Help please - Resolutions Centre/AirCover Team???

[Paul11603]

Okay, I'm not sure anyone here will have any answers for me but I've been trying to get in touch with someone from the resolutions team for most of the past week. Several emails remain unreturned - and three days running I've called support and been told "I can't help you with that but I can leave a note to have someone call you asap" and well, here we are. 

Long story short - A guest dragged a couch back and forth across a large living room, and has managed to put extensive scratches in the floorboards - as anyone who has experienced this will attest to this being a costly and frustrating repair process. 

Either way, this isn't my first rodeo and after having a difficult time with damage claims in the past if we couldn't prove without any doubt whatsoever the guest caused the damage we now have some pretty robust procedures in place. Video walk through condition reports conducted before and after each stay have been a gamechanger.

However the case manager for this issue emailed me after the guest refused to accept liability, saying they don't think the floor is scratched but instead has drops of paint on it (weird theory but okay, maybe some bad AI image recognition stuff going on?) and they've asked for a laundry list of things to substantiate the claim - including but not limited to time & date stamped videos - great because I have these - but the link they provided just goes back to the original aircover claim - where you can't upload videos. They also asked for a professionally prepared incident report which I have had prepared, and despite emailing it to them with a dropbox link to about 40 photos/videos/quotes/emails from flooring companies/etc, I'm just not hearing anything from them. They also requested some very particular parameters that they wanted the flooring company to quote on - I was basically laughed out of the room when I conveyed these requests to the different companies I called for advice. 

Either way, I've had two independent companies verify that given the extent of the damage and that the only real option is to sand the floor for the whole room and polish the floors again.

The guest responsible for the damage is also listed as an airbnb host - so I suspect that the resolutions team have a better than usual chance of recovering costs from her.

Anyway - TDLR:
- Does anyone here know of a better way to get a reply from the resolutions team?
- I've compiled all the evidence and information they've asked for that leaves no doubt that the property was undamaged at check in, and was damaged at check out - but can't upload this via their provided link - I provided stills from the video in the original claim but they still request video - any suggestions? 

- I have an 11 page incident report detailing the whole thing - but nobody to actually look at it. 
- Is it normal to have a nearly impossible list of demands to meet for an aircover claim beyond evidence to support that
a) Did damage occur? b) Did the guest cause the damage? c) How much will it cost to repair/replace the damage?

Thanks in advance, any advice is appreciated.

[Helen3]

Sorry to hear that @Paul11603 personally I would never rely on the Airbnb Guarantee it's so limited. You would be better putting the claim in with your own home insurance for STRs .

[Lorina14]

@Paul11603 

Sorry about your ordeal. The resolutions team tends to be slow and only work via email. Unfortunately it appears there may be no way to speed things up. Make sure all is documented and follow up so it is noted on Airbnb’s side for notes. I agree with Helen that a claim with your own STR insurance is probably easier. 

@Bhumika @Elisa @Rebecca is There anything you could do to assist Paul?

[Joan2709]

@Paul11603 

Yes...this is the normal process for an Aircover claim. Takes forever and endless requests for addl documentation. Don't let them stall until the point where the 30day time limit elapses, or they will deny the claim entirely:

Another Host posted here about the "form" you are supposed to complete, but apparently many times they don't attach it to the email. Did you get the form?

They're supposed to link it in the email. This is the URL, replace the Claim ID with the one from your email subject line:

https://www.airbnb.com/request-reimbursement/request/CLSF-{CLAIM_ID}/accept-payment-agreement

This is the reason why I suggest my Host clients obtain their own STR insurance...especially for large dollar amount claims. You will never get the full replacement value of any item and the reimbursement for damage/repair claims is usually waaaay lower than what it costs the Host.

[Paul11603]

They sent this form for me to accept this morning after reviewing the claim and ruling in my favour.

[Paul11603 · Accepted solution]

Update & Future Advice For Anyone Who Finds This Post

This issue was successfully resolved by Airbnb's resolutions team. From claim lodgement to email confirmation of claim acceptance the process took about 12 days

Aircover Process & Procedure

- The claims team operate primarily over email (but if you ask what hours they work you can schedule a call at a time where their hours and reasonable hours for you overlap)

     * For me this meant scheduling a call for 8pm my time, at the start of the claims agent's shift

- The damage claim portal will not let you upload videos, however you can reply to the support agent's email with a cloud storage link, eg OneDrive or Dropbox

- Rather than uploading countless images, quotes etc, compiling them into a single PDF incident report, clearly outlining the following:

1. Condition before they guests arrival (use photos, stills from videos, any other evidence to show the affected area is undamaged
2. Condition after guest departure (again, photos, video stills etc)
3. Details of repair/replacement required (include links to reputable online sites detailing what is required for the relevant repair) as well as written statements from professionals about the required work.
4. Cost of required work. Include quotes, if possible include evidence that these quotes are within a reasonable range for the work being performed (i.e. second quotes, or at least preliminary estimates that are in the same ballpark)

Any evidence that cannot be included as part of the document (eg videos) should be forwarded separately

Schedule a call to review evidence in incident report

Rather than a back and forth asking for more evidence or explaining a particular point in the incident report this can be addressed in a quick phone call (in my case this involved directing the agent to a particular screenshot, and emailing two extra photos separately) 

If aircover request information that is not practical to provide
In my case they asked for a quote in a specific format (broken down by materials/labour, with each step of the repair as it's own section) Multiple flooring companies told me this was impractical way for them to break down their quote, I got this in writing and provided it as evidence that the request was not practical, and was not necessary to substantiate the claim

BEST PRACTICES:
- Video walk through condition report between every stay

   - We take a 1-2 minute video walking through the house, being sure to capture any areas that are likely to be damaged, or would be costly if they were. This is shared with our cleaning/management team via Facebook Messenger. The videos are better if the cleaner sets their phone to wide angle to capture more of the property

- Detailed condition reports monthly/quarterly, a high res (4K) video covering every single surface of the house (this might take 5-10mins, but is worth it) - save the original file (not sent via messenger) so you have the highest quality file - Include a date stamp on the video.

- Before lodging a claim/contacting the guest , message support, confirm that the incident happened (attach photos) and state that you may need a lodge a claim - state you are worried that if you do the guest may leave a negative review - this keeps a paper trail of your case with Airbnb, they will hopefully advise you that a retaliatory review would be removed if posted

- If you contact the guest prior lodging the claim, keep the message polite and friendly and don't mention you may need to lodge a damage claim. - If the guest is forthcoming about causing the damage, a whole lot of work is removed from the claim process

e.g.) "Hi <guest>, I hope you had a wonderful stay, unfortunately our cleaners let me know about some damage to <area>, I'm sure it was a complete accident, and perhaps you didn't notice that it occurred, but if you had any information on how it happened it would help me make sure that we can try to prevent it happening again for a future guest, again, thanks for staying with us, talk soon."  

 - The guest will either a) admit fault, b)deny it was them, c)get angry that you accuse them of damaging the house. a) makes an aircover claim much easier, b & c were going to happen anyway, and if they get angry in your DM's it gives you a better chance of having a retaliatory review removed (good luck)

No point being afraid of confrontation with the guest - as soon as you process an aircover claim it goes straight to them and will almost always start a fight if it comes out of the blue anyway. If the guest is rude or unhelpful, or you tries to get into an argument - message them "I think this conversation is no longer constructive, and request you direct any further communication to Airbnb support, who I am happy to discuss the issue with"

Ultimately this wasn't an easy process, and at times was quite frustrating, but at least for me Aircover worked mostly as advertised.

[Joan2709]

@Paul11603 

So...it was easy then (wink, wink) 🙄

Thank you SO MUCH for posting here about this and how it was finally resolved. It helps to hear the whole process all the way to a successful outcome. It does sound a bit like "nails scratching on the blackboard" though. Good for you completing the process and hanging in there.