Damages

[Kayla123]

I recently had a guest that stayed for over a month. Partly into her stay, we discovered she broke one of the house rules and brought 3 dogs onto the property. She then lied saying she only "knew of the one", which she declared as a service dog. We spoke to Airbnb, and no records showed it was a service dog. Not only that, but she had a rude attitude and ignored the door when we just wanted to say hi. Jump forward to the end, and we go into our place and see that it was absolutely TRASHED. Severe damages were done, and moldy food was everywhere. We got the bid and it was for a whopping $27k! 

I am so upset at her. I have filed a claim and since I couldn't go through the resolutions center due to their max of $10k, I did it over the phone with someone who then escalated my case to the highest level. 

I guess my question is, when and what can I expect to come out of this situation?? 

[Branka-and-Silvia0]

@Kayla123 

I am so sorry... and  I am so mad!  Unfortunately, your story is one of many similar stories I've heard about. 

When you read Airbnb TOS and Host guarantee and speak with their CS reps, everything seems so simple and easy. You just have to take pictures, get estimates and receipts and submit them to your damage claim in a timely manner. If your guest declines your claim, Airbnb will cover you from their 1 million US$ Host guarantee. They promise.

In fact, be prepared for a long and exhausting battle for any $ over a few hundred.

Unfortunately, Airbnb staged the perfect playground for the worst kind of guests: lack of any verification, possibility of changing their names and profile pictures whenever they want, instant booking pressure, punishment for host and refund for guest in case of cancelation even if the guest is breaking house rules,  no real security deposit etc.... all of that made Airbnb very attractive for the worst kind of guests. They can get away with practically anything.

There are many threads about this subject, including the newest one about Orinda shooting on Halloween night with more than 600 comments.

Repare your house and if you ever decide to rent it again, instal outdoor cameras, try VRBO or some other booking platform with a real security deposit and proper guest vetting. Meet your guests at the arrival and ask them to show you their IDs, take a picture of IDs, avoid 1 night stays as well as those longer than 2 weeks, set a house rule of mandatory light cleaning every 7 days so you can inspect the property, cancel the booking when your first house rule is broken... do whatever you can to avoid such scenario happening again.

[Anonymous]

@Kayla123  You're not going to like this...the Host Guarantee policy explicitly doesn't offer protection for "Damage caused by a pet."  It doesn't state an exemption in cases where pets were not allowed and the guest failed to disclose them.  Sadly, you shouldn't get your hopes up that anything will come out of Airbnb.

If you have your own insurance policy that covers STRs, you're on steadier ground. But either way, I don't see you getting any compensation without opening a lawsuit against the guest directly.

I can't tell from your post where the $27,000 figure came from, but from what I can imagine based on your listing that would entail not just carpets and furniture but also some major structural damage. If that's not the case, be sure to get some alternate, itemized estimates. I have to admit, it's surprising that you described the guest's rude behavior in detail and mentioned moldy food, but not a single mention of any thing that could cost you $27 K.  I don't say that to put you on the spot - it's just that when you have to recount the narrative elsewhere in the future, I recommend keeping the focus on the high-ticket stuff and not the feelings.