How to escalate the reimbursement requests with Airbnb

[Sathesh0]

Hello fellow hosts, 

I host a airbnb and our previous guest had left the place in a very horrible state. We took weeks to come out of it. We never faced something like this before. The place was destroyed - I'm not exaggerating the mattress was soaked in some kind of brown sticky liquid including duvet, mattress cover, pillows etc. There was drugs and equipments found all over the place and place stinked like anything. Broken windows .... I could go on. 

So I contacted Airbnb support and they asked to raise a reimbursement request and as expected the guest did not respond, so airbnb was involved. The initial request was all my guesses with the price and then airbnb asked for a quote from contractor which I obtained and provided. After that, there is no response from the team. I did block the calendar to fix this mess and was hoping to get some support from airbnb, but now it has been more than 2 weeks of time with no response. I was not able to sit with house in that condition - I hired a cleaner and cleaned the place and started purchasing mattress and other items to bring the place back where it can be hosted. 

I have sent all my receipts to ****  the email I contacted from. Now what is the procedure to make some escalations on the case as there is no movement. I have already called the customer care and they say they have escalated but there is no response from the "specialist team" they escalated to . 

Please help me on how to proceed. 

Thanks 

[Bhumika]

Hi @Sathesh0 , I am truly sorry to hear of the damages and situation with the guest.

Have you heard back from the Support team? I am leaving this article here that might help with additional information on filing 👉host damage protection claim 👈 with Airbnb. 

Please keep us updated on the latest.

Kind regards,

[Sathesh0]

It's just getting transferred from one specialist/ team to another. But no resolutions so far. I'm following up via emails. Calls goes to random agents who are helpless. 

[Bhumika]

Thanks for letting us know @Sathesh0 , 

Joan has also shared some more information on how to proceed with damage claims and reimbursements, especially submitting relevant documentations. Do keep us posted!  👀 

Regards,

[Joan2709]

@Sathesh0 

Be aware that Airbnb plays this "game" on large Aircover claims (it seems) asking for documentation, then never responding when you provide it, or asking for additional documentation, or not accepting valid receipts. Then they deny your claim as the information/documentation they requested (and received) multiple times was not received (according to them) by the 30-day cutoff. 

Host Damage Protection

https://www.airbnb.com/help/article/279

Host Damage Protection Terms

https://www.airbnb.com/help/article/2869

I always recommend Hosts have their own STR insurance (Aircover HDP is NOT insurance) and not rely on Aircover. Even Airbnb says that:

[Sathesh0]

Thank you @Joan2709  We are thinking of the independent insurance. Any ways to navigate through aircover for this occurence? The one response I have recieved is "I would like to inform you that the investigation is under process and we will get back to you soon." for the last so many weeks unfortunately.

[Helen3]

Where are you in the process . 

presuming you asked the guests to compensate you for damage . What did the guest say?

if they don't reply or deny the claim Airbnb the adjudicates .... how long have you been waiting for a response .

airbnb cover is no substitute for having your own insurance as it's so limited .

[Sathesh0]

Hi @Helen3 We initially requested the guest, but didn't get any response. And airbnb got involved and the process is going on and on. It has been almost a month now. They say investigation is in progress and nothing more. 

[Joan2709]

@Sathesh0 

Airbnb should have sent you a form to complete in an email?

Resolutions

https://www.airbnb.com/resolutions

They're supposed to link it in an 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

[Sathesh0]

@Joan2709 I haven't received this email yet, can I go ahead and complete this form myself? Does it make a difference in speeding up the process?

[Joan2709]

@Sathesh0 

You would have to contact Airbnb about that...