Any advice on requesting money for damages?

[Christopher187]

I've had some pretty irritating situations with airbnb guests over the past couple years, but we've finally had some guests leave things so lousy that I'm inclined to ask them to pay damages.  It isn't a jaw dropping story, but it did take 9.5 man hours to cleanup after them.  I budget for a maximum of 4 hours.

Every single surface has sticky or oily something or other on it.  Every table, desk, dresser, side table, hall table, vanity, etc... has sticky stuff, like a bunch of kids were let loose to have a popsicle war.  Both the dresser and the vanity, we had to clean the top of each drawer as stuff had been allowed to drip down the front.  Sticky stuff on the floors.  Food explosion in the microwave.

Our wood top vanity, which has a sign next to it asking to please keep it dry, was left with a lake of water and various soap, shampoo, and other drizzles of things that accumulated so high it started running down the wall.  The top has now permanently swelled in some areas and has bottle ring marks in others.  There are ring marks of something clear and unremovable which I'd guess might be clear nail polish.

Sheets were luckily already red, but the white mattress cover underneath now has blood stains.

Our toiletries bin was decimated by two people staying for 5 nights, some things opened and not used, even 3-4 toothbrushes were used.

Red and white stains on the couch.

As I said, nearly 10 hours to clean a bedroom, bathroom, and hall/foyer area, and we still have damaged items.  And today's guests had to push back their arrival time because it took us so long, so we're looking at a possible negative review because of that.

So, what's the best most tactical way of asking the guest to pay damages without suffering a nasty review?  How much time do I have?

[Marzena4]

Before the next guest's arrival, @Christopher187? Not much...

Word the request nicely, but asking for money is exactly what it is. ->  "Unfortunately, your level of enjoyment contributed to the extra time and effort I had to spend cleaning the place after your stay"

[Rebecca181]

@Christopher187 I am very sorry to hear this happened to you. If it were me, I'd be using the resolution center so as to message the guests directly with your request that they pay for damages, and I'd also be calling Airbnb to tell them what happened, and I would be taking lots of photos and saving receipts because Airbnb will need these if they do decide to refund you for damages.

Why I say this: I had something similar happen when I first started hosting, and I am surprised I kept going (it was that bad). One of the reasons I decided to keep hosting after my brand new rental was horribly disfigured in the most bizarre ways by a seemingly kindly elderly couple is I had the good fortune of reaching an outstanding Airbnb Customer Service Rep. I sent him photos and although I had called beyond the 48 hour reporting period he offered me financial recompense for some of the ruined items (linens, etc) and I believe Airbnb paid for this and not the guest (they actually tried to find a way to get them out of their system after they saw my photos). 

I remember as a brand new host wondering what kind of review to leave. I decided to be honest and to not fear a negative review. I felt the health of the Airbnb community in part depends on the honesty of those leaving reviews. It seems guests feel free to leave any kind of review they want without fear, and us hosts hesitate, not wanting to have our good track record / reputation sullied by a possible retaliatory review. So I left my review and suggested that the guest was more suited for a 'commercial' environment equipped with professional sanitizing equipment (really, I think they needed a hospital, not a hotel, based on what we found when they checked out, ugh - Thank goodness for bleach). And although I felt a bit nervous, I knew I'd done the right thing.

Of course, I am aware that many hosts report that they have never received payment for damages from Airbnb, even when following all procedures properly. But if it were me, I would still try. Your place was damaged and you deserve compensation for this. It is simply not okay that these guests think they can just walk away from the mess they left you, with no negative consequences. If they leave you an unfairly negative review, I believe Airbnb does remove these at times if they are obviously retaliatory in nature. If not, you can always leave a response. 

Best of luck in your pursue of reimbursement.

[Gillian19]

@Christopher187@Rebecca181 You can almost guarantee a negative review and low ratings if you ask them for additional payment. Airbnb will not remove the review unless it breaches their guidelines. It happened to me. You just have to decide whether the money you might get is worth it for the bad review. Not that there is any guarantee that they won't leave a bad review anyway! 

[Patsy3]

A guest damaged towels at my home with some kind of bleach based product. The way to avoid a bad review is to wait until the review period is over, then go to the resolution centre to ask for money for the damage. You have 60 days after the guest has left to do this. This only works for non security deposit claims. I don't charge a security, so it worked for me. The guest paid up. thanks airbnb!

[Christopher187]

I suppose I'm tired of being sheepish and fearful of asking guests to pay for damage, and at this point I can take a hit or two on reviews.  I also feel like a guest writing a bad review about being charged for damage isn't really going to turn off other guests much, since I'll have 50 good reviews preceeding it.  If the messy guests get frightened off by that bad review then good riddens.

I sent the guest a non angry explanation of everything and then sent them a damage request for $160 with photos.  I wish I'd taken better photos and/or a video though.  When someone leaves a lotion container on a dresser on it's side so it drips down onto all 6 drawers and the floor, there's something about a photo that doesn't quite capture the required cleanup effort.

First time requesting damages for me, we'll see what happens.  I'll report back.

[Jessica-and-Henry0]

@Christopher187

Don't be afraid of a negative review. I think you should be factual in your review and your request for compensation.

[Christopher187]

Well, here is the first reponse from the guest to my damages request:

"I am sorry for making troubles for u. But I think $160 is too much. The cover can be washed and some other dirty issues do not need to change. So can we discuss the additional price?"

I don't entirely understand the 3rd sentence, but she seems to at least recognize the damage and wants to negotiate.

[Kelly149]

@Christopher187 damage always costs more one would want it too. But I'd strongly make the case (on the message thread!!!) that you wish it were less but of course it is what it is, and that since of course you want your next guest to receive a space as clean as always you of course have no choice but to clean up every last thing, and well the cleaner does charge you $30/hour and now you'll also be discounting the inconvenienced new guest for the delayed checkin bc that is only fair, and you're so very sorry that it is so high but you know that first guest really wants to be a good guest and reimburse you for the mess that was left behind because this is the right thing to do and you know that they value the abb community and that they really would have taken better care to clean up after themselves if they'd had more time...... etc etc

Since she's trying to bargain, I'd also say "the $160 is true costs I've already incurred, how much of your mess do you think I need to pay for?"

[Christopher187]

Well now they've asked for photos.  Apparently they could not figure out or see how to navigate to the 12 photos I had already included in the damage request last night.  

I didn't even bother to mention, but this guest has pretty extreme communication problems as well...

[Christopher187]

My guest continues to indicate that they cannot see the photos in the damage request.  I've sent them a direct link to the damage request but I don't know if the link will work from their end.  

Does anyone have experience with this process?  I think it is probably an issue of the guest not knowing how to navigate anything.

[Jessica-and-Henry0]

@Christopher187

If you have the images on your phone, you can just send the images directly via ABB messenger to the guest same as how you'd do it for any other instant messaging app. Personally, I find this is the easiest way to send image files to guests. Good luck and I hope this is resolved in your favor!! 

[Christopher187]

Yeah I suppose I can email them as attachments.  I just thought it better to keep everything within the resolution center.

[David126]

I would get what you can directly from the Guest, normally from what we see here you are very unlikely to get much or anything if you involve AirBnB.

[Christopher187]

Just to follow up:

The guest paid the $160 today, so I never had to involve airbnb.

I think my photos played an important role.  Of course you would need them if you get airbnb involved, but I think having them to show the guest was the thing that got them to pay the damages.  Next time something happens I'll be sure to grab my dslr and external flash - with a directable lighting source you can really show problems much more clearly.

I'll post one more followup on what happens with the guest review.