Finally, this seem crazy to be dealing with during COVID.   If this is a sign of things to come, I'm going to be super careful in 2021 as people can disrespectfully party someplace else. 

I'm sure there is more to come, in this chapter, especially, when I ask for more than $300 in damages .....

[Gary-And-Rose0]

Keep tabs of the cost of repairs. Do you charge a damage deposit? We charge 500 no matter what. It seems to keep people in line. No issues so far. 

it’s frustrating as we work so hard to provide a nice place to stay. 

file damages with Airbnb ASAP. easy to contact on the help page on this site. You can chat with someone almost instantly here. Send pictures etc. Send the text where they admitted to the towels to go along with your other damage. 

I almost think it’s worth it before every arrival is take a photo of your place with a time stamp to prove what it looked like before and after

[Sue682]

Thank you for responding.  I used to charge a $250 damage deposit and then I got a nasty remark in the comments as a result.  But, I care more about no damages than a bad review.   Excellent suggestion!

That might be just as good as removing myself from instant booking. 

I am filing for damages first thing in the morning and of course I have to forward to the guest as well. 

I took photo's of everything.   And, they admitted on AirBnB to the towels.  We also have photo's of a what looks like a repair they tried to do on the wall, but it didn't work.   

Luckily, I was taking photos the day they checked-in, for our cleaning guide, so I got photos of the whole house just hours before they arrived.   But that is a great way to approach the hosting.   Because it becomes their word against mine.  uuugh.  

Thank you again for your suggestions and observations.  Very much appreciated.  Thanks for you time!

[Mike-And-Jane0]

@Gary-And-Rose0 How do you charge/collect a damage deposit?

[Gary-And-Rose0]

It’s under extra charges. We usually get monthly bookings so we charge 500 deposit. 

remember it is a deposit not a charge you should t receive a complaint. They will only get charged if they do damage. 

[Mike-And-Jane0]

@Gary-And-Rose0 So if the guest cancels their credit card then the so called deposit is never collected?

[Emilia42]

@Mike-And-Jane0 I don't even believe the guests needs to cancel their credit card. . . . They can just say "I'm not paying the damages." End of story. And then the host and Airbnb are on their own. Let's hope the host follows the tedious claims process to a tee but either way Airbnb can easily say "you're **** out of luck."

[James2566]

I’ve started doing this as well but as a short video walk-through. Pandemic guests have been especially challenging and damaging so this is a quick way to have a visual inventory as I’m finding I need to file claims after almost each booking since Covid. 

[Mark116]

@Sue682  Bad communicator is the biggest red flag, they don't read what you send them, don't read anything in the hard copies and also usually don't ask questions if they don't know how to operate something, so much higher chance of damages.  Also agree on locals are usually poor guests.