I have been working with Airbnb for several days on my claim for a damage and theft incident that occurred at my new Airbnb listing. The incident resulted from a guest braking into two locked cabinet doors, breaking the locks, damaging the door frames and stealing several items from my house. I immediately called Airbnb once I found that this had happened, I was then directed not to call the Police by the case manager and was asked to file a claim reimbursement with the guest which I did. Guest denied my claim, then gave my listing a bad review (in retaliation of my claim), sent me a response that she only took one of the several items that I listed and then asked to negotiate the resolution outside of Airbnb. I asked Airbnb to return my security deposit. I sent them photos of the damage and a list of the items with cost estimates to Airbnb. Airbnb asked for more photos, receipts of the original items, a floor plan of house to indicate which cabinets were damaged (why would that matter??) and a police report which the local police has no interest in producing (even though I was told not to call Police !). I also asked Airbnb to remove the bad review which they have refused because they say it has not violated their policies even though it is clear that her review was done in retaliation of my claim. Now my new listing has a poor rating.
My question, should I negotiate with guest outside of the Airbnb process or should I work through Airbnb (which I now have no confidence in). Please advise.
