Guest Broke our couch and denied it. Cleaners inspect it after every guest

[Ryan2147]

I'll try to keep this short.  We're new hosts, recently hit Superhost rating.  We have lots of positive reviews.  We have thorough cleaners that know our house and know the furniture.  They inspect the furniture, under couches, cushions, to make sure no food or items were left by the guests. 

After the most recent guests left, my cleaners informed me the couch was broken. I contacted the guest by phone and they didn't deny it, just said "that's how it was, the cushions would shift, but it was fine to sit on"...then they went on to say "I didn't sit on it by my teenage boys were for a lot of the stay".  The couch is broken where the front board meets one of the legs, so it was listing down at one end and the pillows were slipping off.  It also looks like another supporting board broke off, and was pushed under the couch.  This board had some felt attached to it, and ripped off in spots, implying it broke off, was still attached, so to hide it someone had to rip it off.

When I was on the phone with the guest at no point was I accusatory, I simply asked them if they knew what had happened and their reply was as stated above.  I tried to sound as helpless and confused as I could, because I am genuinely confused by inconsiderate and dishonest people.  Nothing apologetic, they just thought that's how it was. What they said next was, to me, telling, they said "now, I wasn't going to say anything, but you also had dirty dishes in the cabinets and one of the beds is broken and mushy(box spring was shifted, couldn't find a single dirty dish when I was there).  They immediately go on the offensive.

We have had glowing reviews, and people sending me messages thanking me for their stay.  I take pride in it.  We've had people break things and be up front and honest about it.  This person has 3 reviews over 3 years, seemingly positive, but they're very likely not going to rate me highly here. 

So to sum it up, new Superhost, guest seems to have broken our couch, denied claim, responded to our claim by telling Airbnb our place was dirty and had other broken furniture and now my case is elevated to a support claims ambassador.  Any advice? Do I have a chance?  I am almost certainly getting a negative review...do I wait to review the guest, or just give them an honest review myself?

[Sarah977]

@Ryan2147  There are tons of posts on this forum that make it clear that there are many guests like this- the instant they feel they are being criticized or blamed for anything, no matter how tactful your approach, they counter with some made up b.s. about something you know perfectly well isn't true. 

It also amazes me that there seem to be so many people who refuse to take responsibity for anything. I'm not accustomed to hanging out with people like that and can't imagine damaging someone else's stuff and not bothering to mention it, apologize, and offer some compensation.

Now of course it is possible that the parents didn't realize their boys had managed to break the sofa. I raised three daughters who weren't at all destructive, but when they were teenagers, all their friends used to hang at our house and my experience was that teenage boys are really hard on things. It's like they don't quite realize how large their body has gotten and how strong they are and think they can still throw their bodies around as if they were little kids.

These people are obviously not going to pay for the damage and as you say, will no doubt repeat their dirty dishes lies in their review. There's no point in you failing to leave an honest review, but if you don't get notice that they have left a review, wait until day 13 and 3/4 to leave yours, so they don't have time to leave one themselves. If they do submit a review before that, no point in waiting to submit yours.

If it's not a really expensive thing to fix, maybe you'll just have to chalk it up to the cost if doing business if Airbnb makes it difficult, rather than spend hours pursuing compensation.

[Ryan2147]

Thank you for the reply! I could possibly repair it...at this point I'm not going to sweat it, I'll just let the process work itself out.  Airbnb took the elevated case even though I had guests check in just 3.5 hours after checkout.  I'm going to just wait out the review...I get a notice if they leave a review...right?

[Sarah977]

@Ryan2147  Yes, you should get a notice that they left a review, but of course it's a crap shoot to assume that Airbnb's glitchy tech always works as it's supposed to  🙂

[Cristina838]

Sadly, bad guests expect you to not complain. If you do they take revenge by lying and denying, I have been hosting for more than 20 years. Before getting into an already lost battle,  I always ask myself, what is more important to me? To pay for what they broke or a nasty review that you cant get ride off. If you want to host for many years, ask for a reasonable security deposit before check in. That makes them responsible and aware of the consequences, and be more mindful with your place. Any hotel will charge your credit card without notice, you broke it you pay for it .