As the owner of a large house in the country and a smaller house in an urban area, I have experienced unauthorized parties at both places--a total of three. I have been reimbursed a total of 5K for all three combined. I have come to accept gatherings you don't want are a part of being a host. Yes, the damages are and were severe. Yes, these things are usually considered a tragedy. But the fact is, they happened, and there are some silver linings. One of the silver linings is the the money. I made much more money from these events than I could have if my home had been properly booked. I'm just going to say it right out.
I have learned more from accepting these situations (even though when my grandma's house gets destroyed it makes me so mad,) and figuring out how to change them than I have from beating myself up about it having happened. While I do what is in my power to prevent parties, I was not able to prevent the three that occured. The last one was much smaller than the first two, but still qualifies. I am a smart person--but people are looking to treat our Air BnB homes like hotels. It is one of the reasons why there are people out there who are against Air BnB, and sometimes, I don't blame them for being, because there is only so much a person can do to prevent this kind of thing. When you become a host, you open yourself up to this stuff. We are not superhuman and hotels go through this crap, too. That is why people avoid them, now. However, they have brought their hotel behavior to our door. What's a girl to do?
I recomomend that, for your own peace of mind (and I recommend this to anyone who has experienced major damage from guests,) that you clean it up as quickly as possible, replace your items to the best of your ability, and move on. Tighen your rules and tighten your belt. I started my own cleaning service just to be able to clean up my own house after an air bnb party and still get reimbursed.
DON'T spend undue time being devastated. Don't make moutains out of molehills. If someone threw up on a sheet, wash the sheet and get over it. Put your big girl panties on. Spend time getting back to the things that feed you and make you happy. Don't let these people take any more of your peace than they already have. Realize they have a lot to learn and that these types of behaviors will catch up with them someday. God will deal with them.
I feel that the biggest hurdle and challenge for hosts under these circumstances is when they realize they will have to clean up the damage themselves. Yes, you can hire a cleaning service. Some people have to. But if you clean it up yourself, it feels better AND you move on in a certain way. It sucks, but you must move on. I have realized through these experiences that this is life--I'd better get a hard hat or give up this job of being a temporary landlord to lots of peeps. People insist on treating my home like it's a hotel, but it's up to me to impress upon them and teach them it is not. Unfortunately, I don't always have the proper chance to do that because I DO have my own life and I have trusted guests I shouldn't have. I have left the scene when I could have been sneaking back onto it and observing from my car what the hell was going on. But I didn't. SO: when I fail to take proper precautions, I take what the universe throws at me and I go with the flow and I make the necessary changes so it can't happen next time. While I don't want these parties to happen to me, I have accepted that they made me a lot of money. And that makes me feel better. But there is some guilt on my part from participating in an industry which is difficult to regulate.
My bottom line here is that PARTIES ARE A PART of being an Air BnB host. I have been a 9 time SUPERHOST, and they are STILL a part of my life! This response might be unpopular but I have to be honest about my feelings, and my experience.