Airbnb not honouring host guarantee

[Elias40]

Please anyone with experience of getting rejected after being more then cooperative with Airbnb regarding a claim please help!

I have recently had an issue with a claim regarding a $1500 arm chair that a guest destroyed and was put under the ringer by an Airbnb trust and safety team member. After Numerous emails and explanations and documentation they are still giving me an extremely hard time getting compensated for the damage that a guest had caused. I have all the proof in the world: pictures, videos, receipts, letters, and even a statement from my property manager. When I gave them another boat load of evidence and explanations and I asked whether or not they were giving the guest who destroyed my furniture a hard time as well they gave me this response:

It is Gabriela again, from Trust and Safety team at Airbnb.

Thank you for your patience and cooperation.

After carefully reviewing the documentation and communication from both parties, we are unfortunately unable to process your security deposit request for this reservation.

Since we have not received the information requested in my last two emails sent, we were unable to establish that the damage reported was not pre-existing before Michael's check in.

We do our best to support hosts if damages occur, and we are mindful this may not be the outcome you were hoping for. This decision was made after careful review and in alignment with our Terms and Conditions. That said, we take all reports of damage seriously and will follow up appropriately with Michael.

You are free to pursue reimbursement from your guest through alternate means, however, please note that we are unable to mediate further in relation to this case.

Please know we’ll be here to support you in the future if anything else arises. Feel free to reply directly to this message if you have additional questions.

All the best,

Gabriela

I am experienced host and have been using Airbnb for years and do full time hosting for numerous properties. I am very surprised that I have to write this and even post this. The host guarantee should be what it is, “A Host Guarrantee”! Especially after you give them all the evidence they need. The crazy thing is that the guest even admitted to the damage. It’s the Airbnb representative that doesn’t understand the difference between a couch and an arm chair. This rep got confused because there was a previous issue with a different guest regarding a different piece of furniture that looked similar (which I had dealt with outside of Airbnb) and was confused whether or not it was the same piece of furniture. after explaining the difference between an armchair and a couch they still didn’t understand and gave me a rejection message. 

Dear Airbnb, if you are giving host guarantees for furniture please train your employees to understand the difference between an arm chair and a sofa/couch. Understanding this difference should be part of the working for Airbnb quiz. 

If anyone can help or issue some advice then it would be helpful.

[Alice-and-Jeff0]

@Elias40 - there are many, many posts on the Community forums of hosts not being compensated for damages.  Additionally, there are a few where hosts have discussed how Airbnb supported them.  You can probably search for them if you'd like to read more. 

There is a difference between a "security deposit" and "host guarantee" so it's not clear which one you were attempting to utilize from this thread.   

https://www.airbnb.com/guarantee

https://www.airbnb.com/help/article/140/how-does-airbnb-handle-security-deposits

Since you have a substantial claim, you could utilize your own homeowner's insurance to get reimbursed.  Perhaps you could even get the deductable from the guest.  

Sorry this has happened to you - apparently more than once.  In almost 3 years, we've need to make no such claim so we feel very foruntate to not have the kind of guests who ruin things. 

[Jeff158]

Hi @Elias40

Airbnb will only payout the secondhand value at the time the damage occured, chair cost $1500 5yrs ago, maybe its now only worth $300 or so. Much better to claim on your own insurance for the full amount as @Alice-and-Jeff0 mentioned.

[Randall88]

A very similar thing happened to me. Guests were extremely dirty and negligent and ended up damaging several items in the house, from a black-out blind to an orthopaedic cushion. Because we were away from home we only realised of the damages when we came back. Immediately we reported them to Airbnb carefully documenting our claims with proof of the damages. We received an email saying that they would look into it, but next day all I got was an email saying they wouldn't cover anything because I had not made the report within the 14 days of the guest checking out. It was the 15th day, so 1 day late. 

Yes, technically we were late, but there was no possible way we could have done it quicker than that because we were abroad. Having our claim rejected on that basis alone feels like a sleazy way to evade honouring the host guarantee that they keep tooting to elicit trust from hosts. Although the email said I could contact them further if I thought the decision was not the best, they just ignored my multiple e-mails after. Extremely unprofessional. 

[Brian2036]

@Elias40 

I don’t understand why Airbnb cannot or will not put a real security deposit on guests’ credit cards as many hotels do. If there are no damages then the charge is not processed.

 I suppose they are afraid that some hosts would abuse this, and some probably would, but it would soon become evident and then the guests could be reimbursed and the guilty hosts removed from the website.

I wish you luck with your claim and thank you for sharing this incident with the rest of us.

[Sarah977]

@Randall88  While I agree that Airbnb doesn't make things easy for hosts, 14 days seems like a fair amount of time in which to file a claim. If you are going to be away, it is prudent to have a temporary co-host who could have checked the premises after the guests checked out, and reported the state it was left in to you.

14 days also coincides with the review period, and it would be foolish for a host to leave a review for a guest without knowing how the guests left the place.

[Randall88]

@Sarah977 What you say makes sense and we did have somebody check the house before our arrival, however not all damages are evident until you actually use things or unless you live here. For example, the guests damaged a kitchen drawer but the person didn’t notice because she didn’t open and close every single drawer in the kitchen. They also left an office chair cushion out in the terrace so it got wet; unless you were looking for it, you would have never known it was there. 
Although 14 days does seem reasonable, preserving trust in the community and in Airbnb as a platform seems more important than meeting a deadline for ONE day. The host guarantee seems to be a marketing ploy and a bit of a scam because  it only covers damages while they hold the guests’ deposits; once they have returned it (which coincides with the 14 day mark) they don’t cover anything. 
Finally, simply closing the case and not replying to emails seems unprofessional and not the type of behavior you would expect from a company this size.