Claims

[James744]

I had a guest check in on july 3 and check out on July 5. I came in with my house keeper only to find that the guest didn't leave us the KEY in the lock box. She had stolen/miss placed it. We  find a total mess from a party with damages almost at $1000. I documented everything with photos. I had a 4 hour window to get it right for the next guest that was to check in. I had 12 bags of trash to get rid of from this party(on a sunday following a holiday). I called Airbnb and waited on the phone for 30 mins with NO ANSWER!!!. Then I only had 3.5 hours till the next guest. I got the house ready. Sent the guest apologies for the rug damage etc. Then I got home and submitted the claim. The guest denied the claim. Then I get an email saying since I let the new person check in they are going to deny my claim! I have a 5 star review and have over 50 reviews and am a plus member. This is no acceptable. I called Airbnb for help and they didn't help me and are now blaming me for letting the new person check in.  ANY ADVICE?

[Helen3]

Hello @James744 

I am so sorry to hear about these awful guests. Did your CCTV pick up signs of additional guests coming into the property or was it just the guests who were staying who partied. It must be awful to find your property in this state.

If you couldn't get through by phone, why didn't you notify Airbnb online or via their social media,  so you could lodge was claimed before your next guest checked in? This would have prevented this issue with you not being able to submit a claim from occurring.

As you know with any insurance claim you have to meet their T&Cs in order to be able to submit a claim and sadly in this case you did not.

During Covid especially it's always a good idea to leave a day in-between guests to ensure you have time to do the special cleaning needed and as a buffer in case of any issues with guests.

In your situation as you aren't able to make a claim via Airbnb you could make a claim on your home insurance for STRs.

Best of luck.

[Deborah1040]

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