AirBnb won't issue a refund

[Alexander1710]

We have had some of the worst experiences with one of our guest. He did not want to check out, left the flat in a horrible condition, we had to provide lots of extra services and call a police to evict him from the place. AirBnb did not help us one bit during this horrific experience. 

Now, it has been 60 days since we requested a refund for extra service and damage provided, AirBnb does not seem to care at all, I have had more than 14 conversations, every single time I get a promise to hear back, they have not fulfilled a single promise during this 60 days, never heard of them and never seen an attempt to resolve the issue. The very last one was one of the supervisors more Mary, who wholeheartedly praised us that we will be contacted within 12 hours, guess what, 30 hours passed by, no one even tried to reach out.

Is there another way to apply pressure on AirBnb, I dont wanna waste more of my time chasing them, to get back my 500 pounds. 

How to finally get a refund? or is it not worth trying and we should just switch to another platform?

[Helen3]

Hello @Alexander1710 

I am sorry you had an awful experience with a guest. It's difficult to comment further as you haven't said what 'the lots of extra services were' that you had to provide the guest. Nor have you said what the damages were and whether Airbnb have yet to determine the claim .

You were fortunate indeed that the police helped you evict the guest as in the UK the police normally consider guest evictions a civil matter related to your business and would expect you as the business owner to resolve the issue if a guest refuses to leave @Alexander1710 

The Airbnb Guarantee is limited so that won't provide replacement costs for damaged items. Whether you will get a payment depends on whether the issue you are claiming for is covered under the guarantee and whether you provide the information they require to establish the claim. Some hosts like yourself report issues with pursuing claims under the guarantee. You can always claim on your own home insurance for short term lets.

If you decide to stay with Airbnb do review your guest feedback which is leading to you having what Airbnb considers very low ratings as the low guest ratings you are receiving could lead to your profile being suspended.

Why by the way have you created three identical listings for the same property? @Alexander1710  I am sure it's not the case - but it appears you have created new duplicate listings to cover up for the low ratings you have with your original listing.

It would seem short sighted to move to another platform just because there are delays to your claim being adjudicated under the Airbnb guarantee, however as an STR business owner it's never a good idea to rely on a single marketing channels . So if you are only using Airbnb do look at other relevant STR channels.

[Alexander1710]

Hello Helen, 

Thank you for your answer. We have provided the next extra services:

Additional cleaning 

Packing and transporting guest’s belonging 

Storing guest’s belongings

We have also requested a quote for a lock replacement after the guest threatened us to come back to the flat.

Additionally we refund the next guest for the first night, paid our cleaners for the commute (they had to leave and come back) and paid them for waiting for 3 hours (we have the guest 3 hours to come back and pick up his belongings)

In any case, the very least AirBnb could have done is contacted us first, not us chasing them all the time and I strongly believe that 60 days is enough to go through the request and issue a refund?

Thank you.

[Helen3]

All those items seem, valid for you to claim on the guarantee @Alexander1710 

You didn't clarify why have you created three identical listings for the same property?