In April, I rented one of my properties on Airbnb to 3 guests. Aparantly, the guests planned a party and invited 55 guests. At around 1 am, the party became violent and two groups started to shoot at each other from inside and outside the house. Our camera footage shows 42 bullets came out of the guns and hit the house!!! I got a call at 3 am from police telling me about the situation and I had to drive to the property because the door was totally shattered. Thankfully, no one was injured!! But it has been a NIGHTMARE with Airbnb back and forth about this claim.
Long story short, Airbnb sent the case to another firm named Crawford (which is an adjuster company) to write an estimate of damage which is a clear conflict of interest and I flagged this in my first email. Basically, Airbnb pays a company to write a low estimate on the repair which is a fraud!!! I also hired a 5 star general contractor to meet with the adjuster and they agree on the estimate. Crawford asked my contractor to send his estimate which was a detailed estimate with some sub-contractors and came up to $220,000. After several weeks of receiving my contractor estimate and probably 50 phone calls, Crawford asked many questions and sent the final report to Airbnb! After 2.5 months, Airbnb came up with an offer which is ridicolously low and doesn't even cover the painting of the affected areas!! I have cc'ed the CEO of Airbnb on the email and told them about the fraud that is happening at Airbnb.
If you are a new host, you should know that $1,000,000 "Host Guarantee Program" is a lie by Airbnb to just bring more hosts to sign up. Many homeowner insurances will deny your claim if they know the house is listed for Airbnb. Also, Airbnb will reject your claim when something catastrophic happens. Just know the amount of risks you are taking by listing your properties on Airbnb!
What Airbnb didn't know is that they picked the wrong battle in this case!! I am finalizing my attorney choice and will hold them accountable! Just wanted to see who had similar experience as a host and if they suggest any other attorney to consider? Any host would like to join the class action lawsuit? So far, I have identified around 100 hosts who have had similar horrible experience with Airbnb Host Guarantee Program. Anyone in the media who would like to cover similar stories, many hosts would like to talk with you! The Airbnb IPO is coming. Good timing for publishing horror stories of hosts for potential investors ...