There seems to be a lot of conversations going on how Airbnb favors guest over host (even superhosts). I would like to share my latest experience. I had a recent guest that had a party at my place and trashed our house. Our neighbors had to call law enforcement to shut down the party at 2am in the morning. In addition, they left our property in the follow condition:
1) Trash littered throughout the house. Dirty dishes overflowing the sink and on the counters.
2) Propane BBQ was totally destroyed.
3) Hot tub was filthy and the cover was left off and temperature setting was left on high (104 degrees).
4) Lights left on throughout the house after checkout and water valve in one of the bathroom was left on.
5) Guest had additional people at the house that was not stated during booking and check out 4 hours late.
The house is located in a small community and the vacation rentals are regulated by the city and we had to apply for a vacation rental permit. The city can revoke your permit if you have too many code violation and disturbances. As a result, we are very clear in our house rules and rental agreement with regards to the use of the property. We clearly state what we expect and the cost for violations such as noise complaint, hot tub cleaning, etc...
After we had the house inspected and found all the issue, we sent a money request outlining the damages/violations with pictures and documentation of the violations. We were basically denied all the claims because the guest did not "agree" to pay them. When I escalated this to the resolution team this what they informed me.
1) Although I clearly state the terms of use of the property in the house agreement and house rules, you cannot enforce them. For example, I state that parties are not allow and if they have one and code enforcement is called there is a fine. If they leave the hot tub dirty, there is an extra cleaning fee, etc... All of this is unenforceable.
2) If you manage the property yourself, you cannot charge the guest for extra cleaning services or repairs. They require to submit an invoice on a company letterhead for the services.
3) If a guest damages any of your property, they can avoid paying any damages by just saying it was already broken or it broke itself. In our case, the guess said the BBQ just caught on fire. We had a previous guess use the BBQ just days before with no issues. In cases like these, AirBnb will take the guest word over yours.
I understand that some of the items are a he said/she said issue. However, who has more credibility? A superhost that has been hosting for almost 5 years with an average 4.9 star rating with dozens of reviews or a guest with a 4 month old profile with 1 review? I understand that Airbnb would want to protect their guest from unscrupulous host that my charge guest for unjustified fees; however they already have a mechanism to prevent this. It’s the reviews. As a host, you are not going to get far if you change your guest for questionable items.
In a nutshell, this guest threw a party and trashed our house and there was no repercussions.
Anyways, there are other websites that are more balanced in their treatment of the host/guest relationship. I won’t mention them, because Airbnb will probably block this post. I have decided to no longer host on Airbnb. If enough people leave, maybe they will get the message.
