I wanted to share my experience with the host guarantee, especially because I read every post I could find when I first made my claim.
Honestly, all of the posts made me extremely nervous and angry because I assumed we were not going to get paid out.
On October 31st, we had an instant booking for same-day check-in. That should have been a huge red flag but it was a brand new listing and I really needed the review. So, thinking the house guarantee had my back, I let the reservation stand.
About 11:30 p.m. that night, the neighbor send a text message to me and there was a party going on with the property.
He's giving us a lot of trouble over Airbnb, so I didn't really put too much thought into it at first. I told him I would message the guest and get it taken care of.
I messaged the guest, no reply. I texted the guest, no reply. I called the guest, no answer. I was a little nervous at this point but replied to my neighbor and told him that I had reached out to the guest and to let me know if it didn't calm down in the next half hour.
in my mind, it was probably just a few people who got a little too drunk and loud. I was wrong. Really wrong.
the neighbor texted me back and said that he was going to going to call the police if this didn't stop right away. I told him I was headed there myself and ask him not to call the police. If the police get called in Nashville 3 times you lose your permit.
I gathered up a couple of friends and we drove to the property. We were a few blocks away and I noticed there were tons of cars in traffic, not usual for this neighborhood at this time of night. We drove closer and closer and I started seeing colorful lights being across the trees.
We pulled up to the house, people are everywhere, up and down the streets, sidewalks, there are stage lights beaming out of the windows, a line of people out the door, someone charging cover to get in.
In my younger days, I went to a lot of parties, night clubs, dance clubs and none of them held a candle to this party! it was the craziest thing I could have ever imagined! There was a DJ, a full bar, all the furniture had been moved out of the house. the house has been turned into a full-blown nightclub. Since it was Halloween, everyone had sketchy masks on! It was insane.
Long story short, they caused thousands of dollars in damage. I submitted a host guarantee, there was a lot of back and forth. I do mean a lot. Multiple estimates per issue, estimates that had to be redone because I didn't have exactly the right information on them. The whole process was very exhausting. In fact, I almost gave up.
But, I didn't. I kept on and on and on sending in another estimate getting another quote taking more pictures. They just emailed me today to let us know our claim habd been paid out in full!
So, my advice to anyone with a claim is to provide everything they need, don't give up! Take tons of pictures, take video, make sure all of your estimates are extremely detailed and include labor hours, materials and full letterheads at the top with the company name, address, phone number, website.
You might as well go ahead and get three estimates for each thing you're claiming. If you need your walls painted, get three estimates. If your fence needs fixed, get three estimates. If Furniture is broken, provide a link to a replacement item and three estimates to have it repaired.
Hope this helps!
Hi Ron,
I understand this is not the outcome you were hoping for. I want to reiterate that this decision was made after careful review of all documentation and communication, and is in alignment with our policies and procedures.
Please be advised that, per our Terms of Service, Airbnb reserves the right to make the final determination with regard to these disputes. We are unable to reconsider the decision made in this case — we've issued our final decision and will uphold it accordingly.
As further communication will not change the outcome of this case, we must respectfully disengage from further discussion.
Best,
Dean