Illegitimate damage fees by host

[Mahesh44]

Hello,

I have made a lot of AirBnb trips  with friends & family to various locations. I am a big fan of AirBnB and its policies. However, recently I have had a very poor experience from a seemingly dubious host who seems to be hosting their cottage to extort money from the guests in form of damage fees. 

We went on a trip to Bass Lake, CA where 4 families booked a cottage. The cottage description and photos made it look spacious and comfortable than it really was. We spent 2 nights in the cottage. There were a few kids with us. Fast forward 2 days later, after we checked out (at 10am, yes the checkout time was 10am), we received an email with a long list of damages from ripped sofas at multiple places (that none of us could possibly do in such a short period), stains on carpet and sofa, broken slat on window and smoking inside the house. We do agree on one of the stain that might be caused due to a toddler carrying strawberry, but rest of the damages were illegitimate. The host also sent links to all the furniture (including sofa, carpet and pillows) and charged us $4300 for all the damages. This included $2500 (with a link to brand new sofa). How can you justify such a blatant and ridiculous charges? I would not accept any charges beyond maybe 200$ (which still seems high) considering these are normal wear & tear that  one would expect.

How can we move ahead with this situation? It looks like AirBnB will side with hosts and will try to recover money from us on their behalf; but it just seems so wrong.

[Ann72]

@Mahesh44  All you have to do is to turn down the charges for what you did not damage and pay the one you think is legit.  After that, it will be between the host and Airbnb.

[Sarah977]

@Mahesh44  One of the problems when staying with a large group is that someone in the group may damage something that you, as the one who made the booking, are unaware of. 

There are many cases like this. Someone in the group flushes baby wipes down the toilet, and plugs up the plumbing, requiring a $300 plumber call-out. 

You know you didn't flush any baby wipes and everyone in the group denies having done so. It's natural to believe your friends and family, but you really have no way of knowing for sure if they are just saying that so as not to be blamed. Or one of the children causes some damage without even realizing that they have done so, because they are just too young to be paying that sort of attention.

[Nick]

OP asked to be deleted