So we have our home set with a $100 security deposit. I have just learned that having a security deposit means absolutely nothing. Apparently Airbnb doesn't even hold the security deposit from the guest. If there is damage, they don't automatically give you your security deposit that you have set.
We had a guest leave their dogs unsupervised and tied up to trees in our beautifully landscaped yard. They completely destroyed huge portions of the yard. They dug giant holes, destroyed the weed barrier, destroyed plants and more. It's awful.
Airbnb said they won't pay me back the security deposit (that is less than the damage) because the host guarantee doesn't cover pets.
So my questions....what is the point of having a security deposit if you can't claim it when damage occurs?
What is the point of accepting pets if the "host guarantee" doesn't cover damage that occurs by those pets? To us, pets pose the greatest risk to cause damage. Is there a way around it? We though about actually charging a pet deposit and then refunding it but that is a lot of rigamarole. We have our pet fee set at $20 per night but that only covers the extra cleaning that is needed after pets and not the damage that could possibly occur.
We also have a strict pet policy but people don't always abide by it, some people don't even notify us they are traveling with pets.
I'm at a loss. If we do not allow dogs, we feel we will lost 50% of our bookings. We want some way to protect ourselves from damage that can occur. How do we do that?