I turned my home into an Airbnb 3 years ago. I live in the home and have hosted primarily travel nurses and medical professionals during the pandemic. I have been a Superhost every quarter, My business thrived and became my only source of income.
On March 25th, on day 2 of my young guests stay, my guest committed suicide by a single gunshot to her head. Another guest was home at the time, awoken by the police banging on her bedroom door after a family member called 911 to check on the deceased guest. It was an extremely traumatic experience for my guest and for me when I returned to my home surrounded by 7 police cars investigating the “ crime scene”
Hours passed before I was told that my 1st guest had shot herself, I was escorted into the Primary suite that she killed herself to be shown the blood soaked bed and the bullet holes in the headboard and the wall, told by the officer in charge that it was my sole responsibility to hire a Biohazard cleaning company to remove and destroy my property that had been contaminated by blood and body parts, It was horrific.
I called Airbnb to report that my guest had died and asked for a claim number for the Biohazard company ( estimated to start at $2500 to come out to my home and the bill could be 15K to 25K) who would bill Airbnb. I was assured that Airbnb would reimburse me for any and all costs I would incur from the suicide damage to my property and to rest assure, they would be there with me to navigate thru this. I was told to submit my hotel receipts up to $250 a night and they would move my 2nd guest to another Airbnb. Then the real nightmare began.
I explained that I did not have 25,000 dollars to pay the cleaners, all I needed was a claim number to give them to bill Airbnb. That was impossible, I would need to pay for the service and would be reimbursed. Luckily I found another company to remove all of the contaminated items and incinerate them for $2500. I submitted the invoice but have not received reimbursement for the claim( it’s been 30 days and counting).
I was told to go to the resolution center and request money from the deceased guest before the host guarantee would be initiated. Airbnb then suspended my 3 listings for the 3 bedrooms I rent out and no one can tell me why this happened. The listings were supposed to be snoozed until I had my home damages repaired and I felt ready to rent out the rooms. I have not received any reimbursement for my losses, I have had no income for the past 30 days and no communication as to when anything will be resolved.
I had been made an offer of $7000 for damages, I accepted it and signed the documents required, was told to wait 5to 7 days for the claim to be processed, and it has not been processed. It does not appear as an upcoming payout. That was 20 days ago. I have written and called numerous times to no avail. The only answer I have gotten to explain what is causing the claim to be delayed is a technical glitch is the problem and to be patient. I am so frustrated to have had no contact with a supervisor or department head. It’s ridiculous,
