Serious Incident

[Tracey269]

This is very traumatic to be writing this.  My guest died on Monday, in our basement.  Without going into too much detail, it was not suicide, but it was not a very nice death.  This resulted in our basement flooding also. We have had communication issues since Monday with Airbnb, you would think that our situation would put us right at the top of the priority list, so why did it take 3 days for them to respond to our emails, sent on Monday.  Why have we not had a visit from Airbnb to view the total devastation in our basement.  Why won't they answer a direct question?  We want to find out if they will pay for the clean up crew.  The answer we got is that they will pay for anything damaged.  Are they expecting us to go into the CSI scene and clean this up??? On Monday when I tried to call to report the incident, I was hung up on twice.  I sent an email, on an existing thread about this guest but it still took around 40 minutes for someone to call me.  They offered me 250 US$ to help clean!!!!!  Since then, I have asked if we can be put up somewhere, instead of saying YES, we will pay for that, I get, send us the receipt and we will see if we can cover it.  I told them I was going for couceling, again, send us the receipt and we will see if we can put it through.  These aren't the answers you would expect, when such an awful thing has happened in my house. I'm feeling extremely frustrated with Airbnb, with their total lack of empathy and consideration. If you have a similar story, please connect with me.  Thanks.

[Mike-And-Jane0]

@Tracey269 Whilst you have had a terrible experience I am not sure why you would expect a booking platform to put you up in different accommodation. 

[Tracey269]

Would you stay in a place that has had such an incident.  I didn't elaborate on the death, but it was not a simple heart attack.  There is blood everywhere.

[Till-and-Jutta0]

I feel so sorry for what has happened to the guest.

[Ann72]

@Tracey269  You sound traumatized and no wonder.  It is confusing though to read this.  Not a suicide, not a nice death, a CSI scene?  So a murder?  If a murder, have police been involved?

No matter.  I don't know what Airbnb should do in this situation.  All I know is that they have certain steps they ask the host to take and one of those steps is providing receipts.  While waiting three days for an answer, did you get the mess cleaned up by professionals who are trained to clean blood?  If so they would provide a professional receipt.  As for staying elsewhere, unless you live in your basement, or can't use the house because the basement flooded, I doubt they'd support you in moving to a hotel while the mess was being cleaned.  I'm also not sure counseling is covered.  Your homeowners' insurance should be helpful here so it's probably time to call your insurance agent and get some help and advice.

For future reference, I've always had the most success in getting an answer out of Airbnb by sending them a direct message on Twitter to @Airbnbhelp.

[Tracey269]

@Ann72 thank for the advice re twitter, we will give that a try.  Basically the guest died vomitting blood everywhere, all over his bedroom, the living area and bathroom - in very large amounts.  He died in the shower, hence the flooding.  Everything has been contaminated.  The clean up crew have now gone, so I don't need to go anywhere now.  I found it very distressing during the clean up process and felt Airbnb totally let me down.

I am stressing over what Airbnb will pay for, we do airbnb because we needed the income. So I don't have the $25000 to redo the basement, I don't have the $20000 to buy replacement items.  I just need them to say they will pay for the clean up and the redo, obviously they will get the receipts.  We have photos of everything, but I just need the communication from them, and that is what we are not getting.

I am having trouble sleeping, I cry alot, this will stay with me forever.

[Alexandra316]

@Tracey269 First of all, I am so sorry that this happened to your guest. I can't imagine how traumatic it must have been for you to walk into that situation. I hope that you are able to get the repairs completed in a timely manner so you're able to begin to move on from this situation. 

Do you have any additional insurance to cover your short-term rental business if Airbnb doesn't cover the damage?

There are most certainly other hosts who have had guests die in their properties. Here are a couple of examples: 

Airbnb Guest Booked Property to Commit Suicide - Airbnb Community (withairbnb.com)

Mass Shooting in Airbnb house in Orinda last night... - Airbnb Community (withairbnb.com)

@Stephanie @Liv @Quincy maybe you can help here... this is a pretty uniquely terrible situation. 

[Colleen253]

@Tracey269 How awful. The best thing for you to do now is have a good read through the Host Guarantee T&C and follow the process for submitting documents accordingly. Then wait. As @Ann72 suggested though, your home insurance is probably going to be your best bet. Assuming you are approved for STR with them? Best of luck. 

[Ann72]

@Tracey269  What a terrible experience in every way, my heart goes out to you and the poor guest who died alone, away from his family.  This is distressing for everyone.  

I'm going to say, not to be a Negative Nellie but just to help you manage your Airbnb expectations, that you probably will not get anything approaching $45,000 from them.  But you must try and follow through on reporting everything and see what they come back to you with.  You don't mention homeowners' insurance so I fear you might not be covered for your hosting.  But while waiting for Airbnb spend some time planning how you'll fix everything up in the most cost-effective way possible.  The web has a wealth of suggestions for low-cost everything.  

You will get through this and you will host again and the money will start coming in again.  Just hang in there and take it one step at a time.  You'll get there!

[Christine615]

First, my sympathies. I think someone dying like that would make me want to move. That's something that can't be unseen.  So sorry for your horrific experience.

A couple of thoughts. In my area we are required to have a commercial liability umbrella on our insurance policy for the rental.

Insurance is supposed to cover the cost of lost income, or you having to be relocated temporarily. Insurance is supposed to cover the damages less your deductible. You have a police report and an estimate for biohazard clean up. Many insurance policies, however, don't cover flooding and water damage unless you have a rider.

Having said that, Airbnb has a host guarantee and you need to stay on them. Even though the guest died, bill them in the resolution center to it will trigger Airbnb to see it.

It does seem as if customer service is outsourced to people who don't work for Airbnb. So maybe the next step is media outlets.

[Nina75]

@Tracey269 First of all don't wait on anything, YOU HAVE TO ACT FAST. You need to get moving on this.., AirBnb WILL NOT HELP YOU until the end after everything is cleaned and finished. Sitting around expecting AirBnb to send you money is NOT a plan of Action. 

I have had several robberies and several acts of vandalism in my houses and in every situation speed was of the utmost importance. Ive always been compensated because I was fast and I was organized, and I was also persistent.

1.) thoroughly read the hosts guarantee.  (you should have already done this) Read Exclusions more importantly make sure that you are covered. Example: Like many people have said here before pet Damage is not covered.

2.) CALL YOUR INSURANCE COMPANY!! Get an adjuster our there and get the process started. do you have loss of income on your policy? When someone flooded my guest house I was paid for Loss of income, not by AirBnb but by my Insurance company. My insurance company ended up giving me 35K to have everything fixed including the Loss of income.

3.) Get the place cleaned thoroughly by professionals. Get the Bill ready and send it to AirBnb. You only have a limited time to activate the Policy. Dont wait be persistent.

4.) Make an inventory of anything that was damaged and provide an estimate of cost of similar items. Get it ready and send it to Airbnb. Do this immediately. be persistent and dont wait for them to call you back call them back.

5.) Call a handyman or contractor and get estimates and send in those estimates to Airbnb. Again dont wait for AirBnb to send you money, you will need to use a credit card or something to get the place prepared. Just because the basement floods does not mean that its the end of the world get a professional in there and get it fixed as fast as possible. You dont need a Contractor just a professional. Send the estimates to AirBnb fast dont wait.

Again in my personal experience in dealing with vandalism druggies and robberies. SPEED IS OF THE ESSSENCE. STOP CRYING AND GET Stuff DONE. CRYING DOESNT HELP. ACTION HELPS. 

Get the place fixed and then put it back on AirBnb. 

If you want AirBnb to help you, you have to act fast. Once the house got robbed all of my furniture taken, I was able to go out and buy new furniture and linens and sent AirBnb the bill and they paid it within a couple days. I was organized and I had another guest come the next day. The AirBnb Photographer was actually there a few days before, so I sent the Photos as evidence to support my claim.  I had all of my receipts. ACTION ACTION ACTION!!! FAST FAST FAST!!! 

[Ann72]

@Nina75  100% agree with all your advice.  I've also found that when you immediately purchase the replacements, Airbnb knows without a doubt where the money has been spent and it's then very easy for them to green-light the payment.  

[Nina75]

@Ann72 Yes True 100%  The Faster you move the better the outcome.

[Laura2592]

@Tracey269  I don't have anything to add except that I feel for you and am sending you a hug.  So awful. And insult to injury ABB  will of course do very little. If anyone doubts this, their doubts should be completely erased by this thread. Its honestly shameful.

Is the news media an option? I know there are probably privacy concerns and you may not want to alert future guests to what happened. In the US, certain states do have laws about disclosing a death on the property to any potential buyers or renters. I don't know if that applies to ABB. But if you are comfortable getting some media involved that would surely catch ABB's attention.

[Nina75]

**

Why on earth would you blow up AirBnb **??? Two ladies from Denmark overdosed at an Airbnb, 3 houses down from me in Venice beach. ** The lady handled it quickly and professionally. 

Many AirBnb hosts are being squeezed out by hotel unions and grumpy residents. The last thing AirBnb hosts need is **

**[Personal remarks removed - Community Center Guidelines]