I have to tell you a story (its a bit funny)😅, so I went to let two guests into an Airbnb that they rented for 28 days🏠, they arrived at 11am on a Saturday and all was great☑️. Later in the day (at around 5pm), I get a personal message on Instagram that said: 📲
"Hello Daniel,
Apologies for contacting you so informally however this is my only way to communicate.
This is ** from Apartment ** that rented on Airbnb.
So we kinda locked ourselves out in the balcony and locked the door as well.
Apologies for any inconvenience caused however we kindly ask for your assistance."
So I get there 🏎 and I see them on the balcony,🤣😂 I laughed at them when I saw them I couldn't help myself, they laughed too and we all laughed together 🤣😂(all fun and games before we knew what this was going to cost😱🤑💸) I went there to try and help them with the spare key which did not turn because they had the original key inserted into the other side of the door🚪 while they were locked on the balcony behind the sliding door.
I had to call a locksmith out🔑, he informed me he needed to break the door lock in half to open the door and then replace the entire lock with a new one🔨🔧.
I informed the guest and they agreed and accepted that the costs will be covered by them 💵(because I mean I didn't lock them on the balcony🤣) little did they know that this locksmith was probably from Dubai or something because when I got the bill it was R3 485 💸💵. Although the guests did feel the locksmith was truly expensive, they agreed to pay.
My insurance would not pay because of the circumstances🔨🚪 so I decided to see if Airbnb could help me using their resolution centre💻. I uploaded all the photos and invoice with an explanation and within 1 hour⏱ of me sending the refurbishment request to the resolution centre at Airbnb they responded with this:✍️
"Hello,
Thanks for reaching out to us, we’re terribly sorry to hear of the damages incurred during this stay.
We would like to confirm that payment has been processed to your preferred payout account for the property damage you documented within the Resolution Center.
Situations like these are rare, and I hope you'll go on to have many more positive hosting experiences in the future.
Thank you for being a great host!
Happy hosting,
Airbnb"
😍🚪🔑🔨🔧💵 No stress, no argument nothing. they paid the full amount in 1 hour of escalating the claim to Airbnb