Damages from Guest, No Support from Airbnb

[Jen-and-Ryan0]

We have hosted a house through Airbnb and given them business from our home for 4 years. We have recently seen customer service declining due to it being outsourced. We used to be able to call an agent and get actual, good help. Now, it takes forever to speak to an agent, and once we do, they don’t speak fluent English, do not fully understand our situations, and frankly do next to nothing to help. 
Why are we as hosts being so abandoned and not given the help and backup from Airbnb, when our homes are how they get their income? 
Recently, for some reason after Covid, we have gotten 3 guests in a row who have either thrown parties at or trashed our house. It has taken hours upon hours to try and communicate with Airbnb customer service and received very minimal  help. All we have asked for is the actual cleaning costs and replacement value for damages incurred. Nothing more. Airbnb will not assist us in recovering these costs, keeps telling us we need to justify it prove it even though we already have with pictures. We have asked for $50 from one guest for our extra cleaning fee, then Airbnb responded they wouldn’t and couldn’t reimburse us that cost because the guest closed their account. So now the deposit taken from guests is for nothing? And all any guest has to do is close their account to avoid paying for damages they made? This completely abandoning the hosts and the “guarantee”.

Most recently, we had a guest throw a party (against our house rules), destroy the bedding in every room, broke a book shelf, and even stole items from our home. Unfortunately for us, we had another guest checking in 4 hours after this one left the house in the condition it was in. We wanted to do everything we could to get the house clean, fixed, and ready for the next guest as they had a reservation for a while and were depending on it. We chose to focus on getting the house clean, buy new bedding, repair the shelf, and get it ready to rent to this guest and be good, responsible, loyal Airbnb hosts. Only 5 hours after checkout, we reported these issues and damages to Airbnb. What was customer service at Airbnb’s response? They told us since another guest had already checked in that we could not submit a claim for ANYTHING. Are you kidding me? So our choice was to either cancel last min on the next guest who was not at fault because of the damages and taking hours to submit the claim - or, be good hosts and work our butts off to scramble to get the house ready for the next guest as they expect a good product and house from Airbnb. Because we chose the latter and to be good hosts, Airbnb’s response to us was that we forfeited our right to make a claim, and that they would do NOTHING to help go after the previous guests for their damages, vandalism, and theft. This is the kind of support that Airbnb is giving hosts now? Absolutely have to be kidding me. The customer service has disappeared, and Airbnb caring and supporting its hosts is a thing of the past. 

Has anyone else had similar situations lately, where we can helpfully raise a collective voice to someone who will listen?

[Nicole2118]

Yes customer service has definitely declined recently and your post makes me wonder if we should leave Airbnb and go elsewhere to host.

[Sarah977]

@Jen-and-Ryan0  Airbnb recently laid off 1900 employees, and the non-responsive CS is the result.

As to "Recently, for some reason after Covid, we have gotten 3 guests in a row who have either thrown parties at or trashed our house."- It isn't "after COVID"- the virus is still active and spreading and people are still dying from it. So those who think it's a good time to travel for non-essential reasons are those who don't care about things like not spreading a deadly virus, and are more likely to be those types who would throw a party and trash your house. 

If these guests are coming to you through IB bookings, I'd suggest you turn off IB for now so you can better vet your guests before accepting a booking. Did these bad guests have any reviews? Did you message with them at all when they booked to get a sense of their intentions? I know it's tempting to accept all bookings right now to try to make up for the loss of income from COVID cancellations, but it's also a time to really be vigilant about vetting guests. Also, because of COVID, you really should be leaving 24 hours between bookings- not taking back-to-backs with only 4 hours to clean. It's a danger to your guests as well as yourselves to enter the unit so soon after others have left.

I agree that having to submit a damage claim before the next guest checks in is harsh, especially when you have such a scene to clean up and repair. But taking time and date stamped photos of the disaster before the next guest checks in and starting the claim process is just something you have to do in order to comply with Airbnb policy. I hope they'll make an exception for you. 

[Jen-and-Ryan0]

Sarah,

Yes thanks. I wasn’t writing this post regarding covid or for that to be analyzed. The reason for my post is Airbnb’s horrible customer service and not backing their hosts or collecting payouts for damages. 
We did take pictures, date and time stamp, and submitted them the same day. They still won’t do anything. Such awful customer service, and loyalty. They are not supporting or backing hosts at all anymore and people need to be aware that their house can be trashed by a guest, then Airbnb will do nothing to help collect compensation, or to use the deposit for anything. The deposit from the guest is essentially pointless as we have been waiting for payout from 3 guests for extra cleanings and Airbnb refuses.

I meant after covid as in after it started..

We also give the guests the option to have 24 hrs between bookings. It is their choice whether they want to or not. 

[Gary146]

@Jen-and-Ryan0  

I had the same scenario happen. The new guests checked in 5 hours after the furniture was broken and brought it to may attention. I contacted the previous guests who agreed to pay for the chair. I then filed a claim with AIRBNB, explained the situation, and they quickly denied my claim, because the new guests had already checked in, EVEN THOUGH THE PREVIOUS GUESTS AGREED TO PAY FOR THE DAMAGE. Airbnb is only concerned with the revenue stream coming in, not the one going out. 

[Nancy1767]

I have been trying to recover damage cost from a guest in early May. I have submitted a request online as much as was possible, as the form crashes before I can list items that were damaged. Anyone else have that experience? I did finally find a way around that form and have submitted pictures of the damages. Anyway, I've been on the phone over and over. I've asked to speak to someone at Aircover with no results. I'm told that's not possible. I, too, and only requesting the actual replacement costs for items damaged or destroyed and extra cleaning fees.

[Gwen386]

@Nancy1767  What are the damages? If it’s things like towels, bed linens, broken dish or wine glass, that’s the cost of doing business and I dont think airbnb will entertain that. 

Now, if it is damage to furniture, for example, airbnb requires host to reach out to guest first. I will assume you did that. Airbnb wants to see photos and receipts to determine normal wear and tear, and depreciation value. 

If it is something way more substantial, you may have to look to your home owner’s insurance policy to cover anything that Aircover doesn’t cover. 

[Chethan2]

You can turn off IB and choose who you select . But I am wondering why the cost of some of these damages is not baked into your pricing ? We put away 5% of our bookings to a repair / replacement fund.