Why is it taking so long to get reimbursed for guests damages to the property?

[Nancy405]

How long does it typically take to get reimbursed for guests damages to the property?

[Anonymous]

@Nancy405  Anywhere from a week to never, with the typical disappointing settlement coming somewhere around 6 weeks. If your business model assumes that reimbursement is forthcoming, it might be time to make some adjustments to the model.

[Nancy405]

What do you mean disappointing? I thought Airbnb would reimburse the host for the cost of damages done by the guests as long as there was appropriate documentation?

[Huma0]

@Nancy405 

Sadly, I believe that is not always the case. Do a search on this forum and you will find plenty of examples of cases where hosts were not reimbursed despite providing 'appropriate' documentation, whatever that means (seems to vary according to whichever random person is dealing with your case).

My personal experience of it has been fine, but then I've only ever once tried to claim for damages in my years of hosting, so maybe that worked in my favour. Judging from what I've read here on the CC, it's a bit of a lottery. So, it's best to have your own insurance to cover any major damages and work in a little contingency fund into your nightly rate to account for general wear and tear and the smaller damages that seem to inevitably occur.

I'm not saying it's fair, but that's kind not how it is. I hope in your current case you get reimbursed soon. It could happen. I'm just saying don't rely on it.

[Nanxing0]

@Nancy405 Problem is your standard of "appropriate" is different from Airbnb's standard. I give you a good example. A guest slept on my white beddings without removing his/her makeups and caused my sheets to be totally stained with the makeups, which I specifically talked about in the house rules that do not color or stain our sheets. I filed a complaint to reimburse the cost of the sheets, and uploaded the photos of these colored sheets. Then Airbnb asked me if I have tried to clean them I said I did contact a professional cleaning company and received a quote that's almost the cost of replacement, plus results cannot be guaranteed. So I figured replacement was the best bet. I tried to launder them but the stains remain on after the wash. Then they asked me to upload photos after the attempted laundry... I said the cleaning crews already trashed them since the stains cannot be removed and they are not usable. Finally they decided to pay me I guess since it's not a big amoung (~30 something), but I can certainly see if another representative has the tendency to decline a similar request because they might think there's not enough evidence.

[Anonymous]

@Nancy405  I say "disappointing" because even if your damage claim is successful - and it might not be - the amount Airbnb chooses to reimburse probably won't be the full cost. For example, if you have to replace something, you won't get the full retail value of the new item but rather whatever an adjustor deems to be the depreciated value of the old one. That is, if you get anything at all.

Bottom line is, that whole "Aircover" thing is no substitute for insurance. It's just a marketing ploy to convince regular people that it's totally safe to rent their homes to strangers from the internet. They will deliver you bookings, but if something goes wrong you're totally on your own.