AirCover request? GOOD LUCK getting reimbursed for your actual out-of-pocket costs!

[Max-And-Stephanie0]

AirCover is a joke and much worse than the previous system. We had about $6,000 in damages and were very meticulous to gather photos, videos, invoices, and statements from the cleaning and repair crews. I understand how this kind of thing goes, and I respect that Airbnb has a responsibility to carefully review and deny any claims that are poorly supported or where the host is trying to gouge them. I get it.

However, as expected, our request was slashed, but without any kind of real reasoning. There were about thirty people staying for 4 days, drunk and smoking the whole time with unsupervised young children, from diaper age to preteens, running around wildly (per the Ring doorbell). One of the most frustrating examples is that for the smoke remediation service, we used the same crew we've used twice in the past, and we had no problem getting reimbursed 100%. This time, the invoice was cut from almost $1,000 to $250, with the only explanation being "That's industry standard." It absolutely is not. Industry standard in our area is $4,000 for a whole-house service. I've called three times and nobody knows where to refer me. I also emailed over and over asking for a simple response about the Stanley Steemer invoice. We had to have a sofa, rug, and stair runner professionally cleaned due to extreme filth--the rug was literally dragged outside and left in the rain, covered in mud, and the sofa had alcohol and soft drinks spilled on it in addition to nail polish, ground-in food, and cigarette smoke. Despite all evidence being uploaded within about a week, it was never listed on our claim response--they simply overlooked it. And when I pointed it out over and over, I never got a straight response, just a copy-pasted answer.

So I decided to escalate. Guess what? The resolution team member who handled our claim said I didn't need to submit a written notice of dispute (which is what the fine print says to do, by the way), and instead he said I can call and ask to talk to the "concerned department." And then he also gave a different address that's not the same as what's in the fine print. So I called, and yep, the next person I talked to had no idea what I meant. We've moved to sending a written notice of arbitration. Atrocious service. GOOD LUCK if you have an AirCover claim. We are seriously considering moving off this platform.

[Lorrie47]

@Jenny I have had the same issue as this gentleman, can someone please help me? We have been calling daily since January 2022 for a situation that happened in November 2021.

[Emilie]

@Lorrie47 Sorry to hear about that! I'll check in with the team for you, if I get any more info I'll let you know here. I hope it gets resolved shortly now. 🙂

[Hercules-R-P-Group0]

great comment. We are also starting to realize that Airbnb has become another corrupt company. The AIRCOVER nonsense is fraud designed to lure more host onto the platform. They lack dignity, respect and professionalism and honesty when it comes to AIRCOVER because you can’t get these things from a process derived from and based on fraud.

Geico processed an insurance claim for us one time and by the time the adjuster came out and left we had our money in 2 hours.

The AIRCOVER fraudulent claim process is designed to give the appearance of good faith process but is so full of **bleep** that it deserves to be flushed down the toilet. When Airbnb crashes burns from fraudulent business practices, we will be there to dance upon the ashes.

[Stefanie36]

Here’s how AirBNB can afford to cover damages: I’ve been personally hosting hundreds of guests (about 70k per year) for the past 8 years. How much is 18% of that???? Yeah; they can afford my 5k claim.
 

[Todd647]

I just had a similar experience - 30 guests when we have a 6 guest maximum. Picked it all up on the Ring Camera. Called the booking guest and told him they needed to leave within 2 hours of arrival. They refused, I called the police - they said it is a civil matter and nothing can be done. Airbnb did nothing to get them out and basically said it was my problem. 

YOU HAVE ABSOLUTELY NO RECOURSE IF SOMEONE ENTERS YOUR HOME WITH AN AIRBNB RESERVATION - YOU CAN'T EVEN KICK THEM OUT. 

The sad part is these guests know Airbnb will do nothing, not even remove them from the site to protect other hosts from a similar experience. 

DON'T GET FOOLED INTO A FALSE SENSE OF SECURITY WITH AIRCOVER MARKETING. DO NOT STR YOUR PERSONAL HOME - YOU WILL REGRET IT SOONER OR LATER.

Airbnb works for houses that are strictly business and dedicated for STR where you can price in damage losses in your cost of doing business (Budget 20% of gross revenue) . In this scenario it is a good platform to get business.

[Sandra3840]

Just happened to me Sarah.  I actually wanted to cancel the person because my housekeeper recognized them as messy and some damage a year ago but was told I would lose my superhost status and have to pay $180. So I did it and they trashed the inside, over $1300 in just a few days, the worst in 14 years. No cameras allowed on the inside of the house. Collecting a deposit upfront is the safest way for a host. 

[Rose1523]

I’ve gone through the same thing as you and their return time and correspondence stinks and actually put you behind of their day and they act like it’s the hosts fault for not getting in the information at the right time which is a crock I had several incidents were there air cover didn’t cover me one was for $9000 unbelievable I submitted everything as I was instructed they said because I was four days late that I could not get reimbursed it was hard for me to get a contractor to come in and get a couple estimates because of Covid in New York State and they didn’t care and I think I’ve been secretly banned I haven’t had a booking since November  20 20 not even an inquiry and I have four locations and have been busy since I started and busy during the pandemic they are politically charged and I know this is not a conspiracy theory my business stopped a complete halt investigating on what to do about this to find out what’s going on has anybody else experienced something like this? 

[Max-And-Stephanie0]

@Rose1523 Wow, I'm sorry that happened to you! In our case, we submitted everything on time and checked all the boxes: receipts, statements from the crews, photos and videos of the extensive damage. We're not new to this--I used to work professionally in property management, so running the Airbnb should be child's play. Getting the broken items reimbursed was the easy part. Getting paid for the cleaning--which does NOT depreciate, and which was WELL within (even below) industry standards, has been hair-pulling-out level of frustration.

[Harvey62]

I live 2.5 hours from my entire home rental and have never had a problem.  I always meet my guest at check in and if not convenient for myself to be there I pay my professional cleaner to meet them to inspect the home and politely inform them of the rules and standards.  We also answer questions about shopping and discuss items in the area that may interest them.  We also always offer to help with their luggage.  My last guest turned on the LR tv and it wasn’t working properly.  My very professional cleaner called Direct Tv and got the problem solved.  Give high standards and expect high standards!

[Max-And-Stephanie0]

@Harvey62 Oh trust me, we do the same. We have high standards and don't accept guests without prior reviews. We meet them at check-in, we respond promptly to any concerns, we keep an eye on things with our Ring camera. We've been doing this for years and know the game. I hope you never get burned with something like this, but we did everything in our power to prevent it and really believed Airbnb would have our backs if something like this ever happened. In the past, before AirCover, that was true! We have submitted claims for smoke remediation, extra cleaning, broken items, etc. and were paid in full each time with literally no hassle. I don't know why they made the change, but it's been horrific ever since.

[Mike-And-Jane0]

@Max-And-Stephanie0 Aircover will never reimburse losses in full as it is NOT a new for old cover. As a result anything damaged will be written down to next to zero after a few years. I dread to think what we would get for some of our antique furniture which will surely have been depreciated to zero over a couple of hundred years.

Also note that the damage part of Aircover is not insurance. I would not recommend anyone rely on this and would always suggest hosts purchase proper insurance for their listings.

[Max-And-Stephanie0]

@Mike-And-Jane0 We do have insurance--I'm not concerned about depreciation on the broken items, either. Like I said in my post, I understand that. What I'm bothered by is that we had to have additional professional cleaning done, and Airbnb denied part of the claim for no reason, reduced another part to far, far below industry standards, and completely ignored another invoice (just purely overlooked it). Cleaning doesn't depreciate!! And we have used the same company for similar issues before and didn't have any trouble getting reimbursed in full. Now that AirCover has been launched, it's a hot mess. We had pictures, video, the invoices, and statements from the crews. It's just a shoddy system with poorly trained "remediation specialists." 

[Emilie]

@Max-And-Stephanie0 Thanks for sharing your experience here, I'm really sorry to hear you ran into issues with some guests and our support team. As I mentioned in another thread where you had tagged me, I've passed this on on my end so someone can follow-up with you.

I hope it all gets resolved swiftly but please do let us know how you get on!

[Max-And-Stephanie0]

Awesome, thanks so much for trying to help! 🙂

[Laurel-And-Mark0]

@Max-And-Stephanie0  Did they ever follow up with you?