Guest "lost" the keys and I had to replace my lock - But Airbnb refuses to accept my reimbursement request

[P41]

Hi everyone,

I've been renting the extra room in my apartment on Airbnb and a recent guest claims she lost the keys.

First of all, this was a reservation made by a person to his friend (2 night reservation). The so called friend checks in, the next day asks if she can have her money back for 1 night as she intended to leave. The reservation policy is non-refundable, so I said that wasn't possible. She basically hangs up on my face after saying she would be back later to get her bag in the room.

Night comes and she still didn't get her things back, at midnight I receive non stop phone calls. As I know through own experience, it's better to keep record of conversations, so I text her back. She claims she forgot her keys in her bag in the room and asks if I could let her in. I was not in the apartment as I was at a friend's place 1 hour away. Still, she begs me to help her saying she would have to sleep on the street. So I leave and I go back to my apartment in the middle of the night, which almost took me 2 hours. On her last message she said she was waiting at the door with almost no battery. When I finally arrive there's nobody there, nobody downstairs.  I call her and after my 10th attempt she picks up the phone complaing it took me too long to arrive, she ended up booking a hotel nearby and that she would get her bag the next day around 2pm, to what I say no since check out is at 11am.

The next day she shows up after 2pm, after ignoring all my phone calls and text messages. She comes in to get her bag and says she lost my keys. I couldn't believe that since the night before she claimed they were in her bag in the room. Anyway, she pretends to look for the key but says "I can look but I won't find them because they stayed in the pocket of my jacket at a guy's place where I spent the night".  She said she was going to try to contact this guy to give me my key back during the upcoming week. In my mind the only thing I could think of was sure, I will be completely safe here waiting for you and/or this guy or anyone else to come here and invade my apartment. As the booking wasn't even on her name (it was her friend's) I asked to see her ID since I didn't feel safe with this situation, she refused. I then asked her to tell me her last name, she refused. She said she would pay for a new key, I then said I would need to have all my lock replaced because I didn't feel safe and her response was "no, why would you do that? there's no need! I will pay for your new key". So I ask to see the ID again in case something happened to my apartment, in case I got robbed for example, she kept denying it and saying she didn't feel comfortable with that. - Imagine how comfortable I was feeling!!!!!! - (small "detail": her friend, the person that made the reservation lives just 45 min by subway from my apartment, which is not far at all. This was not the case of a tourist that was going back to another continent.)

So she leaves and I call Airbnb almost crying as nervous as I was with the whole unsafe situation and I explain what happened, the person on the phone tells me to change my lock as soon as possible and to send a request for reimbursement, I then explain that I didn't have that kind of money to spare and how to proceed. He said I just needed to send the receipt and I would be reimbursed. It took 4 days for my new lock to arrive, in which I had to live in fear not knowing if someone was going to show up at my place.

Of course the guest refused to pay for the reimbursement request , so I requested Airbnb to get involved in the case expecting they would do as I was told on the phone call with Airbnb Support.

Today I see my case was closed and I got no money back from Airbnb. How is this possible?

They claim there was no physical damage or stolen property. What? A stolen key is what if not stolen property? Besides, how can the host's safety and the future guest's (because I did have people checking in every day after that) safety not be taken into consideration by Airbnb's policy? 

I even sent them the video from my surveillance camera showing the guest refusing to show me her ID or tell me her last name. This is all so weird that there's no way I would feel safe if I didn't change my lock. But for Airbnb it is clearly not their responsability to ensure my safety when it comes to paying for a new lock. 

Has anyone had a similar experience?? Any advice on what I could do?

Thanks in advance and best regards

[Anonymous]

@P41   Airbnb usually refunds the cost of changing a lock, when the guest fails to return the keys. However, if the guest refuses to pay, the terms of the Host Guarantee are involved in the mediation. And that's where this part might pose a problem:

"this was a reservation made by a person to his friend (2 night reservation). The so called friend checks in, the next day asks if she can have her money back for 1 night as she intended to leave."

That's all a bit confusing, but it sounds like the person who stayed in the home might not have been the same person from whose account this was booked? If that's the case, what limited protections you have from Airbnb are essentially null and void. The ideal thing would be a time machine to go back to the check-in, so that you could refuse entry to your home to someone who couldn't prove they were the Airbnb member on the booking. But you still would have forfeited the payout for their rental in doing so.

Anyway, you know how it is with insurance adjusters - they're scrutinizing claims for reasons not to reimburse you, not looking for ways to help you out in a rough time. Same goes for Airbnb. If in spite of all this, you decide to continue listing with them, it's best to assume in the future that the listing service isn't going to be of any useful protection for you, and plan/budget accordingly for emergencies.

[P41]

Thanks @Anonymous ! What you said at the end is exactly right! 

It is amazing though how can the result be completely different of what I was assured by not only 1 but 2 Airbnb Support agents. I specifically asked if Airbnb would cover the cost and they said yes.

[Katrina79]

@P41 @You did the right thing to change the lock and now it is safe again. It’s worth it to find a reliable and cost efficient key smith in your area to come to the rescue when needed. Key smith’s are able to re-key most locks and it is a fraction of the price of purchasing an entirely new set. However now that you have a new set if it happens again down the road you can just swap the old one back in. I didn’t know Airbnb would deny a claim for reimbursement for a new lock. Some host’s have a replacement key cost written in their house rules,$100 to replace a lost key. Maybe writing in the replacement cost in your rules is more likely to be approved. 

[P41]

Thanks for the tip on adding it to my house rules @Katrina79 !

Actually I didn't need to pay for a key smith as I changed the locks myself. The reimbursement was just the price of a new lock itself.

[M199]

@P41 

Just a suggestion,  one time cost, about $100cdn.  Install a simple digital lock and put a backup lockbox  close by.  No keys to be lost.  My guests love it.  No need for anything fancy.  Added benefit is that the digital code can be guest specific to the guest and dates of stay.😉  Added security is that they can't come back or check in early, depending on how you manage it.

[Sarah977]

@P41  Crummy experience. If you ever have to make some sort of claim again, I think it's best to communicate with Airbnb by messaging rather than calling them. Screenshot all the messages between you and the support rep in case they disappear. Then you at least have written proof of what the CS rep told you, in this case that you would be reimbursed for a new lock. 

Otherwise you only have "Well the rep Jason told me on the phone.." rather than a message from Jason staing in black and white that you'd be reimbursed.