I'm in my 4th year of hosting. Started with airbnb with one property, now got 3 and airbnb only represents 20% of my income. Why? Because they are lying about the coverage of hosts in case of damage. More and more guests know this and abuse the system. More and more hosts realize this and reduce their share of airbnb in favor of alternative marketplaces.
The fact that airbnb is biased favoring the guests is not new to anyone, I guess. But what happened recently is almost unbelievable!
First time guest, an elderly woman from Chicago books. Checks in. I check if all is good, she writes pefect and says she loves the place. No complaint of anything, and the 5 nights stay of her and her family of 8 comes to end. My chek in time is 10, and I have another group coming at 4 pm, so like often, maid needs to work fast. (this property is 2000 sqft, brand new, remodeled and newly furnished last summer, for up to 14 persons, considered as mid-range in Orange County, CA or high end in Southern California, had only 5 stars reviews until this guest).
It's now 10:10, since she has not left the property and she does not pick up her phone, the maid knocks at the door. She says she's not done and closes the door. She lets the maid in only at 11. I join later. It was a mess! Food left on the table , dishes unwashed, dirt everywhere, furniture displaced all over, living room armchairs found in the dining room, patio furniture inside the house, pillows and then a series of damages : Patio table (about $600 value) a blind ($100 value) and a sofa bed cover with a huge stain smelling pee (value $150).
Also my house rules explicitly covers the points about late check out, displaced furniture and every point of my claim.
I write to her the same day with all the pictures and claim $900 (damage + extra cleaning + my time would add up more). She denies everything except the unwashed dishes and accepts to pay $50, but goes online and writes the nastiest review I ever had and the only one star review i got in 4 years hosting.
I have airbnb involved. Everything was already super detailed documented with a link to Google Photos and high resolution pictures. Table damage being in zoom in the middle of the pic in a prominent way, the broken blind is in a broken position with one side up the other side down, again prominent view, etc...
Joe , the "specialist" from Airbnb Distrust And Unsafety department writes back to me and says this:
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Hi Leplubo,
Thank you for reaching out to us. My name is Joe, and I'm a Trust and Safetyspecialist. I'll be your point of contact throughout the processing of this case.
You are requesting $900 for the following Items:
1. Late checkout.
2. Unwashed dishes.
3. Extra work to reset the furniture.
4. Kitchen knife.
5. Broken blinds.
6. Patio Table.
7. Toothbrush holder.
8. Sofa Bed cover.
So far, you have provided us with some photo of the Items and web link to the replacement items.
In order to ensure swift payment, we need more from you:
Please know that our team work with the physical damage only. Some of your submitted photo doesn't seem to be damaged for the following items below:
(No proof of damage or loss)
4. Kitchen knife.
5. Broken blinds.
6. Patio Table.
We ask that you provide the following for 4-6:
- Detailed photo of each item damaged by your guest.
Additionally, please provide at least one of the following for "the blinds" and "Patio Table" that you are requesting for reimbursement:
5. Broken blinds:
- Website showing the average cost of service to repair or replace the item.
- A professional's invoice with repair costs and an incident report describing how the issue arose and why the guest is liable.
6. Patio Table:
- A professional's invoice with repair costs and an incident report describing how the issue arose and why the guest is liable.
Please submit the requested documentation by 21 April 2019. If you need more time to gather it, please communicate how much time you think you might need.
Should you have any questions or concerns, just reply to this message.
Best,
Joe
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As you may have noticed:
1) Only physcial damage matters. Airbnb explicitly says they don't care if a guest leaves human feces on your beautiful hardwood floor, as long as it can be cleaned. Or of they smoke in your gorgeous non smoking home. Oh the guest checks out late? Host's problem, airbnb does not care.
2) The pictures are absolutely clear (I am a photographer). And later I called airbnb and the rep agreed pics were obvious. Yet, Joe wrote "your submitted photo doesn't seem to be damaged". He could have well written "I am blind" it would be the same.
3) Where it becomes absolutely unbelievable is when he writes this "A professional's invoice with repair costs and an incident report describing how the issue arose and why the guest is liable." They want someone with crystal ball to write down how the guest destroyed my table!!!! Or how they destroyed my blinds?
I was mad... I replied to Joe that he was obviously looking for a pretext to deny my request, or maybe he needs glasses. He replied they fund me $19 (not a joke) and closed the file. He and other reps I called refused to have a manager involved stating that the Distrust and Unsafety specialist at airbnb has final words on these claims.
Yes Airbnb sold their 4 year old host, who had brought hundreds of thousands of $ or gross revneu , with a 4.9* average rating from 80 or more guests to a first time guest who broke most of the house rules and denied everything.
Do you really think this business is fair? Or sustainable?
I had my first bad experience only after one year of hosting but there are now more and more frequent.
I have reduced my share of airbnb from 100% to 20% and count days to be able to delist. I don't have any of these issues on alternative platforms who respect the host and thanks to the real desposit under the hosts's control, guests behave.
Anyone seeing the same trend I am seeing with things getting unreasonably unfair when there is damge or broken house rules?
