Severe water damage on the property caused by guest / Please help

[Kelly1401]

Hi all,

We just had a severe water damage on our two storey house.
My partner was in the living room with his laptop wearing earphones and suddenly the laptop turned off and that's when he took off the earphones and realised water running sound through the house.
He immediately went upstairs and figured out that the guest got drunk and slept in the shower blocking drain with his body and water flooded all the way to upstairs timber floor, carpets and ran down to downstairs ceiling, walls and floors.

We called emergency water damage restoration company immediately and he is here now working on the damage.
He put many huge and loud machines and trying to dry out the structure.
It is very loud and noisy so guests left the property they said they will drive home.

We are home now and don't know how we will manage to live in this status. the guy says it'll take up to 6 days to dry out.

It'd be deeply appreciated if you could help me with my questions:

1. This damage restoration guy says it's easier to claim expenses via our own home insurance than Airbnb Host Guarantee.
Does anybody have any idea on this?

2. If we do it via home insurance, we will have to pay $2500 excess fee. Can Airbnb Host Guarantee cover it?

3. If we do it via home insurance, from next year the rate will increase about 10~15%. Is there anything I can do about? Can Airbnb Host Guarantee reimburse this too..?

4. Our laptop and TV is not working due to water damage. Is this covered by Airbnb Host Guarantee?

5. Our property is not in a livable status now. We'd have to find a place to stay like a hotel or anything until this is all fixed. Machines are extremely loud.

Can Airbnb Host Guarantee reimburse our accommodation fee?

6. As it's taking about 6 days to be done, we'd have to cancel our next booking. would Airbnb Host Guarantee pay for the “Booking Income Loss”?

Please help me I am so devastated and feel like I shouldn't have done Airbnb.
I feel like I've made huge mistake taking people that I don't know in our property..This is the worst thing ever happened..
Please please help us..

[Colleen253]

Ugh. @Kelly1401 I’m so sorry you are going through this nightmare. Have a good read through the host guarantee terms before doing anything else. It’s essential to follow the protocol to the letter for best chance of success. It’s certainly worth a try, but in this case, it’s likely that claiming on your insurance is going to be your best bet. Are you are covered with them for STR?

[Bari51]

hello Colleen, 

What is host guarantee and the deposit ?

[Kelly1401]

Hi @Colleen253 thanks for your reply. Yeah I've read everything but host guarantee doesn't much specify any details that are helpful for me atm.. I am speaking to both parties ( airbnb and home insurance) and see what they can do for me. 

[Dale711]

Hi @Kelly1401 ,

Welcome to the community!😊

Sorry to hear about your experience 

The short answer is that as an Airbnb host, you do need additional insurance.

Hosting with any real frequency is likely to void your current homeowners policy, and Airbnb's own protection is inadequate.

Unfortunately, standard homeowners, insurance can get extremely tricky when dealing with Airbnb rentals due to the business exculan language in standard policies. Which means in most cases it will not be authorize.

The Host Protection Insurance acts as primacy coverage, so other insurance policies will not be used for claims that are covered under the program.

As an Airbnb host, it's crucial that you have plenty of Protection, as you are having many people come in and out of your renl. While normally things run smoothly, you do not want to run in the issue of an incident occurring and have to deal with the stressful aftermath.

Having the appropriate insurance safeguards, you against these kind of solutions that the Airbnb oragrams do not fully protect against. It's is important to find what works best for you.

The Proper Insurance. 

In the Airbnb help page, where you’ll find articles such as the below.

Host Guaranteed

https://www.airbnb.com/d/guarantee

Host Protection Insurance

https://www.airbnb.com/d/host-protection-insurance

What's the difference between Airbnb's Host Guarantee and Host Protection Insurance?

 https://www.airbnb.com/help/article/938/whats-the-difference-between-airbnbs-host-guarantee-and-host...

Investopedia

Investopedia is the world's leading source of financial content on the web, ranging from market news to retirement strategies, investing education to insights from advisor

Airbnb: Advantages and Disadvantage

https://www.investopedia.com/articles/personal-finance/032814/pros-and-cons-using-airbnb.asp

Do consult with your local insurance agency for additional protection and the insurance procedures.

And contact Airbnb Support Help Center for your concern.

[M199]

@Kelly1401 

Sorry to hear your story.  I can't  post what my husband is saying.  He was a building manager for 30+ years.  We feel for you. I truly hope that you have photo and video evidence of the damage, including  the inebriated guest. A picture is worth a 1,000 words.  Wishing you success.

[Kelly1401]

Thank you so much @M199. It is truly a disaster and I feel regretful that I put myself in Airbnb business.. We got videos and photos etc hope it'll all be handled with minimum loss.. thanks 

[Branka-and-Silvia0]

@Kelly1401 

I am sorry it happened to you, I can imagine the stress.  I had a flood 2 years ago when the boiler fell from the wall at midnight and flooded my 3 vacant apartments

The bad news is - regular insurance probably will not cover short-term rental so be careful what will you tell them

I don't know about your house, but my building is made of bricks, and the floors are made in layers: parquet - wooden boards - sand between wooden beams, and it took 5 weeks (not days) to completely dry up with professional machines 😞  We had 1 machine for every 25 sqm running 24/7. And we had to replace the parquet and paint the walls of course.

Airbnb advertises its  1 billion host guarantee but good luck with it... they usually cover small claims up to 200 - 300 $ but anything more of that is very hard to get.  There are numerous posts about it here on CC

[Kelly1401]

Hi @Branka-and-Silvia0  thanks for your reply. If host guarantee will not cover this kind of incidence what's the point of them advertising that we can feel safe with the "Airbnb host guarantee" ?? It will be so disappointing if they would refuse to pay out.. I will keep it updated. Thanks!

[Nick]

Hi @Kelly1401 very sorry to see you had this experience. Could you please check your DMs as I've sent you an update regarding this? Thank you! 

[Kelly1401]

Hi @Nick , thank you very much for your reply! Airbnb Claim team is assigned I know that but they haven't been replying my emails for 3 days now.. They don't have a phone number so I can't even call. I send them emails to follow up but all got ignored. It's really frustrating that I don't know how the claim is being handled atm and if they are chasing the guest or not. I just want to know what is the status but no reply. Could you please help me on this? I feel abandoned by the Airbnb..  Kind regards, Kelly