Forcing hosts to contact dangerous guests

[Chris11539]

Hi all,

I recently had my house trashed by a guest - including some long term damage. That guest was verified and had quite a few positive reviews. There was evidence of drugs including strong pot smell throughout the house and based on other signs hard drugs (although I have no direct evidence), and erratic behavior such as scrawls of crayon on the floor. I sense that these guests were big league bad though as there were receipts for luxury gifts from rodeo drive with thousands of dollars being spent.

I'm having a difficult time getting Airbnb moving in part because they keep switching managers...but in part because they keep wanting me to contact this guest. How do I advance a claim, per Airbnb's agreement, without asking a potentially big time criminal for many thousands of dollars when he knows where I live?

[Paul154]

@Chris11539 

Sorry you had terrible guests. Unfortunately, there is no way for you to ask criminals for money without risk. Airbnb will not pay your claim until you have exhausted the possibility of trying to get the damage payment from the guest first.

Maybe if you impressed upon Airbnb the danger these guests pose, Airbnb may compensate you directly. It won't hurt to try, but don't expect much. 

[Paul154]

@Chris11539 

As these guests are scammers and criminals, they are used to ignoring requests for money.

They will not seek revenge from you for asking for compensation. They will simply ignore your request. It's part of their game. You will not offend them.

[Helen3]

If you want Airbnb to consider compensating you then you need to follow their process @Chris11539 .  All you need to do is message the guest on the platform to talk about what you want compensation for and the amount you want. I think you can upload images too.

I know you said the guests took drugs but wasn't sure from your post in what way you felt they were a danger to you?

If you don't want to use Airbnb to do this, you could use your short term rental insurance instead which is unlikely to have this condition attached. 

[Chris11539]

Sorry. I'm of the opinion now that this is not the right forum for this issue.

[Sarah977]

@Chris11539  I would contact Airbnb again and make this an issue of Trust and Safety (make sure to politely insist it be passed to that team), as you are reasonably reticent to contact this guest, even to request $ for damages, as you fear physical retaliation. If you can manage to get it passed over to Trust and Safety, they may advise CS that it's not a good idea for them to be urging you to contact these guests directly. Worth a try, anyway.

[Chris11539]

Super thanks Sarah. Great feedback. Its impressive that Airbnb has a Trust and Safety dept.  Very few service companies do.