damages to my cottage

[Lina4227]

I am looking for advice, earlier this I had a guest who damaged my shower door causing it to leak through the floorboard to downstairs ( they didn't say anything until check out), in addition they broke into my cupboard. I tried to make contact with airbnb who said that they could not help even when I had photo evidence and messages the damages cost me £620. In addition they submitted a bad review (even when they requested to book the cottage again privately). I have had 5* throughout my 2 years of trading.  How do I stop this happening again and get airbnb to support me.

[Anonymous]

@Lina4227  It's notoriously hard to win a resolutions claim on an issue that seems to be in the grey area between physical damage and a home-maintenance concern. Hopefully you don't have to initiate another request for compensation anytime soon, but if you must, make sure your case is airtight.

I don't know of a surefire way to prevent breakage or critical reviews, but you can definitely change how you publicly respond to them. One of the most common mistakes hosts make is to forget that the audience for this public response is their prospective guests - everything you write there becomes a part of your advertisement. 

[Lina4227]

Thank you for that.  I did say to airbnb that I didn't want to air this, but the review was so wrong and damaging.