Host guarantee bull**bleep** when guests damage your property, be aware!

[Natasha0]

If you are curious about what happens when guests cause damage to your property read below:

1. we had a guest that dragged furniture while we were in the house (small chest of drawers, we could hear him dragging it) which we didn't do anything as it was quite late in the evening, we both felt very uncomfortable with what was happening and that is was very late in the evening.
2. Next day guests checks out, we are preparing the room just before the new guest arrives and paid attention to where the chest of drawers is and notice a very long couple of scratches on the floor with the trail where it was moved to from and to
3. We take pictures and talk to a flooring company next day while our new guest is out to get a quote to repair and communicate this to airbnb
4. Airbnb tell us they can't do anything about it because it was not reported on the same day. We are both busy individuals working full time and expecting a baby, we also at times have our relatives helping with checkin and checkout. This demand from airbnb is unreasonable to say the least!
5. we call airbnb and cannot speak to anyone besides people reading scripts, we try to get to speak to someone that can understand our situation but keep being promised a call back which never happens. This is not the first time we had to call airbnb for some sort of emergency and we are always let down. Airbnb is non existent on teh support side, you are on your own.

So, the host guarantee is just bull**bleep**,  we have hosted more than 300 people over 3 years and the ONLY time we asked about it when we had damage to our house, Airbnb first refuses to acknoledge and second treat us as we are amauteurs and don't know what we are doing. We could not yet speak to a supervisor or a decision maker at airbnb, we just speak to people reading scripts over the phone.

So the alternative now is to first make everyone aware of this, I'll spare no effort voicing this case on social media and other channels. We are based in London, so I'll make sure to make this reach out to all other hosts that believe they are safe. Time to reach out those tabloids.

Your property is not safe, you will eventually get damage to your nicely decorated house and Airbnb will tell you they won't do anything about it.

[Natasha0]

I'm reaching out now on facebook airbnb account as well, taking to twitter and hopefully speak to tabloids in london as well to see if they are interested in writting an article about this

I believe that after serachign here for problems and damage there are tons of topics that are not being addressed and airbnb clearly couldn't care less about hosts

[Helen3]

I don't think the tabloids will be interested @Natasha0. There isn't a story of any great injustice here.

Airbnb states on its guarantee that to make a claim for guest damage you need to notify them before the next guest checks in.  This seems entirely logical or else they wouldn't know who created the damage.

You said you didn't do this because you have busy lives.

It's a shame because it would have only taken you a few minutes and by not fulfilling Airbnb's T&Cs you have ruled yourself out of making a claim.

In your situation I would not expend any more energy on this, but focus on your forthcoming arrival and if you want to make a claim,  if the damage is costly, then why not make a claim on your home insurance for STRs.

[Jeet0]

I would suggest otherwise. Some senior Airbnb reps are coureous and rational and can help you in availign the benifit. So try speaking to 2-3 of them. Explain that you have been hositng for a long time, hosted plenty of hosts. This is the first time you had this situation and apologise of the delay in reporting, mention the struggles you had with you schedule and hopefully they'll understand and make an expection. 

[Linda108]

Helen, I agree with you. @Natasha0 while it was clear to you what happened it appears you did not follow the process of contacting the guest via Air BNB messaging and delaying contacting Air BNB.  While there seem to be times that the Air BNB response is guest centric, it doesn't help if the host fails to follow the outlined procedure.  

All that being stated, you could initiate a small claims court procedure.  People need to be held responsible for damage.

[Letti0]

All that being stated, you could initiate a small claims court procedure. 

@Linda108  Absolutely right, this is why you must have a rental agreement of some kind and ask for a copy of government ID.

[David2700]

Very true,rules are two way.

How can anyone complain about this if they haven't followed protocol?

[Sophie2219]

Dear, this will not say that you will get help as host. Believe me. As host your alone. 

[Tim494]

Airbnb does not care about the host.  They only care about the guest.  Their rational is that if the host does not use their service then the guest would just book another place and they still make their service fees.  It is just business dicision and it is reflected in their policy.  The only way this is going to change is that enough host leave airbnb and just use other services like VRBO and homeaway that it affects their business.  Otherwise they are just going to always favor thier host.   All the host guarantee stuff is BS...

[Tim494]

On another note, if a guest damages your property and claims that they did not do it, Airbnb will side on the guest.  They will always take the guest's word over the host's...

[Alex1151]

I just had my property severely damaged. I filed the claim the instant the guests left. The guests did not deny that they damaged my brand new mattress, or stereo system, or that they let their kids eat in my formal living room, and they ground raspberry jam into my custom sisal rug, which could not be cleaned out. I spent hours providing descriptions, before and after photos, and original receipts and Holly, My Trust & Safety Officer from Airbnb closed my claim without talking to me, without explaination, or answering a single question.  I had posted rules, and the guest paid a deposit.  But I did not get fair compensation. The Million Dollar Host Guarantee is a scam, even if you follow it to the letter of the law.  I fear anything short of xxx , would cause Airbnb to change their policies, which currently rape the hosts. And this guest was allowed to give me a 1 star rating (when all the rest have been 5 star ratings), even though my guest wrote me an email saying the house was clean and suited them well. The guest told me that all the damage that was done to my house was my fault, and I should expect wear and tear. My rating for the guest, has been removed, but her rating for my property remains even though it is factually incorrect and I pointed it out to Airbnb. Until this guest stayed, I absolutely loved hosting. I loved the delight from my guests when they arrived. I loved the handwritten letters left by guests about how lovely my home was. I was considering buying more property just because even though it was a lot of work, I enjoyed it. I bought into Airbnb's whole philosophy of providing my guests an experience, not just a place to stay. It was a beautiful, unique property. Because of the damage, and the lack of concern, or action by Airbnb, I feel I can no longer share my house. I had all the proper house manual rules, I required a deposit, I followed everything to a T, but it is true- as hosts we don't matter to Airbnb. I predict Airbnb will soon have an Uber moment in the media when the hosts of properties rise up and publicaly report the heinous damage Airbnb does to its greatest resource- the hosts of properties that really care. Such bad business practices. Very sad, because it used to be a great business model. Just beware- you can do everything correct but Airbnb has the final say and they can screw you royally.  Maybe Airbnb could hire a panal of experienced hosts to quickly change the policy before this gets much worse.

[Anna-Nicole0]

I agree. I had a false sense of security in the deposit requirement until guest checked out, declined to Pay for their damages and airbnb didn't make them.

Therefore deposits are optional. I'm getting out of the airbnb business as it too high risk.

What wpuld happen if damages ran in to 1000's and airbnb don't accept your claim?

[Jane-and-Michael0]

We are very interested in this conversation because we have just experienced our first "bad" guests.  They booked for two nights (last Thursday and Friday).   They managed to throw a mug of coffee all over the bedroom carpet, down the wall, on the bedspread and bedlinen and over our Oka glass fronted wardrobe.  Before contacting us to let us know, they attempted to rub at the carpet with our beautiful white fluffy towels, then dry it with the hairdrier.   They tried to wash the bedcover which they then hung over the wardrobe.  They sent me a text on Friday morning at 9.30am to say they had had an accident and had tried to clean it up, and that their plans had changed and they would be heading home that day (knowing we were out all day).  My partner made 6 phone calls before he could find a carpet cleaner who would come in on Saturday morning.  When we returned home on Friday evening we were horrified at the damage.  Apart from the coffee, there were blood stains on the sheet which had gone through to the undersheet.  Also, one of the couple had slept on the sofabed in the sitting room (which we would charge extra for as we would supply bedlinen) and this also had blood on it.  There was spilt coffee all over the sitting room floor too.  We had a guest booked in on Saturday for two nights.  The carpet stain did not remove completely so the carpet must be replaced.  The wall needs repainting as attempts to clean it with bleach did not take the coffee stain off.  Airbnb advised not to touch the bedlinen, but to handle with gloves on, bag up and destory.  So this whole episode is going to cost us a huge amount.  We took the bedspread to be cleaned, which takes a week and we do not know if the stains will have been removed until I collect it.  The guest said in her text that she would cover us for any costs incurred, but we shall see.  We have not yet set up a Resolution Case with Airbnb but they are fully aware of what happened and said they would help.  By great good fortune our incoming guest was completely chilled about the fact that we had to remove a chair from the bedroom, lift the curtains onto the windowsill to keep them off the floor and that the carpet was soaking wet, and we were not supposed to walk on it!  We supplied her with slippers and she was very sweet, but we pride ourselves on being super smart and pristine.  We later discovered that our bad guests had not gone home, as they were still in the area on Saturday, so must have been too embarassed to face us.   

[Helen3]

Sorry you had these awful guests.

I do hope you left an honest review, low ratings and a thumbs down.

And that you made a claim before the next guests arrived.

[Christine615]

We had similar damage (red wine spilled all over the bed, sheets, comforter, wall, and new carpet.  We took pictures and immediately uploaded them to the guest. That saved us because Airbnb said it had to be reported before the next guest checked in. We didn't file a claim fast enough (new guest had already checked in), but  Airbnb said they could see that we had, in fact, sent the picture and the inquiry to the previous guest through the inbox right away.

Luckily the guest paid to replace things. Curious what would have happened if she had not.