Pet damage

[Nicole291]

Question for my fellow hosts.

I allow pets in my rental.  I add a $50-$80 charge depending on length of stay and the type of pet.  Been doing it for years, and never had a problem with damage until now.

The guest left her dog unattended for hours.  I was doing yard work, and heard it going crazy inside. I mentioned it to her when she returned.

Sure enough.  House was left filthy, and the dog left huge scratches in my very expensive leather couch.  Guest acknowledges, and is offering reparation. 

Seems like a decent person.  But while the couches don’t have holes, they will never be the same.  What do you think I should ask?

Thanks community for your sage advice! 

[Gordon0]

It's hard to put a figure on this, @Nicole291, but presumably whoever is going to repair it will give you a quote? 

[Charles224]

@Nicole291 leather couches & pets.. I just looked at the reminders my daughter's cat had left for me. That was 8 years ago..

[Ann489]

@Nicole291   unfortunately, that is just one of the risks of hosting guests with pets.   That being said, if the scratches did not tear the leather you should look into a leather buffing dye that matches the color of your couch.  It's fairly inexpensive and you can easily do it yourself.  I have used this type of product with great success on our leather couches after one of our kittens used it as a scratching post.  Best of luck to you!  🙂

This is the product I used.

https://www.amazon.com/Furniture-Clinic-Leather-Recoloring-Balm/dp/B00FOKOKM0/ref=asc_df_B00FOKOKM0/...

[Lisa723]

@Nicole291 you're fortunate that the guest is willing to cooperate, since Airbnb's "guarantee" excludes pet damage. I also accept pets with a fee and my view is the fee is a form of damage insurance; the cumulative fees across all guests should offset occasional damage above/beyond normal wear and tear. Whether you decide now is the time to replace the couches is up to you, but I wouldn't ask the guest to assume replacement cost. In your shoes I would try to get an estimate for professional cleaning/repair (understanding "like new" repair is not possible) and ask for that.

[Linda108]

Do you rules include the pet is not to be left alone in the space?  If so, this "decent" person either did not read or chose to ignore the rules.  As I am sure you know, leaving a dog alone in an unknow environment is very distressing to the pet and of course potentially damaging to your listing.  If appears your pet fee will cover the damage for the most part, but I hope you will include a comment about the pet left unattended.

[Alexandre152]

I guess you already figured out it was hopeless to get any sort of compensation as Airbnb refuses to use the security deposit to pay for damages caused by pets. 

For your future bookings you might be interested in this special cover that offered to hotels advertising on Airbnb. 
By insisting you might be able to get the option if you are not a hotel: 

Just had exactly the same experience. 
It is despicable to be treated this way when we acted in good faith and secured a security deposit for that purpose.  

Apparently hotels that advertise on Airbnb are privileged with an additional option we don’t have as regular hosts.

Here is the explanation from Airbnb UK:

“If you are seeing large numbers of bookings with pets and want to accommodate them, a solution could be that you collect an "offline" deposit for these pet bookings. (Usually it's only for hotels businesses but I'm happy to "enable" your account to do so given the situation described). 

Please let me know if that something that could work for you.

Kind regards

Alice

Alice de Saint-Pierre

Market Coordinator UKIE, Airbnb