what do I do after my House trashed by a minor guest

[Malalai0]

Hi everyone,

I wanted to share my story and ask for some advice. 

The guest approached me by saying he want to throw a party around 30 people. He normally do this at home but there's guest at his home. He said they are all responsible and will take care of the house. I accepted him with a special offer and with additional rules. Before leaving the house to the guest, I took a video of the house. When the guest arrived, he told me he checked-in and told me the place was lovely and he will make sure the house is as clean as now. The disaster started the next morning. When I got to the house, an hour earlier than the check-out time, I saw lots of beer cans outside and trash was all over the entrance. I went into the basement, which the guest are not allowed to go and I saw the bathroom mosquito net in my yard. I knew things didn't went well inside the rented place. I didn't wait until the check-out time, I went in the house. The house was completely destroyed.

I was so shocked, tears started to come out and I couldn't even make a sound. 

The guest sent a message saying: I have bad news for you. I'm sorry, but some uninvited boys came and trashed the party and the place. There's some serious damage. I tried to stop them but I couldn't so I called the police. The police came too late, everything was already broken. The police filed a report. We can meet at your place or you can call me anytime.

He left his phone number. Before calling him, I called Airbnb Resolution center. At first, they didn't take me seriously. I told them the house is completely destroyed, there's no more wall, everything is upside down and broken. They told me to take photos and send them with the claim. I estimated 20 000$ but at the end I couldn't submit the claim, there was a maximum of 13 000$. I called them and told them that I can't submit because it won't let me. Then the person on the line was really nice, she told me to try and send it directly in a message. When she saw the first 2 pictures, she couldn't believe it. She immediately put me on hold and went to her superior. She came back to me saying, thanks for sending the photos, she had put my case directly in contact with the Claim department. A few hours later, I received a message that Airbnb has sent out my information to an independent adjuster to inspect the property due to the nature and extent of the damage. The adjuster from Crawford came. He saw the pictures but when he saw the house in person, he said he never saw something like this. This is a crime. It's way beyond his knowledge to estimate the cost of the damages and he will recommend Airbnb to send an building expert as well as a material good expert to estimate the cost of the damages. ( I will post some pictures)

I also called the police to sue him. This is vandalism. From what I heard from the police, is that the guest is a minor.

I hope that my situation did not happen to anyone but does anyone have some advice?  Did anyone had a good or bad experience with Host Guaranty? How can a minor book my place ? Will Airbnb sue him for this as police has evidence that he was the responsible?  Should I proceed to a civil charges? What can I do or what are the options that I have?

Thanks for all your help!!

[Malalai0]

@Laura2220 Thanks for the advice! 

[Jill850]

I am so sorry this happened. I have camera’s outside because a guest had an unauthorized party. Airbnb supports the guests WAY more than the host...sadly. 

[Ori8]

Hi,

I scan through the reply and there are many so i might missed some replies that discussed it already.

My advice is hire a company to deal with the insurance/s from your side.

Do not forget the insurance people are getting paid to Not pay you.

They will not inform you of your rights and so on... They will do their best to decline deny and to pay as little as possible. It is your job to know and go after them. That is tricky as it require knowledge on how the system works what you can, should and need to ask, how to file without getting denied or declined etc...

Think about our legal/court system if you need to deal with "them" you get a lawyer.

Insurance claims are the same, you need to have a pro working for you and protect your best interest.

I could point to a couple in So-Cal and Las Vegas but i do not know any in other parts of the country.

If you are not sure how to find one look for "Water and Fire mitigation company" if they are not "interested" in your case directly they should be happy to forward you to someone in their "network".

You would need an adjuster or a general contractor who works with one. They will make sure you will get the max.

It's a very sad story, it must be mentally very hard on you, if you do it right you should end up with almost brand new house. That should compensate for everything.

My 2 cents

[Malalai0]

@Ori8 Thanks for the advice! 

[Mike-And-Helen0]

@Malalai0 hope you are doing OK and there is progress?

[Malalai0]

@Mike-And-Helen0 Thanks for asking, yes I'm OK, been shopping around boxing week. As for the progress, Airbnb is waiting for Crawford's estimate to do a payout break down.

[Ann489]

@Malalai0  Hope the Holidays brought you some deserved peace and rest.    Would you keep us updated on your claim with Airbnb?  We have heard so many negative and troubling stories in regards to settling these claims, it would be wonderful to hear that yours had a happy ending, so to speak.  😉

[Branka-and-Silvia0]

@Malalai0 

When I see something trashed on the purpose I always wonder WHY would someone put so much effort, time and energy into speeding up and helping entropy? It doesn't need help, decline happens by itself.

Every moron, every kid, every idiot, every animal including bacteria and fungi can ruin everything around them, it doesn't need particular strength or intelligence or any particular capability.

So why they are so happy and proud of their achievement?

I'll never understand these brains.

[Sarah977]

@Branka-and-Silvia0  I truly don't understand either. All I can think is that people who do things like this are deeply disturbed in some way and emotionally stunted at about the age of 2. They may go about their day to day business in a seemingly normal fashion, under the guise of a normal human being, but they get a couple of drinks in them, and/or some drugs, with no adult supervision, and they turn into these monsters with the brain power of a reptile. What is "fun" about destroying things? 

When my oldest daughter was a teenager, she had these 3 male friends who used to come over a lot and hang out at our house. They seemed like nice enough boys and they were polite and friendly to me. One night I went to hang out with a friend who lived a couple blocks away. I came home about midnight and as I was walking towards the back door, they passed me quickly coming out, looking down at the ground, mumbling "goodnight". I went inside to find my daughter sitting on the stairs, her head in her hands, crying. I asked what happened and she said the guys went crazy and had a food fight and she couldn't get them to stop. I hadn't gotten around to putting away the leftovers after dinner and they had thrown bacon grease on the walls, the bathroom was covered in hot chocolate, they had even gone into my bedroom where there was salad all over the floor and the rug. They had broken my daughter's loft bed and ripped the paper lamp off the ceiling in my other daughter's room.

I told my daughter to go to bed and we'd deal with it in the morning. When we got up I asked her for the boys' phone numbers, called them up and told them to high tail it over to clean up their mess. One tried to protest, saying his uncle was taking him for a driving lesson that had been planned for 2 weeks. My response- "I'd really prefer not to have to talk to your parents about this". He said he'd be over in 10 minutes.

When the boys arrived, I gave them cleaning supplies, hammer and nails to fix the broken bed, and said they'd have to take up a collection to pay for the broken light fixture. They got busy and while they didn't do a very good job, they did make the effort, I could tell. Afterwards I sat them down, asked if they'd been drunk or taken some weird drugs. They said no, they just got in kind of a crazy mood and one thing led to another. They apologized, promised it would never happen again, and actually thanked me for making them come back and clean up, saying they fully assumed I'd just ban them from ever coming over again.

[Branka-and-Silvia0]

@Sarah977  ok, this explains a lot.... crazy mood ha? I always wondered is it done of jealousy or they are angry if someone has something they wish but don't have.... ? But no, not even that ....  they just turned off their brains

Jesus! Idiots.

I am so glad you make them clean up the mess  :)))

[Deborah660]

Thank you for sharing this. It has opened my eyes to the worst than can happen and I am now reviewing party hosting policies. What happened to you was criminal and I hope the vandals will be fully prosecuted.

[Robin4]

@Malalai0 

Malalai, l have been asked on another site to answer a question relating to Airbnb policy and party bookings. Before I formulate my answer, can I have your permission to reproduce a couple of the photos of the damage done to your property to illustrate the traps that hosts can find themselves in if they get involved with a party booking? 

I will fully understand if you would prefer your photos not to used in a discussion you are not involved with ....but it would help me get my point across in a rather graphic fashion!

Cheers.......Rob

[Malalai0]

@Robin4 Yes you can use my photos, no worries.

[Robin4]

@Malalai0 

Thanks possum, here was my response to that question....

https://www.quora.com/Is-it-against-Airbnb-terms-and-conditions-for-renters-to-throw-bachelor-or-bac...

Malalai, my hope is that by illustrating what can happen will perhaps divert a few of these party scenarios away from Airbnb. 

I didn't specifically want to implicate you but, I did want to graphically show what can happen.

Thanks for your help!

Cheers.......Rob

[Inna22]

@Robin4 I have to completely disagree with your quora post. Bachelor/bachelorette parties are my core business. They always tell me that this is what they are doing. They travel together as a group and make a reservation for several days. They are always respectful, clean up or request to pay for extra cleaning upfront. They never sneak other people in. They do not want problems. This is one in a lifetime event and they want it to go right. There are usually older adults with them (moms, aunts). I would imagine there is some subset somewhere that is a local booking for one night but I have never encountered them. All of my "bad" party reservations are for a place to go after a club or for big birthdays. If I could pick one type of reservation I love most, it is my long weekend bachelor/bachelorette party groups.