@Nina1093
Nina, trying to claim guest damage or poor behavior from Airbnb is not impossible.....but it is the next thing to it! Ever since I have been active here, complaints like yours are a weekly, sometimes daily, occurrence. The decision makers within Airbnb are acutely aware of the situation, they have been continually told now for 5 years, and the strategy they have adopted is an actuarial one. They will honour just enough claims to prevent a legal challenge to their Host Protection Scheme and Security Deposit structure under their TOS, but the Resolution centre has been instructed to find a way to dishonor hosts claims with ludicrous explanations like....."Although you submitted verifiable photos promptly your damage claim did not fit with required claim criteria and we therefore cannot accept it"! You are simply banging your head against a brick wall.
They are not trying to minimise the claim, they are outright rejecting it no matter how much legitimacy is put with it!
These are not unfortunate oversights by the company or lapses in protocol, glitches, they are direct and conscious decisions approved at the highest levels! Support personnel don't get to interpret rules as they go, they have a specific framework they must adhere to......Try to ask for the most basic of help from phone support, they will almost always handball the problem on to a supervisor who is never on hand or available, the premise being that the problem becomes someone elses, not theirs and will disappear.
To host with Airbnb also requires hosts to work within a hosting framework.
1/.....Make sure you are legally entitled to host.
2/....Insure yourself against any damage or liability claims. Don't expect Airbnb to cover you.
3/....Raise you nightly amount by a few dollars to cover minor damage that will happen from time to time.
4/....Try to work out a strategy to help you only accept low risk reservations. Look for the danger triggers.
5/....Take precautions to minimise the risk of damage, Put ornaments where they can't be knocked. Provide low cost easy to replace accessories.
6/....Remember, what you do to address the current guest will have a big influence on your future bookings. You have to assess how much making a 'song and dance' is worth!
7/....Don't rely on a claim through the company against a guest. Good guests do the right thing, bad guests never except responsibility. It's quick and easy to shut-off a payment method and if Airbnb can't get it, you surely are not going to.
8/....Don't expect support from Airbnb, if you get it regard it as a bonus, a win. If you expect it you will probably be disappointed and much further out of pocket.
9/.....Don't review guests who create damage, If you don't antagonise them or give them reason to resent you, even if they have done the wrong thing, they may leave you a good/reasonable review which will show up on your page. You will at least salvage something!
10/....When the review window has closed, message the guest both in the message stream and via sms to their phone with a statement saying how disappointed you were in the guests behaviour. State that damage has been documented, filed and reported and you have requested Airbnb's closure of the guests account as a safeguard to other Airbnb users.
Many hosts say that not reviewing a bad guest is doing the entire community a dis-service and a few years ago that was true but, over the past 2 years Airbnb have become very much more guest centric and a guest can apply to have a review removed for no other reason than....they didn't like it. A bad review is worthless if future hosts can't see it. By reporting them with evidence of damage it is more likely the guest will suffer and not get the opportunity to do the same to another host!
It may not work but, in most instances it does, the guest has nowhere to retreat too and the act of reporting them at least precludes them from Instant booking in the future.
And then Nina, get on with the business of hosting!
All the best for the new year!
Cheers........Rob
