My host guarantee experiment

[Inna22]

I guest stayed Saturday night and checked out New Year’s eve. The scene at checkout was scary. How does one break a bed in half?? At least I knew how the ripped the leather on the chairs- using a hook of a hanger. Everything combined, there was a few thousands worth of damage. Furthermore, I had only 5 hours to remedy most as another guest was moving in. Even though I have read enough about host guarantee to know not to waste my time, I thought I would try it for myself once. Just so I have a story to tell. As if I don't have enough host stories already. I do have a $600 security deposit but it was obviously not enough to cover the damage.

They split my case in two. One was for all fees- smoking remediation, moving the furniture, etc. That one got denied pretty quickly on the grounds that they "did not like the invoice". Just did not like it. End of story. My repeated requests to find out what would they like to see were just not answered. 

The second part was for the actual items, handled by a different person. The types of requests I got could be a chapter in a book. "An invoice from a licensed chair repair person for the cost of repair and explanation from the licensed individual as to how the guest is at fault". As you can imagine, there is no licensure in chair repairship (is that what it would have been called if existed?). And I actually double checked on that. Also, obviously this individual would not have had a clue as to how it was the guest's fault because he/she was not there. Clearly, these requests are designed for you to not be able to comply. But guess what? I got them every last ridiculous piece of paper! If you are wondering how I dealt with the chairs, I found a carpenter with a college degree in carpentry and current chair building experience to examine the chairs. I was very determined to see my experiment to the end.

Since they had no reason to deny the claim, they just denied it for no reason. Just like that. Case is closed. Experiment is over. Zero paid out.

[Inna22]

I made an FB post and I tweeted but got same response. I have sent them an arbitration notice just now. I wonder if they can black list my properties for doing this 

[David126]

@Inna22

I know people have ben blaclisted but not aware of anybody being so due to a Guarantee claim issue, publicity arising out of that would be very negaitive.

@Kelly149

I am reasonably sure the Host Guarantee was initially put in as a marketing item, nobody thought through the cost or the consequences. The coverage was based on an old style insurance wording and has been changed not sure how many times to make it more and more restrictive and harder to claim on.

There is also the issue that the people dealing with claims seem to have a different set of instructions to handle issues and do not use the giarantee wording as a basis.

So very confusing and upset hosts are inevitable.

[Dede0]

While the details about AirBnB's complete lack of host support is horrifying (even if not surprising because, well, we've all heard another dozen or hundred similar stories), I have a couple of suggestions for the future.

First, get the word "Party" out of your listing title. Yes, I know it's used there as a noun, not a verb, but get it out of there.

Next, in the initial paragraph of your description, modivfy this sentence: "Everything is done to make your stay comfortable and accommodate your needs- whether you are throwing a party or ..." to remove the part about throwing a party.

Both of those bits are just *inviting* trouble. Of the bed-breaking, couch-ripping, vomit-in-the fridge sort.

Lastly, your rates are way too low and probably actually encourage bookings by the wrong sort of guest. I don't care how competitively tight AirBnB rentals might be in your area of Chicago, but $154 for EIGHT people is just way too low. Either reduce your max guests to something like 4, or set a base rate for 4 and then an incremental charge for each add'l guest. The **bleep**ty party-people are looking for cheap places to trash. Charge more and you can anticipate higher-quality guests.

[Inna22]

@Dede0 I do not want to eliminate party guests.  That’s my business  model – two allow parties.  Chicago market is extremely  saturated with regular listings . Majority of them are perfectly fine.  They in fact appreciate I openly allow parties and act accordingly. From what I read, most of the guests to not allow parties yet their houses get damage just the same. As for my pricing,  my weekends are about $400 for future reservations and that’s when parties usually get booked. I’ve struggled with that – if I should just let it be vacant or lower it to lowest amount I can tolerate whenever I end up with inbooked weekend and I do feel that overall I do not have a problem with my guest. I also have a $75 cleaning fee for that unit so it is never just $140. While my upstairs unit is occupied over my projections, I cannot say I enjoy the same for the downstairs unit and therefore I’m not in the position to raise at this point. Or so I think. 

[Ange2]

@Inna22  Not sure if it will make any difference but you could install exterior cameras, of course you would need to mention it in your listing.  It might deter irresponsible guests from trashing the interior.  But, even if your claim is accepted,  at best you get the depreciated value for large ticket items.  In my one experience where I did put in a claim ,the item was super expensive (I have not put in any claims for cheaper items that guests have trashed or taken)  I asked the guest to write a message on the Airbnb message board admiiting that they had done the damage (they lied about the severity of it).  Usually I cannot do this but the guests had stored their bags here for five hours after check-out and the cleaning crew had discovered the damage, which they had artfully hidden, before they returned to pick up their bags.  I was awarded 20% of replacement value, it didn't even cover the clean-up needed before the damaged-beyond-repair item was replaced, entirely out of my pocket!

[Branka-and-Silvia0]

@Inna22 it's interesting that there are just 2 listings in Chicago where parties are allowed . Zagreb has less than a million inhabitants and over 300 listings are suitable for events... 43 of them are in the strict city center . 

[Inna22]

@Branka-and-Silvia0 very interesting observation! Do you think it speaks to the culture? 

[Branka-and-Silvia0]

@Inna22 

Probably,... here we socialize daily with our friends outside the house, in numerous cafes or restaurants . Young people party at concerts and clubs. Or we invite couple of best friends to our home for a dinner or just coffee/wine/beer/cake... .  I never heard someone rented a house here in his own town to party .

Our guests are mostly strangers in groups of max 6 people and they don't come to Zagreb for a day or two to party in the apartment, they are going out to clubs too. Zagreb is croatian capital with a lot of clubs and is a transit destination.

But I supose parties could be a big problem in hollidays rentals on the coast where young people go on summer vacations. Especially on island Pag where Zrće beach is something like croatian Ibiza so young people -drugs-alcohol combination makes it very risky to host there.

[Charlie138]

Sound great! Croatia is on my list of must-do destinations, but if if it's such a party destination I'll have to find someone who can babysit!! 😄

[Dede0]

I understand what you're saying, but the fact that you promote your listing as a "party" place as your business model more or less negates all my previous sympathy for the situation you found yourself in. It also makes me increasingly sympathetic for your listing's neighbors. I hate to say it, but I'm so very glad that you're not my neighbor. Especially since you don't even live near the listing and don't have to endure what your listing's neighbors have to endure.

I'm still sorry that AirBnB didn't respond better to your claims, but I can (almost) understand why they didn't -- you more or less invited the behavior that you received. Yes, those guests were callous, stupid, misbehaving a**holes, but you literally promoted your listing to that exact demographic.

I don't have much sympathy for your complaints. And, again, I feel very sorry for your listing's neighbors.

[Branka-and-Silvia0]

@Dede0 hm... I have to disagree... clubs are party places, restaurants and hotels allow events etc... but it doesn't mean guests are allowed to trash the place and don't pay for the damage.

It's like you say the girl is guilty of being raped because she was wearing a short skirt.

@Inna22 maybe Airbnb is not the best place to list a party place. VRBO and booking.com allow you to actually collect security deposit by yourself. I would list it here for regular stays and there for party weekends.

[Inna22]

@Branka-and-Silvia0 I typed this almost at the same time you did! "I am sure you also think that women that dress in short skirts invite the unwanted touching". Great minds think alike 🙂

[Branka-and-Silvia0]

@Inna22   really? 😄 

[Inna22]

@Dede0I leve less then a block away and say so in the listing... I wonder how you came to your conclusion. And luckily I am not looking for your sympathy. I am sure you also think that women that dress in short skirts invite the unwanted touching.

[Inna22]

leve=live