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.

[Debbie612]

To all Airbnb Hosts – Especially in South Africa.  I’m writing this Letter let you to warn you.  As this can happen to anybody. It happened to me.

I have been a AirBnB host for 2 years now. I was doing okay for myself and decided to do it fulI-time.  Airbnb seemed like a trustworthy platform, as they have a strict policy and they ‘say’ they do background checks on Guests that want to book your place.  But I was wrong and wish that I was much more assertive when accepting guests to stay at my property.  I trusted Airbnb, They are my partner at the end of the day. 

But nothing could have prepared me for what was to come…  A guest (A Criminal) using a fake name and ID, booked my entire house for 2 nights on Airbnb - I was sceptic at first, as it was for one man only, and the booking was approved by airbnb without my pre-approval - Which goes against my policy on airbnb platform.

I didn’t want to cancel, as a host, Airbnb takes points off your listing. Rating You lower, and as this is my business, hosting Airbnb guests, it would have counted against me, Airbnb fines a host and closes your calendar for other possible bookings as well.

So, I got my house ready for the guest arriving the next day, locked my main bedroom door and my office.  Then prepared my house for the guest.

The Guest seemed polite communicating over WhatsApp only, he said he is driving from Durban and can’t answer his phone.  I should have seen the red flag when the guest never arrived at the time, he said he would, he kept on delaying.  But again, these things happen – I want to be a considerate Host, So I decided to leave the keys and remote in a lockbox at the entrance for the guest to enter.  I informed the guests and took off to book myself and my dogs in at another guesthouse before 11pm (Before the lockdown curfew time in Dec 2020). I have CCTV cameras so I would be able to check when guest arrived.

What a costly mistake I made trusting Airbnb, and a Horrific 2-month long ordeal all because AIRBNB DON’T DO WHAT THEY SAY AND DISREGARD HOSTS POLICIES –

The Guest cut my CCTV cameras, changed the locks, and invited a bunch of his friends onto my property, broke into my office, my bedroom (both room doors where locked and a no entry sign placed on doors), Stole R12000 cash I had in Safe, stole my Rolex watch and everything valuable in the house.  They drank all my wine, carried my lounge suite outside and had a party.

As soon as I saw that my CCTV cameras where cut, I called the guest. I couldn’t believe my ears… He answered, music so loud that my neighbours called me. I called the Police…. And waited for hours, eventually I got a security company to go with me to my house… when I got there, I saw the locks where changed. no-body was there. The security told me to call the police as they couldn’t just break in… I did, but the police didn’t come out.  I called a locksmith to break open locks, once inside I saw how my place looked…HOW CAN THIS HAPPEN, I KEPT ASKING MYSELF/ I also noticed that the 2 guest bedroom doors where closed and locked. ‘that’s strange’ I told the locksmith. I phoned the guest and to my surprise his phone started ringing in one of the bedrooms… the locksmith grabbed one of his tools and said “ek gaan hom nou blicksom” I told him not to, and that we should rather leave as I didn’t want any more problems and because I was scared for my life, I didn’t know who the guest was or whether he had a gun… So, I left thinking, he will be gone in the morning as check out time is 10am. But he didn’t leave for another 3 weeks.

 I opened a case at the police station (They did nothing), He stole everything, my couches where ruined and in the rain…  

I Thought the worst was over, but it was just beginning… The guest refused to leave my house and stayed for the entire December and January Holidays with his friends and family.

I went to the police station again, they told me to go to court to get a court order to have him forcefully removed – which was a challenge over the December holidays.  I got it eventually and went to the sheriff’s office, He had to serve and remove the man immediately from my house, but the sheriff told me that due to Lockdown, he can’t remove anyone off premises and told me to come back in January 2021.

WHAT MUST I DO NOW…? I CAN’T TAKE THE LAW INTO MY OWN HANDS, THIS GUEST HAS VANDELIZED MY HOUSE AND IS NOW LIVING IN MY HOUSE WITH HIS THUG FRIENDS, I HAVE NOWHERE TO GO AND MY DOGS ARE WITH ME, I HAVE NO OTHER CLOTHES (except the 2 pairs I took with the day the guest checked in.., MY MONEY IS UP NOW, I WANT MY HOUSE BACK AND I WANT THE CRIMINAL AND ALL HIS FRIENDS TO GET ARRESTED.  After 2 months of Hell, They Left and I could finally go home, and get my house in order again, it was so bad, most nights I would just cry myself to sleep.

AIRBNB HASNT DONE ANYTHNG EITHER - I opened a Host reimbursement case with Airbnb, as they said I must, I TOOK PHOTOS OF ALL DAMAGES AND SENT IT TO AIRBNB, WHOM ASSURED ME A HOST PROTECTION CLAIM FOR DAMAGES CAUSED, BUT IT’S BEEN OVER 5 MONTHS NOW…JUST EMPTY PROMISES.

I HOPE THAT THIS LETTER WILL ALERT OTHER HOSTS TO BE CAREFUL WHEN RENTING OUT THEIR ENTIRE HOMES TO GUESTS ON AIRBNB ­ - NO BACKGROUND CHECKS ARE DONE ON GUESTS. IT’S ALL A IIE TO MAKE HOSTS TRUST THEM.

The guest was supposed to have paid a security deposit amount when he booked my entire house, I asked Airbnb where is this amount when they paid out for the 2 nights. But said the guest didn’t pay it (HOW DID THIS GUEST BOOK WITHOUT PAYING THE SECURITY DEPOSIT. NO ANSWER.

AIRBNB MAKES MONEY FROM HOSTS PROPERTIES, BUT CARRY NO RISKS AT ALL.

[Huma0]

@Ephraim0

Yes, it does seem odd. I have also had very positive experiences overall with Airbnb CS and the one time I needed to claim for guest damage, which was very recently, they refunded me the money with minimal fuss. I also had a retalitory review removed and felt like the rep was totally on my side because I was a Superhost and he could see the guest was the one who had behaved badly,

However, like you, I've noticed how many Superhosts are complaining about unfair treatment in similiar circumstances so it does seem that our experiences differ wildly.

[Alex1151]

I wish Airbnb would create a  panal of experienced hosts to join it's resolution center to balance out their unfavorable bias benfitting guests.  Airbnb offers me $100 if I convince other people to host. Although there is a serious demand in my area, unless Airbnb shows me it can fairly resolve the damage personally done to my property, I would not wish even my enemies to have the experience I have had dealing with a terrible guest.

[Stuart137]

 Wow! I am new at this, so far was ok the past few years.  Some guests are just extremely dirty and leave a few broken dishes.  One guest broke a grab bar in my bathroom but he contacted me directly very apologetic and payed me for the repairs.  There was no issue.  But my latest guest from hell verbally abused me and my service staff.  He has caused me almost the same amount of damages to my property as your guest from hell did to you.   (Water damage for over $1,000 ruining my pergo floors, violating house rules with condo management for $50.00 fine plus an excessive electric bill for $700 in a 10 day rental).

I thought I was backed up by a great company, Airbnb, that carried insurance and would back up its hosts...but I found out just as you, that you are on your own, in my case only 3 photos had been submitted while I was gathering other documents to forward in what I believed to be a 14 day claim submission period (during  hurricane Lane).   While I was waiting to get a contractor estimate, Airbnb determined from the 3 pictures and the man's phony denying letter that I was not covered under anything... really? investigation? when and how? I feel this is a type of abuse from Airbnb for trusting them to investigate the people they are putting in your rental.  They should REALLY make investigations of our claims and do a little homework, the hosts need to feel protected by the company they are partners with .   ALL insurance companies send an adjuster to review the damages. NOBODY came, NOBODY called, NOBODY really cared to find the truth, then I got a letter from  a third party telling me how sorry they were to hear all this and were completely off base with their statement of facts......denying my claim and saying I could go after the renter by myself.  If Airbnb doesn't start protecting and caring for their hosts, they  can't survive as Airbnb doesn't own any properties and depends on hosts to deal with them.

[Tony134]

Convo with Customer Service About Fleas:

(My Favorite part is when rep tells me to submit reciepts for bug spray within one hour or they will not be able to assist, lol, insane.)

Airbnb Support

5:25 PM

Tony,

My name is Natalie, I am a Case Manager with Airbnb. Thank you so much for reaching out to us on this matter. I am going to do what I can to make sure that we get this taken care of for you. If you dont mind letting me know how many nights the Guest actually stayed at the listing I would greatly appreciate it!

Tony

5:25 PM

the guest left today.

Airbnb Support

5:36 PM

Perfect, thank you so much. So I have spoken with my team, and we understand that you think that the Guest is the one who brought the fleas. Now with that, we don't have any documentation to prove showing that the Guest is the one who brought the fleas. What we do know is that when the Guest entered the listing, that's when they started to complain about the bites and the marks.

Now the Guest is not going to get a full refund. But we do need to issue them some sort of refund. I do want to run something by you that me and my team have come up with. So for the nights not spent, we will go ahead and issue the Guest a full refund by altering the reservation. While doing that, your calendar dates do open back up as well. And then 20% of each night spent. So altogether, the Guest would receive a refund of $130. Let me know what you think about that.

Tony

5:41 PM

Honestly, that's what I figured you would do. I would like to file an insurance claim then. If not this guest, it definitely was am airbnb guest who brought the fleas. As usual, airbnb wants me to take the hit, including excessive cleaning fees and lost income. Any refund to this guest will mean I receive no further payment for August, and AGAIN will need to take a cash advance to cover rent. My situation with you has been snowballing into a worse and worse situation since you guys refunded a guest for breaking all my house rules in June. You are clearly going to do exactly what you proposed above no matter what I say, why ask?

Tony

5:59 PM

Every time I talk to CS department, polite words that are in reality not helping. It would be nice, Just One Time in two years, to see Airbnb do something, anything, responsible. When I realized one of your guests brought me fleas, I didn't complain, I didn't wait, I sprung into action and just took responsibility for the problem. Even though I had just done laundry, I re-laundered hundreds of pounds of laundry. I bought excessive amounts of bombers. I got industrial grade wall spray. I even washed this girl's clothes because she had then lying all over the floor. Then your cs department hits me up for more money instead of guiding me through filing an insurance claim. You leave me at a loss as to how to even communicate with your department.

for the record, that's 30,000 sq feet of bug bomber for a 2400 sq foot house.

AUGUST 29, 2018

Airbnb Support

11:14 AM

You are an amazing Host Tony. I do not want to take that away from you at all. But the fact of the matter is when the Guest arrived to the listing, she was getting bit by fleas. We have no way to prove that the Guest is the one who brought the fleas in. Maybe your previous Guests didn't notice the fleas. The Guest was bitten in your listing. So that is why we are needing to go ahead and give her a partial payout. You are still getting paid out, but the Guest was effected by this.

Tony

2:11 PM

#1. I'm just printing out all these "customer service" threads. What you are constantly doing, and being directed to do by airbnb, is in bad faith. If this was the only instance where you are making decisions like this, that works be acceptable, but it's not. It's called bad faith when you use technicalities in the contract to constantly do something other than what's expected(honor cancellation policy). ILLEGAL. Look it up.

#2 "The fact of the matter" is the guest never complained until the day she left, she said nothing when she showed up. She in fact thought it was so acceptable at first they she had an unregistered guest over guys a sleep over! There were no fleas before she showed up.

#3 Either this guest, OR ANOTHER GUEST YOU SENT, BROUGHT ME FLEAS. Answer this question directly: are you claiming the fleas appeared out of thin air? I can't see how it matters which guest brought them, why are you not opening am insurance claim for me???????

Tony

2:24 PM

Let's talk about filing an insurance claim, that's the only responsible place for this to go.

Airbnb Support

2:27 PM

Tony,

Just to clarify, Airbnb is not sending anyone to you. We as Airbnb are a third party when it comes to these situations. We give you the platform to host and make money. Just like we give guests the platform to travel. You as the Host, are the ones accepting the reservations. We as Airbnb will not and will never force you to host a guest. You do that at your own will. Now while inviting these Guests into your listing, yes you take on the risk of anyone bringing anything into your listing. Whether it be fleas, bed bugs, roaches, or any other type of vermin. Airbnb is here to help and assist you as much as possible but we not held responsible for anything that happens to your listing. Also, you agreed to all of these when you accepted our Terms of Service.

I am sorry that you are going through this Tony and I am trying to help you but I need you to understand that I am here to also help the Guest as well. Like you said, either this guest or another guest, it doesn't matter how the fleas got into the listing, this guest was effected, so we need to accommodate this guest now. You have already done exactly what you were supposed to do and that was take care of your listing and the fleas.

We are not going to be able to make an insurance claim because we have no proof/documentation to prove that this guest was the one who brought the fleas in. Now if you would like to send me receipts of the bombs and stuff that you bought, I would be more than happy to go ahead and bring that back to my team and see if we can reimburse you for some of it. But before we do that, we need to come to an agreement on reimbursing the Guest.

Tony

2:30 PM

Whenever you do this stuff, the hosts just go over your head and report on the Community Forum. Again, answer the question directly: Are you claiming that the fleas were not brought by any Airbnb guest? Every room in the house constantly booked on your website, one of your guests brought the fleas, whether it was Madison or a different guest. Airbnb is the only platform I use.

Airbnb Support

3:21 PM

I understand the Airbnb is the only platform you use, but Airbnb can't be held accountable for the Guests you accept to allow into your home. I personally can not answer your question because I don't know for a fact where the fleas came from. Just like you don't know exactly where the fleas came from. The fleas could have come from a cleaning service if you have one, they could have come from you coming in from outside and changing the sheet for the Guest. We have no documentation to prove where these fleas came from. So just because you use the Airbnb platform does not mean that the Guest is the one who brought them in. Like I stated before, if you send me the receipts for the bombs and the spray that you had to use on the listing I will be more than happy to take that to our financial team and see if we can help reimburse you. As a result the Guest was effected by the fleas while staying in your listing, and they do need to be compensated for that.

Tony

3:29 PM

So your answer is "fleas appeared by magic." Gotcha, and not surprised. I'm just going to go ahead and copy and paste this conversation to the host forums so everybody can see how your company handles it when a guest brings a bug infestation.

Airbnb Support

3:34 PM

Tony,

I don't think they appear by magic. I'm stating that we have no documentation to prove it was a guest. At this time you are just assuming it was a guest. But you are more than welcome to do what you feel is necessary!

So what I am going to do is go ahead and issue the Guest a refund of $130, the breakdown is in our above messages. Now like I have stated before, if you have documentation of your receipts I will be more than happy to assist you but if I am not able to get that receipt within the next hour then we are not going to be able to reimburse you. I am sorry that you are going through this Tony, and I hope I am able to further assist you!

Tony

3:53 PM

Your request to submit these receipts "in the next hour" just zero class and inappropriate.

but there they are. See you in the host forums.

Airbnb Support

3:58 PM

I am sorry if you feel that was inappropriate, I am just trying to get this taken care of for you as quickly as possible. I know you went out of your way to buy the bombs and the spray for the listing, and I am just trying to thank you by seeing if we can get you reimbursed.

Tony

3:59 PM

Using "professional speak" doesn't make what you're doing here and less obvious.

Do the right thing and open an insurance claim.

Airbnb Support

4:02 PM

We do have qualifications before you would be able to make an insurance claim. This reservation does not fall under that category. So to still be able to make sure you are taken care of, I am doing the same thing an insurance claim would do, and that's reimburse you.

Tony

4:03 PM

Whatever you need to tell yourself to sleep at night.

Airbnb Support

4:19 PM

Tony,

I have gone ahead and reimbursed you $100 for everything that you spent on the fleas. Everything came out to be $99.48. Thank you and I hope you have a great rest of your day.

AUGUST 31, 2018

󱜄

This support case is closed. Still need help? Visit our Help Center.

[Tony134]

"Maybe your previous Guests didn't notice the fleas."

Yeah, all 1,500 of them failed to notice fleas in the house.  /s

"While doing that, your calendar dates do open back up as well."

Yeah, because keeping a listing open with fleas is a great idea!  /s

"Just to clarify, Airbnb is not sending anyone to you. We as Airbnb are a third party when it comes to these situations. We give you the platform to host and make money. Just like we give guests the platform to travel. You as the Host, are the ones accepting the reservations. We as Airbnb will not and will never force you to host a guest. You do that at your own will. Now while inviting these Guests into your listing, yes you take on the risk of anyone bringing anything into your listing. Whether it be fleas, bed bugs, roaches, or any other type of vermin. Airbnb is here to help and assist you as much as possible but we not held responsible for anything that happens to your listing. Also, you agreed to all of these when you accepted our Terms of Service."

This whole paragraph..... cringe.

"Now like I have stated before, if you have documentation of your receipts I will be more than happy to assist you but if I am not able to get that receipt within the next hour then we are not going to be able to reimburse you." One hour deadline to submit receipts..... Criiiiiiiiinggggeeee

"We do have qualifications before you would be able to make an insurance claim."

Brian Chesky himself could show up at my listing, trash the place on video, and they would claim I made some kind of mistake.

Airbnb, you are always talking about 'goodness and fairness' and how 'appreciative and concerned' you are, why don't you do the right thing once in your corporate life?

[Anna-Nicole0]

Who's up for a class action lawsuit against Airbnb?

Security Deposits provide a false sense of security to hosts. I made sure to put one but the guest declined to Pay and airbnb didn't make them. Be very careful because guests trashing the place is more common than usual. The also hide things they break rather than confess, so look carefully and do a detailed check in every cupboard and area. 

It not worth the risk for me anymore. 

The deposit request is a gimmick and hosts are not told that its more or less optional for guests after checkout.

Some of the joys of the last month included blood soaked pillowcases and pillows. Guest smoking inside the property. Theft. 100s of scratches to wood flooring caused by 1 guest. Stained wall paint. Broken large electric appliances. Additional overnight guests living there - unverified might I add.

I also agree with the other poster to stay away from guests under 25 as they can be very irresponsible and have higher car insurance for a reason.

[Jilea0]

In ten years I’ve had to make 4 claims  on guests’ security deposits. On two of those the damage/cleaning costs were greater than the deposit. So now I’m in the middle of my second claim against the Host Guarantee. The first was an absolute nightmare and although I did everything asked of me, Airbnb denied the claim with absolutely no appeal, recourse or explanation. I didn’t take it lying down and took my case to the NSW Department of Fair Trading. I had my claim reconsidered and paid WITH AN APOLOGY within 24 hours. My apparent crime was to send a quote for painting in a format that they couldn’t open. Enough to deny the claim! They seem to have made the process easier this time around, maybe in response to all the bad publicity over the way they administer the Host Guarantee or maybe because they know I know my rights!  We will see what happens!

[David4542]

After reading how Airbnb refuses to pay for damages I’m pulling my house off the market and taking these clowns to small claim court.

[Debbie612]

I had all my HOST POLICIES VIOLATED BY AIRBNB.

1. A GUEST booked my entire house without my pre-approval. Simply confirmed. Because I trusted airbnb and saw the guest ID is validated (later found out this guest booked under a false name).

2. My policy states that guest must book entire house with a R20000 deposit if any damages. Well it's been a hell of a ride. Guest checked in after 12am (when my family and I left our premises and booked into another guesthouse.) I didn't want to cancel or become a difficult host. As airbnb would fine me.  So, without knowing I allowed a crimanal into my entire house... What he did, was invite 5 other people on, move my lounge suite outside, break down my main bedroom door, (I locked and put no entry sign on main bedroom door), he then stole my valuebles and cash my husband had in a small safe, when I realized my CCTV cameras were disconnected, I immediately went out and to my horror, my locks on main gate were changed. My family and I where locked out of our own house. Police come out, but when locks where opened guest was nowhere but THE DAMAGE WAS EVIDENT. I TOOK PHOTOS SENT TO AIRBNB RESOLUTION CENTRE.

WELL ITS BEEN 3 MONTHS NOW AND I AM STILL WAITING FOR SECURITY DEPOSIT AND HOST GUARANTEE CLAIM... WHICH AIRBNB AND THIRD PARTY PROMISED BUT.... EXCUSES, EXCUSES, EXCUSES....

Debbie Ferreira

[Helen3]

Post about this on Airbnb's social media and talk to your local media about this @Debbie612 

As Airbnb aren't playing ball I hope you also made a claim on your home insurance for STRs

[Debbie612]

Will do. Thanks @Helen3 @Helen

[Carrie427]

I am having the same experience. I had a guest ( with a violent criminal record) have a party with gang members and shot up my Airbnb and killed someone in it. I have close to $45000 in damages plus loss of income. I won’t be able to rent this for awhile. It’s been 3 weeks and nothing from Airbnb. I will also be going to the media. This is a high profile case in my city. The community is in an uproar and there is a debate in our city to allow STR. People are talking to me everyday about this occurrence. I was defending them until now. Now I will tell everyone that asks and I will be going to social media as well as our local news ( government doesn’t want Airbnb so they will love this)  their bull**bleep** “air cover” policy needs to be exposed

[Mary996]

Oh my goodness @Carrie427  thats's horrendous. I am so sorry to hear about this.

Do we need to ask that Airbnb does criminal record checks on our behalves? 

What would you suggest as a reasonable outcome to your claim?    

[Carol73]

This is discouraging. I recently had a guest do almost $10,000 worth of damage to my guest house. I documented everything and yes, keep getting the same vapid responses from the Resolution Center. 

Has anyone actually gotten reimbursed for damages? It appears that the "million dollar coverage" is just as one other host said is "bull &%$%$.  Thanks if you have any help hints!!!