Resolution Center Experience

[Lisa990]

I had a good experience with the Resolution Center. Shortly after I signed up to be a host, I realized that I could put a security deposit hold on booking guest’s credit cards.  All my guests, up to date,  have been outstanding but a recent experience was not. What happened was there were damages to some decorative pillows (blood stains). I opened a case in the Resolution Center and included pictures of the damages as well as a link to items that had actually SOLD on eBay that were similar. Using the price that similar items had sold for on auction along with factoring in age, I came up with an amount that was what I would call “fair market value”. In submitting my claim, I believe that the offending guest was reached and given the information that I had submitted in my Resolution Center claim. After a few days, I didn’t hear from any one. I visited my Resolution Center case and saw that there is another “level” that you can click on to get AirBnB involved. (I believe and agree with AirBnB, that people should try to resolve matters at the lowest level first). Since it was past 72 hours, it was time to take it to them. Results were expedited. it was handled by the Trust and Safety team. This was their response less than 5 hours later:

Thanks for reaching out, and I'm sorry it had to be under these circumstances. Situations like these are rare, and I hope you'll go on to have many more positive hosting experiences in the future.

Since this is a relatively low amount and you haven't claimed other damages recently, I can expedite this request. I've processed a payout of $20.00USD for the damages that happened during reservation HMKFFJKNNQ with your guest

I've discussed the issue with your guest so you shouldn't need to communicate with them further about this issue. Thank you for being a great host. If you have any additional concerns, just reply to this email.

Best,

www.airbnb.com/help

Even though it would cost at least $120 to replace my damaged pillows with new pillows, what helped?  I had to accept that my pillows were more than a few years old and weren’t worth as much as I thought. 

[Letti0]

@Lisa990  AirBnB will always give you depreciated value, not replacement value. You should have submitted costs for new replacements and they would have depreciated that cost. You gave them depreciated already numbers, so they depreciated those. 

[Lisa990]

They are giving the amount I requested. I understand and appreciate what you are saying but in this case it is not an issue. 

[Kati18]

@Lisa990 As well, even though you have listed an amount for a security deposit this is not charged to the guest when they book or put through as a hold on their credit card.  You can never assume that just because you have an amount listed as a security deposit that you are covered up to that amount if anything happens.

[Lisa990]

It just means they have a credit card with at least my security deposit amount as their credit limit.

[Kati18]

@Lisa990  No, that's not true either.  They could have a maxed out credit card and Airbnb would have no idea.  They do not run a test or anything like that to confirm there is an available amount left.  From the time the guest books to when they actually arrive they could also have cancelled the card on file and Airbnb would not know either.  There is no guarantee with a security deposit and it should not be depended on.

[Lisa990]

That could be true. Nevertheless my experience with the Resolution Center was very good.