Lots of damage

[Jennifer2514]

Guests who left yesterday did a lot of damage to my house. Sofa (put in less than a yr ago) stained. New (brand new) kitchen rug burned. Bolster from sofa missing. Ceramic jar chipped all over. Chunk of wood dug out of my solid wood kitchen table. Current guest says a piece of wood in the BR is broken, but I missed that. The furniture was moved around and not put back. (Among other things, they brought a desk upstairs from the basement.) 

My housekeeper found garbage in the house (I directed them to put it in the garage) and a live mouse in the trash bin, which indicates a cleanliness issue since I have regular bimonthly pest services precisely to avoid mice. (House is in the deep country.) 

They did neaten up before they left, including running the DW through and stripping the beds. They left a day early w/o explanation.

I think the guests should pay for the damage, but I don’t want to risk them giving me a bad review. Do I wait until after the 2 wk review period before I make a claim? How do I best handle this w/o risking my Superhost status?

I have been renting this house for 3 years and have never had damage like this. I am embarrassed and upset about the state of my house. 

[Debra300]

@Jennifer2514,

Per Airbnb's policy, a host has 48 hours after checkout to submit a claim for damages.  You have a great host rating, and I don't think that a one negative review will do a lot of damage.  Is the risk of getting a negative review more important to you than getting paid for the damages?

[Jennifer2514]

How do I make a claim?

I know the rug they burned was $40 b/c it was new, but the quarter sized do it from the kitchen table? The stained sofa (which I got last summer)? Do they get charged for leaving the furniture in different rooms (and on different floors!)? The missing bolster was only $12. The ceramic jar, who knows? Do I just estimate it’s value?

[Debra300]

@Jennifer2514,

Here's the link with the information for filing a claim:  https://www.airbnb.com/help/article/264/what-do-i-do-if-my-guest-breaks-something-in-my-place#:~:tex...

It looks like you have up to 14 days or before the next guest arrives to file a claim.  I still wouldn't wait until the guest leaves a review before filing, because you may lose your opportunity to leave an honest review that will be helpful for other hosts.  Good luck.

[Louise0]

Unfortunately there is little you can do.  I had my place damaged beyond belief on July 12 by a group of thugs who Those cylinders are pages ripped out of Kit Kemp's 'A Living Space''

[Louise0]

I'm so disgusted with Airbnb's response to an issue I had with group of guests on 12/13 July that I've made dates unavailable by default.

Their response has revealed that hosts have no protection under the Security Deposit or the Host Guarantee. The damage and filth these pigs left at my place was mind-blowing. They smoked in every bedroom and stubbed cigarettes out on a table, vomit was everywhere - on and around toilets, on beds - cups, bottles, glasses, food containers on every surface, food and drink everywhere, a piled high ashtray on an outside chair dragged into the living room, broken glass etc etc

There was also irrefutable evidence of hard drug use and I had to call the police, who attended. They removed some of drug evidence but acknowledged that it would difficult to obtain fingerprints because the bags were wet. Also, because the perpetrators were paying guests, I couldn't press criminal charges for malicious damages; it would have to be a civil action.

I put in a claim for $944.36 - all of which was itemised, evidenced and quantified irrefutably. I made a Resolution Request which the guest initially rejected but then accepted. However, predictably, the charge against his credit card bounced. Of course, when a guest is a newbie on the platform and has no prior reviews to 'protect', their inevitable response to a claim against their Security Deposit is to simply lock that credit card. So, I now need to commence action for recovery in Local Court. Airbnb will not hand over the contact details for the guest (I need the full legal name on his photo ID and address).

You're probably wondering why I don't claim against the Host Guarantee. Well, for starters, it doesn't cover cleaning or extra guest fees - which in this case are a total of $605.00 - nor will it cover the Kit Kemp 'A Living Space' book, from which they ripped pages to roll into cylinders to snort cocaine, because I don't have the receipt for a book which I purchased in 2016 which was in mint condition.

Oh, and Airbnb have removed all messages between me and this guest from my inbox, without even telling me.

My warning to you all is you MUST check the guests photo ID yourselves, at the threshold of the listing and store the information. And, given this is the third time - but by far the worst - that my place has been trashed by groups of young people from South West Sydney, be extremely cautious about hosting these groups without grilling them about their intentions and monitoring their behaviour both pre and during the booking.

[Nanxing0]

@Louise0 While I really feel your pain and the problems you had to go through, I have to say the host guarantee DOES cover extra cleaning cost, but you need to obtain receipt. That's why a lot of people hire cleaning companies to do the housekeeping. If there's extra cleaning involved, you can ask them for a detailed invoice and ask the host guarantee to reimburse it. If you do your own cleaning, unfortunately Airbnb will not pay you for doing the extra work, but you can still ask the host guarantee to cover the materials needed for the extra cleaning. 

[Louise0]

Are you sure?  I've sent the receipt from my cleaner in her usual format with an ABN, so it's better than just 'letterhead'.   Still, they ask for more.

[Sarah977]

@Louise0  You know what astounds me? That there is seemingly no end to the sheer numbers of so-called guests who destroy people's beautiful homes. I understand that there are people like this in the world, but the volume of house-trashed reports on this forum alone is mind-boggling. I'm long in the tooth and don't consider myself naive, but I never realized how many humans there are out there, walking around free, not locked up in mental institutions or prison,  who behave like total animals with respect for nothing and no one.. 

[Louise0]

The worst aspect of this is that one of the guests who stayed overnight was a 2-3 year old.  Fancy exposing your children to that!

[Sarah977]

House-trasher in training. So sad.

[Louise0]

I want the security deposit protocols  changed so that we hosts receive the same level of protection as when Airbnb impose their own security deposit.

Most hosts may be unaware of this, but did you know that sometimes - when a property is deemed at high risk of damage - Airbnb will impose a security deposit independently of the host? 

Unlike our current host security deposits, which are simply a right to apply a charge against a credit card, the Airbnb imposed security deposits are actual charges against a credit card that are only refunded at the end of the booking.

Presumably, the reason Airbnb does this is to lessen the likelihood of them needing to claim against the insurance policy which backs the Host Guarantee. So, why can't we hosts be afforded the same level of security?

Yes, I understand that this may make some guests less likely or even unable to book (because of insufficient limit on the credit card), so, why not allow hosts to choose this protocol as an option?  We give up some of the potential guest pool, but in return our level of assurance increases.  That's a trade-off I'd willingly accept.

[Valeria632]

Sadly, after 3 awesome years of hosting on Airbnb I just had my first experience with damage and guests unwilling to take responsibility. When I went to collect the key and garage opener upon check out I asked my guest and her bf if they had a pleasant stay. To which she replied “we left the place in a bit of a pig sty” and her bf added “at least we didn’t break anything”. I thought they were joking took the keys and left. Came back next morning to assess and sure enough furniture is moved, literally food crumbs and greasy stains everywhere. Floor was so sticky in kitchen I had to wash my feet! In the bedroom on my beautiful glass night stand I noted a big crack (was not there before) and water and also what looked like rice. I contacted them via Airbnb app with the picture asking if they saw what caused this? They first denied it. Then my cohost confirmed she did walk through right before they came and damage wasn’t  there. I let them know that they’ll need to pay security deposit and they said “even though it’s not us we will take responsibility”. Then again she messaged me asking to let her bf come into the condo and meet with me and see the damage. I didn’t feel comfortable and also have other guests coming. Anyways they did pay my damage deposit. I just saw they left me a Review and I’m scared to leave one for them. They told me they found a place to live and it’s very close to me so I’m afraid to run into them as they know where I live (the condo they stayed in). What to do? When they booked the lady had 5 only positive reviews. Out of all my guests I hosted they left the place the dirtiest. Also who tells a host they left their place a “pig sty” ?!?!