Airbnb rejected to pay $220,000 in damage for a SHOOTING case under Host Guarantee Program

[George470]

In April, I rented one of my properties on Airbnb to 3 guests. Aparantly, the guests planned a party and invited 55 guests. At around 1 am, the party became violent and two groups started to shoot at each other from inside and outside the house. Our camera footage shows 42 bullets came out of the guns and hit the house!!! I got a call at 3 am from police telling me about the situation and I had to drive to the property because the door was totally shattered. Thankfully, no one was injured!! But it has been a NIGHTMARE with Airbnb back and forth about this claim. 

Long story short, Airbnb sent the case to another firm named Crawford (which is an adjuster company) to write an estimate of damage which is a clear conflict of interest and I flagged this in my first email. Basically, Airbnb pays a company to write a low estimate on the repair which is a fraud!!! I also hired a 5 star general contractor to meet with the adjuster and they agree on the estimate. Crawford asked my contractor to send his estimate which was a detailed estimate with some sub-contractors and came up to $220,000. After several weeks of receiving my contractor estimate and probably 50 phone calls, Crawford asked many questions and sent the final report to Airbnb! After 2.5 months, Airbnb came up with an offer which is ridicolously low and doesn't even cover the painting of the affected areas!! I have cc'ed the CEO of Airbnb on the email and told them about the fraud that is happening at Airbnb. 

If you are a new host, you should know that $1,000,000 "Host Guarantee Program" is a lie by Airbnb to just bring more hosts to sign up. Many homeowner insurances will deny your claim if they know the house is listed for Airbnb. Also, Airbnb will reject your claim when something catastrophic happens. Just know the amount of risks you are taking by listing your properties on Airbnb! 

What Airbnb didn't know is that they picked the wrong battle in this case!! I am finalizing my attorney choice and will hold them accountable! Just wanted to see who had similar experience as a host and if they suggest any other attorney to consider? Any host would like to join the class action lawsuit? So far, I have identified around 100 hosts who have had similar horrible experience with Airbnb Host Guarantee Program. Anyone in the media who would like to cover similar stories, many hosts would like to talk with you! The Airbnb IPO is coming. Good timing for publishing horror stories of hosts for potential investors ... 

[George470]

Hope this doesn’t happen for other hosts

[George470]

Airbnb is sending our case back to Crawford for re-inspection for a fair payment. 

[Sam758]

Reading through the post i realised “ Host gutantee program is a big scam “

we had a very bad guest , she told us she had a cut while shaving her leg and she left blood stains all over the place and we have to replace all bedroom set etc.I reached out to airbnb and they close my case saying we have to report it within 14 days or before next guest arrives , in our case we reached out to them within 1 week and i still dont know why they closed my case and when i asked for reason no one was ready to give any explanation.

[George470]

Many hosts trust “House guarantee program” and list their houses. They can lose their house if something happens because neither Airbnb nor house insurance accept their claim! Once news agencies cover these stories, many hosts pull out and people who considered becoming a host will hold off. That’s how Airbnb goes down! 

Amazon became the most valuable company partially because of its amazing customer service. If Airbnb ignores its stakeholder, it will be vanished very soon! 

[Cormac0]

@George470  et al

on a regular basis, I like to remind hosts that Airbnb is taking circa twenty per cent (20%) of the booking fee, in my opinion, there is no justification for this level of fees.

We...

1. Set up our listings (and try and tick all the convoluted boxes)
2. Provide all the assets (property, fixtures & fittings and equipment etc)
3. Labour and expertise.
4. Insurances and indemnities (this is particularly relevant in this context)
5. Manage the day to day running of the software listing.
6. In the context of these blogs helpful and timely advice for free.
7. Identify bugs in Airbnb’s smelly code (smelly code is a thing btw)

Circa 20% fees for what?

Please feel free to add additional bullet points.

[George470]

@Cormac0 wow! They charge 20% of everything and still deny most of the claims? That's a shame! 

[Branka-and-Silvia0]

@George470  yes, Airbnb charges host fee, currency conversion fee, and guest fee. In total that's 20%.

Host gets around 80% of the amount that the guest pays .... but then the host has to pay taxes, VAT, sojourn tax etc etc...

[George470]

wow! 20% of all the booking is billions of dollars! And they reject the claims that even have police reports!! This time is different :)). They picked the wrong battle! 

[Robin4]

@George470 

George, as a host I am really sorry that this has happened to you....parties are every hosts worst nightmare, and it is one of the most unfortuante aspects of hosting that this sort of thing can happen.

George, the thing that I am struggling with is this claim for $200,000.00. That is a massive repair bill.

Here in Australia we build brand new 4 bedroom ensuite bathroom houses for less than $200,000.00!

You have shown pictures of a few bullet holes....and I have no doubt there were  probably many more!

But George how have these contrcators arrived at a 'repair bill' of $200,000.00!

I say this George because Airbnb are extremely suspicious of claims like this and leave absolutely no stone unturned in verifying that claims like this are in fact genuine.

George this has come about through years and years of hosts claiming...... $2,500 for an outdoor setting that a careless guest damaged the seat covers with spilled liquids and cigarette burns, Fair enough, it might cost $2,500 to replace that outdoor setting. What the host does not say in his claim is he purchased that outdoor setting from the local op shop for $220.00 and he is now claiming $2,500.00 for it! ! 

Airbnb have to sort out the 'wheat from the chaff' and try somehow to work out what is genuine damage, from the hosts repair wish list! 

Most claims to Airbnb are satisfied to some extent, it may not be what the claimant is wanting but it will be what is seen as a compromise on both sides. But the Host Protection scheme is not an insurance policy, you don't pay a premium for it and there is no defined covered risks associated with it!

Unless the property was burnt to the ground and concrete poured into the sewer system I am really strugling to understand where $200,000.00 of 'damage' has taken place, and Airbnb are no doubt thinking the same thing. 

This could be the reason you are getting the run around George!

Cheers.....Rob

[George470]

Hey Rob,

Great questions. There were 42 bullets and I have shown only a few of them. 

I know in Australia the house and labor might be cheaper. Someone in another countries may say I can build a house for $10,000. But, In San Francisco, average single family homes are 1.5 Million dollars. Also, our house is a custom build house and is not like apartment complex that contractors build at large scale. This means all the materials are selected at the best quality. Who would have thought the guests become violent, set aside shooting!!! 

We have bullet in the roof, outside building, inside the building, garage, and even water heater!! The guests also put the garbage full of water on hardwood floor and caused it to buckle, and burned part of the carpets, and had toilet overflow, etc. Also, when the guests were escaping, they hit the guard Rail outside the house. It’s a total mess!! Set aside all the personal property damages that they caused. 

[Robin4]

@George470 

Yeah I understand you must have suffered a large amount of damage George, but I am trying to work out why you are as you say being left high and dry here by Airbnb. I have spent a bit of time being associated with Airbnb support and I do know the desire is not to simply dismiss these cases.

The only thing I can come up with is simply the size of the claim! Airbnb are saying it cannot be genuine and are not accepting it on face value.

You say in Australia things may be cheaper than the US, I am afraid it is the other way around George. Because of our wages structure here Australia is one of the most expensive housing places in the world. In Sydney from the Sydney Harbour through the entire northern beaches to the Hawkesbury river there is not a property or an apartment for less than $1M. We know all about building costs here, doesn't take much of a home to tip $1m!

I don't know what you can do here George because, a $50,000 repair bill from a party is outrageous, but possible! It is the sort of thing which makes the media, the papers ......"Look what happens in Airbnb properties"!

But a $200,000 party repair bill is possibly not going to get the same amount of sympathy and coverage, because people will simply go ...."$200,000.00, you have to be kiddin, something a bit fishy there"!  

George, it just seems too extreme and I can understand why Airbnb are not wanting to be involved. $200,000.00 damage to a property invariably involves the fire department and emergency services, not just the Police.

Cheers......Rob

[Ute42]

.

Hi @Robin4 ,

while I'm struggling like You are with this claim for $220.000 caused by bullets, I think Your general opinion on this 1 Million USD Host guarantee is way too positive. I don't know if You have ever taken the time to fully read the terms and conditions of this guarantee, I just want to bring 2 stipulations of said guarantee to Your attention:

No. 1

• VI. Acknowledgments and Agreements by the Host
  
  You acknowledge and agree that:
  
  Airbnb provides Hosts with the Airbnb Host Guarantee benefits described herein solely for the purpose of promoting use of the Airbnb Platform by building customer loyalty and strengthening customer confidence as to use of the Airbnb Platform.

In other words: The purpose of the host guarantee is not to cover hosts damages, the only purpose is to strengthen hosts confidence when accepting bookings. Or, an analogy: "The purpose of a lifeguard team is not to save peoples lifes, the purpose of the lifeguard team ist to provide vacationers with confidence when stepping into the water".

No. 2

• IX. Disclaimers and Limitations of Liability
  
  …..... in no event will Airbnb’s aggregate liability arising out of or in connection with (a) these Host Guarantee Terms …..... exceed the amounts paid by Airbnb to you in the twelve (12) month period prior to the event giving rise to the liability, or one hundred dollars ($100), if no such payments have been made, as applicable

In other words: If Your last years airbnb revenue was $5000, the maximum this 1 Millio USD host guarantee will pay You is $5000. The only way You can get $1M is, if You earned $1M through airbnb in the course of the last 12 months.

And if you had no airbnb-bookings the last 12 months, the max amount You can get is $100. In other words: If a new host starts renting through airbnb and his first guest burns his house down, the maximum amount he or she will get is $100, because no money was paid from airbnb to this host prior to the burning down event.

I think we have to see this guarantee as what it is: It's a marketing tool.

And airbnb isn't lying about it, they are telling it right into our faces in their TOS.

@George470 

[Robin4]

@Ute42 

No argument from me Ute, it is entirely a marketing tool!

An incredibly stupid thing to offer in the first place but, seeing as they chose to 'run it up the flagpole'.....they are obligated by law to honour it!

So they build as many rules and interpretations into what is an adjudicated system, that is covers their a*se and makes it of as little use as possible, in a major claim sense. Even ammended their TOS to include 'no class actions' seemingly specifically because of it!

Most claims do get paid to one degree or another but, they are for smaller dollar value claims. It is generally media intervention that gets the ball rolling where larger claims are concerned. The company don't volunteer what they are not compelled to! 

It's a marketing tool, of course it is Ute........ but it has been done on an actuarial basis, the rationale being, the revenue generated by the influx of users the HPS entices will outweigh the value of claims that may come about as a result of it's use.....shades of that Gene Hackman 1991 American film classic  'Class Action'!

And it works ok till they get to these larger claims!

Good to hear from you Ute!

@George470  @Sandra126 

Cheers......Rob

[Cormac0]

@Ute42 

Thank  you Ute,

Hosts please start reading Airbnb's terms and condidtion and referance them in you comments.

[Sandra126]

@Ute0, brilliant. Explains it clearly, well done for reading and condensing the salient points!