How secure is your property against been robbed? learn form my experience

[Eduardo1353]

Good morningMy name is Eduardo, I’m a host for Airbnb for almost 3 years and I would like to share with you how is the company handling my issue. On May 13, I hosted a guest for two nights. Everything look good to me at that point in time. The night before the check out date (May 14th) I started calling the guest to coordinate the check out time. Unfortunately the guest never answered my calls. On the day off checking out (May 15) I decided to go to the house to see if everything was ok. I called the guest again several times , but will not picked up the phone. I decided to go in my property to see, and what a surprise! Everything had been stolen from my place! Everything that I work so hard to buy. Like. An hour later I called Airbnb and notified them about the incident, they did provide me with some comfort and insurance that they will help me with this horrible situation. I also called the police, to file a police report, also I walked my entire place to take a full inventory of everything that was taken and or damaged. They tried to take the dishwasher, microwave, but because this items are attached to the walls they were no able, but they cut the electrical cords now I have to repair them. After 48 hours not knowing anything from Airbnb, I finally received a email from Jeffry an Airbnb Claims Support specialist. I was so happy to see that Airbnb had finally taken action on my issue, as I started reading the email I felt like if I was robbed once again he told this : My apologies for the length delay in a reply from our side. We truly appreciate your patience as we have been experiencing a typically high volume of inquiries.

We've carefully reviewed your Host Guarantee request and, unfortunately, we're unable to process your request.

For damages to be eligible under our Host Guarantee, Hosts must notify Airbnb and the responsible guest, and attempt to resolve the loss and/or physical damages within 14 days of checkout or before your next guest checks in, whichever is earlier. Please know that a Resolution Center claim submitted after the next guest checks in can create confusion on which guest was responsible for damage. Submission deadlines are critical to ensure the guest responsible for damage is clearly illustrated by the submission time frame of your claim for damages.

I was going crazy!!!! Really !!!! After giving this company so much in commissions !!! This is what they were giving me!!!! Then I realized that they had the wrong reservation number in my case. You know how hard is to get a hold of someone in their offices? For customer service support is easy , but you can not go beyond them! You will have to do everything via email! That’s all. So I had to write another email explaining their mistake. Now here I am again, back to point A waiting to hear anything from anybody from Airbnb. Now I’m not writing this to make Airbnb look bad, but I’m sure I’m not the first or last person going through a situation like this!! But is obvios that there is a lots of glitches in the system that needs to get fix. I will keep all of you posted about this case. So the next victim knows what to do. I’m sharing some pictures from before and after I was robbed. —feeling sad.

[Dale711]

Hi @Eduardo1353 

So sorry to hear about your experience.

As an Airbnb host, you do need additional insurance.

Hosting with any accurate frequency is likely to void your current homeowner's policy, and Airbnb's protection is inadequate.

Although the host guaranteed it is not easy to get support from Airbnb. Some members are verifying to get the protection program in these rare cases.

It is essential to follow the Airbnb host guarantee to progress and get the support of the claim.

I hope you can resolve the issue and Thank you for sharing your experience.

[Eduardo1353]

Thank You Dale

[Branka-and-Silvia0]

@Eduardo1353  yes, it's every host's nightmare, I am sorry it happened to you. Your place looks really nice.

Be persistent with Airbnb and if you didn't already follow the procedure for damage claim. Send your guest a money request, if he doesn't answer within 72 hours then involve Airbnb again. Prepare all the photos, police report, the estimate for repairs, receipts for stolen goods or find the same or similar products online for the price comparison.

And don't forget to block your calendar until you repair everything and file a damage claim.

@Dale711  I don't know how insurance operates in France or Mexico but here insurance doesn't cover the robbery done by the guest bc we gave them a key and let them in. Insurance would cover the robbery only if the entrance door was fully locked prior to the robbery and damaged during the robbery. The same with windows.

[Branka-and-Silvia0]

@Eduardo1353  to prevent this to happen again you should verify ID of your every guest, not just the one that booked. Someone should personally meet the guests on check-in and take a photo of their IDs or passports.  You should also state this in your house rules or/and description.

I am not sure if Airbnb will reveal your guest's identity to the police if the police ask for it. I am not even sure if Airbnb knows the identity of your guests.

[Eduardo1353]

Thank You.  Great advice 

[Nick]

Hi @Eduardo1353 

I'm really sorry you had this experience. I reached out to the Customer Service team and shared the information you provided here and will update you via DM as soon as I hear back from them.

Thank you