Charge of Security Deposit

[Ben175]

Hello, 

I am a new user to Airbnb and I was wondering how the security deposit charge works. 

Having read this forum and others online, there seems to be contradictory messages. When booking, does Airbnb take the security deposit from my card, as a charge, and hold this until after I've checked out, and then transfer the money back to me?

Or, alternatively, do Airbnb put a hold on this money, and following any successfu claim, take the amount of the claim? Meaning no money is actually taken from my card.

Thanks for your help!

[Chris197]

This is just misinformed. I am a superhost of 3 years (in Australia). I've had on avg 1 claim a year on avg around $2k damage each time. Through the resolution centre you make your claim against a guest and support it with any relevant photos replacement pricing and receipts as you would expect and it gets processed usually within 4 weeks. In full. Regardless what your security deposit is set at (mine is currently only $150). 

It is true that this may limit how much airbnb can claim from the guest rather than their insurance, but it doesn't limit what the host recieves back in any way. 

Hope that clears it up for any concerned prospective hosts. 

Cheers

[Veronica466]

i agree!  i made a claim and did not even get an automated answer... some weird guests ruined 4 new mattresses with horrible stains...  damages should be charged on their credit cards!!  i am very careful with possible candidates.  

there are other companies who support the landlors much better (home away, etc)

[Yinghui0]

I put a message for security deposit $300, but I don't know how can I receive it and how can I return it to guests.

[David126]

@Yinghui0

You do not receive it so nothing to return.

[Phil-And-Phyllis0]

New host here, been on about 2 months.  Just had my first issue with recovering a security deposit, which I thought was being held by Airbnb.  As previous hosts have stated, Airbnb does not hold a security deposit at all, and the option to put a security deposit on your listing does nothing except fool the host into thinking they can recover damages from the Airbnb guest easily.  Airbnb requires the host to contact the guest who trashed thier place after they have left and try to recover the non-existent security deposit from them directly.  Of course, that doesn't work.  I now have a case pending in which I am trying to recover $150 security deposit from a guest thru Airbnb.  I was assigned a "case manager" and now have to prove the damages to my house after the fact. NOT GOOD BUSINESS and UNFAIR TO HOSTS!!!

[Cynthia206]

How did this case turn out for you?

[Amy-Kimberly0]

I also had no idea that the security deposit is a joke. I'm beginning to think AirBnb is really unfair to owners. Without us and our properties there would be no site. Did someone mention another site that actually puts a hold on the renter's credit card and releases it only after no claims have been made for damages? Please share! 

[Sam132]

I wouuld like to share what we started doing that improved the security for our property and weeding out the potential bad guests and house rules violators. We have been renting our privately owned condominiums through Airbnb and other sites. Airbnb has been our favorite and gave us the feeling that they had our back covered until recently. In addition to positive communication and suggestions to Airbnb, we started some of our own practices.

Recently we started a full registration of our guests as part of the check in. The result is reducing the miss understandings about the house rules and alerting violators in advance. Also, it was appreciated by our good guest knowing that we screen everyone to maintain quality and secure environment shared by everyone. 

We make sure and let the guests know up front that only the registered guests are allowed in the proprty and the common areas. We  highlight the major violations of the house rules and provide means for good communication through out their stay. This helped us in catching any intentional ot non intential of over booking number of guests. Before this, we had one reservation for two and six were staying in the condominium plus over ten people on guests were holding a loud party at our community pool.

Regardless, I think we need to do our own thing to help us make hosting a success and complement what Airbnb is doing or not doing.

I hope this helps everyone. Please share your thoughts. I still can learn and benefit.

Thanks. 

[Carol-S-AIRBNB-USA---0]

Thank you! As a new host this advice is appreciated! By full registration are you referring to the option on Airbnb site?!!

[Carmen627]

My blood is boiling after reading this. Basically there’s no way that Airbnb can force a guest to pay up if they damage something? 

I had a person trash my place, being 9 people in (said 6 guests) and I feel helpless. Why isn’t this money in escrow like mentioned above ?

[Matthew285]

@Carmen627 the reason Airbnb does not pre-charge the guest and hold the money is simple:

Airbnb hosts would receive far fewer bookings overall if Airbnb charged and held the entire security deposit up front.

As an example, your listing has a $500 security deposit. Even though your guest would eventually get that back, do you think guests would more likely or less likely to book with you knowing they would have an extra $500 of their money tied up by Airbnb for an indeterminate amount of time?

(Especially when compared to hotels that do not charge a security deposit.)

Have you already sent a request for the damages?

[Carmen627]

@Matthew285

I just raised the security deposit from $300 to $500 before I actually knew how it worked. Which is kinda embarrassing because I’ve been on since earlier this year. I use Airbnb as secondary..most of my bookings for my area and what I have is thru HA. 

HA has it setup where the security deposit is including in the guests price. Its either released after a certain period of time (7days) or I can release or claim it if there’s damage.

i do agree with you somewhat. Yea most people will see $500 and maybe be hesitant. But don’t you think that responsible families, groups etc would know that since they’re gonna take care of the place, that money won’t be touched? 

I havent sent a request. Idk what to do honestly. Half of me wants to move on, the other half is still really pissed about it. 

[Carmen627]

@Matthew285

i appreciate the feedback. For rentals that are typical in my area for summer..300-500 security deposit is very common. Pretty much standard.  And that money is coming out for the guest. Like I said, most of my bookings come thru HA. I seem to fill in the gaps so to speak with Airbnb. 

Maybe overall, the way Airbnb is setup it’s better the way that it is. People who share their house or rent a room for example. I get that. 

I called and suggested that guests shiuld start out paying the security deposit and after they earn a certain amount of good reviews or feedback..they would then be ‘trusted’ and not have that money come out.

But that comes back to me being new and having instant booking. I need to tighten up my standards as to who can instant book and who has to contact me first. So this way I can screen people better. That part is on me..I’m still learning. I want to trust people and make my place easy to book and rent. I’ve just stepped on a couple landmines already and it’s not fun. 

[Sam132]

Hello Carmen,

You are one of a lot of us who have suffered from the lack of collecting upfront security deposit by Airbnb.  My suggestion is to split the security deposit into two. A small upfront refundable deposit ( $100.00 USD) collected as part of the reservation with a security deposit of the host's choice should there be a valid claim. 

The premises, based on our experience, is that careless people tend to be more careful when they know they have a risk of loosing even a $1 USD. 

We have six privately owned condominiums in the same building listed. We are instituting the following to ensure that the guests are informed up front and are given the chance to understand what it takes for them to make the best out of their stay.

- We now have check in registration during which we go over the house rules and they list the names of their party with contact information.

- Every registered guest receives a wrist band. Only guests with wrist bands can access the clubhouse, pool, and roof top terrace. This increases the security and safety.

- By registering, we reduced the chance for having more people than authorized in the condominiums.

- We now charge for parking and collect a deposit for the garage remote control. No more lost or unreturned controls and only guest cars are parked in the linited space.

- We make sure we do extra stuff for our good guests. We invite them to join us for meals or a drink and socialize. We made lots of friends and loyal guests. We are seeing an increase in repeat bookings.

- We check on our guests frequently and respond to their calls very quickly and attend to any issue or complaint as soon as possible.

We take care of our properties and do our best to host our guests. 

We believe that Airbnb started on the right footings. It catered to a special need for travelers. However, it is loosing its personable touch and is putting more weight on unreasonable ratings.

We welcome suggestions that give the host more control of earning more business for the quality service they provide. 

[Shendra2]

Hi ALL

Recently i bought a small beachfront condo and started renting it out here. I do monthly rent only. My question is about security deposit. When I rented a condominium a couple years ago, the landlord charged me extra one full month rent as my security deposit. My landlord kept the money. When my rent expired, and nothing damaged in his condominium, he returned my security deposit minus cleaning. My question is can or should I charge extra one full month rent to Guests who's renting our condo when they do reservation? I just do not want to scare away my Guests for knowing that I am gonna charge him/her another one full month of rent for security deposit but I also want to have assurance that my Guests would be responsible for any damages they caused during their stay in my condo. 

Please advice.

Thanks much!