Floor damage

[Kathleen752]

Wondering if someone can advise.  We have recently renovated a home specifically for holiday rental.  It has been renovated to a very high standard and everything is less than a year old.  On our latest change over, damage to our new hardwood floors was noted and the guest denies it was them.  The only way to fix this is to sand the floor back and reseal the wood.  This may cause additional damage, and it can't be done until we have a break in bookings, which isn't until October,  so it's hard to know how to deal with it and I can't figure out how to reach out to Airbnb without going through the resolution centre.

Any ideas??

[Lisa723]

@Kathleen752 My first idea is that I would not have hardwood floors I cared about in a short-term rental; they are inevitably going to be damaged.

If you want to try to recover costs from this guest, the way to do it is through the resolution center-- there's no point in trying to reach Airbnb any other way as there is no other option they can offer you. You must submit your claim before your next guest checks in, or within two weeks, whichever is earlier. You must submit photographs and documentation, e.g. receipts or "official" estimates for repair from a professional. Whether Airbnb will grant your claim in contradiction  of the guest's denial of responsibility is a roll of the dice. If the guest gets the claim before posting their review you can count on a retaliatory review. (But you may already be down that road due to asking the guest about it.)

https://www.airbnb.com/help/article/264/what-do-i-do-if-my-guest-breaks-something-in-my-place