I have had a couple of experiences that have made me realize that this Host Guarantee is just a false sense of security. AirBnB will never pay and their Staff is trained to deny your Claim one way or the other. In the most recent instance, I immediately contacted the Guest about Damages & violation of House Rules. After going back and forth and not getting responses from the Guest, within 24 Hours of the Check-Out I contacted AirBnB regarding next steps. I was told that this matter would have to referred to another Team and someone will reach out within 24 - 48 Hours. When I did not hear, I reached out to follow-up and I was told that I would need to file a Claim in the Resolution Center.
After a couple weeks of wait, I was told that the Claim is denied because there is no evidence that I tried to get the Guest to pay. They could see in the messaging with the Guest that they were not responding. And they said that since there is nothing in my messages that says that I intend to collect for the Damages, my Claim is denied. Also totally disregarding that in my 1st attempt to contact AirBnB, I was not provided any clear direction on the next steps, they said that by the time the Claim was started in the Resolution Center, next Guest had checked in and therefore that also causes the Claim to be denied.
I have my Listing on Portals like Booking.com, Expedia, etc which do not claim to offer any kind of Insurance, etc and us as a Host collect the Security Deposit ourselves. AirBnB's Host Guarantee Program is just falsehood and more dangerous because at any point of time the Host has absolutely no control of the Security Deposit.
Btw if you have anything in your House Rules about forfeiture of the Security Deposit, it is useless because AirBnB does not enforce it. So a Guest can do whatever the hell they want, but if there is no Physical Damage, you got nothing against your Guest.
