Funding Damage Claims

Robin4
Level 10
Mount Barker, Australia

Funding Damage Claims

 

I realised from posts just like one I just read from Lisa in Chelsea MA that have been circulating here on the forum since I became an active host in 2015, that I could not rely on support from Airbnb if a hosting turned sour.

There is a possibility that I might get something but, the probability is that, that something may be less than 20% of what I was claiming. 

I, at that point, upped my hosting price by $6 per night and put $10 per hosting night into a 'damage' account. There is currently over $1,860 sitting in that account, earning interest....at one stage it was well over $2,000, but I have had to make a couple of claims on it.

 

Nobody argues the point with me when damage is done....I don't have to go through the hassle of abusing the guest, submitting a claim, potentially loosing a reservation until the damage has been assessed and then getting a pittance offered to me by CS.....why would you put yourself through that?

 

I am insured for public liability and major occurrences like the building burning down, but I have a $3,000 excess to keep the premium really low.  Minor things like a broken microwave or a lost key, I just go to Kmart and buy another microwave for $45.00, I go to Bunnings and buy another lock, about the same cost....an hour later I am back in business....no hassle, no agro, no let-downs! And Airbnb thinks I am ace because I don't expect them to be anything other than a booking platform...I have never approached them with a damage claim....and, I never will!

 

I just fix the problem and get on with the business of hosting! In short, it is money I would not have otherwise had, so, I win on all fronts.

We as hosts need to understand we are running a business and it is up to us to make sure we run that business in a professional way and that includes insuring our risk.

 

I would ask hosts to please do not expect Airbnb to be our 'fairy godmother'...they aren't, they are simply a booking platform. Like Fred I would dearly love to see Airbnb get rid of this sham business of lottery win compensations if things go wrong.....It's never going to happen, and believe me, I have seen a lot more of these problems across this computer keyboard than you have.

 

Hosts, please do what you do well, host...... and let Airbnb do what they do well, book guests!

 

Don't expect something that will in all probability, let you down!

 

Cheers.....Rob

86 Replies 86

@Maureen0 have you considered putting a timer on your hot water? Hot tap opens and hot water automatically shuts off after a certain length of time? This might save you some grief as far as your septic is concerned. Of course, you will get knocked in a review, but that will happen anyway when you tell someone that their showers are too long!

Robin4
Level 10
Mount Barker, Australia

Maureen @Rebecca  @Rebecca  @Fred

 

Maureen, you have to expect that guests are going to abuse what you offer!

If you offer an unlimited amount of electricity, they will go out for the day and leave the airconditioning running...and probably leave a window open to keep a bit of fresh air coming in.

If you supply an unlimited amount of water, they are paying you so, they will use it. Saying something to them just antagonises them and guarantees you will get a poor review. Take the decision out of their hands!

 

When I decided to host I looked at all the alternatives for water heating.

I ruled out solar quickly because the cost of initial outlay and the viability of living in an altitude environment where we do have cloudier skies than down on the plains  meant, my break even point over other types of water heating would be 4 times as long!

 

My second alternative was an instantaneous gas unit but in this area we are on bottle gas which is considerably more expensive than the mains and also people would still use as much water as they felt like using so I realised that way of heating may be costly!

 

Because we produce most of our own electricity the logical path to follow was mains pressure electric! But I was conscious that guests would still simply run the water as long as they liked, and Maureen, like you we are on a septic system!

I settled on an 80 Litre mains pressure electric storage unit and this gives around 14 minutes of mains pressure hot water through the shower head before it starts to run cold. 

Nobody has ever complained that there was not enough water and it does re-heat quickly.

But it does stop them from abusing it and continuing to run it long as they like.

 

Timers say...."that's all you get, that's it", but this way makes them think..."maybe I have been in here a bit long". Of course there will always be some who will grizzle no matter what you provide but I have found this way a good compromise!

 

Maureen $240 on a 20 gallon electric hot water service is much better than digging up your septic, although I have found, it is not water that is the problem with the septic, it's the bloody supermarket bags they try to flush down the toilet!!!

 

Cheers.....Rob

   Aye Maureen, timers are cool, if anything serve as reminders to the 'unconcious.'. And anyone that doesn't like their surroundings in Sequim, I suspect is a Neandethall whose cave must be the height of great decor and in a great 'neiborhood' of other knuckle-draggers.

   The trick to good hosting btw is selection, and with dealing with Airbnb 'We Love the World' proffesed wide-open-door-social policy is to deviate from it well enough to bypass the 'usual suspects'.

  (My place is by Crocker Lake btw, on nearby Discovery Bay.)

Fred, we are neighbors!  (Our places are on Lake Leland.)

Lake Leland is a bit south of Crocker Lake, toward Quilcene?

 Yes.

James411
Level 6
San Diego, CA

I am pretty shocked at the number of hosts that are openly acknowledging abuse  and misrepresentation on the part of Airbnb toward hosts, and then not only encouraging its occurance but actually advising hosts to ignore and pay for it.  Napkins are human consumables, dishes, linens, etc. should not be expected to be vandalized and then just written off.  This is the worst accounting advise I have ever heard.  It seems to partially explain why Airbnb is becoming so brazen in their open abuse of hosts and their utter disregard for their own terms of use.

 

It is crucial that the little guys stick together and strive to insist that the terms we sign up for are adhered to.  As a host/super host of over seven years, it saddens me to see how badly Airbnb has degenerated.  They seem absolutely out of touch with the people providing them the real estate for their customers.  Having had to settle numerous claims (some taking months to complete), I can attest to the reality of Airbnb blatantly disregarding their own terms of use.  I would not use that as a platform to enable to abuse by Airbnb to continue.  

 

Please insist as hosts that Airbnb be the company they portray themselves to be.

Robin4
Level 10
Mount Barker, Australia

James- I am not dissagreing with what you say James...hosts are being abused, so what are our options!

Ok James we can stand on our high horse as a group and demand a better deal! A third of us will threaten to leave and do something else. How will that benefit us? How will that achieve what we are achieving here at this point.

We stay here because we are making money. The moment my listing turns from a profit to a loss....I will be gone in a puff of smoke, simply as that. I have other hosting options....there is no contract that says I must use Airbnb. 

James I don't give a sh*t if Airbnb makes money or not, as long as I do.

But seeing as I am here I might as well use the system to my advantage, and I am. I am not going to fight with Airbnb, l am going to keep on taking the money they provide me with week after week. Some of it might not be as profitable as other bits of it, but that is not Airbnb's fault. All they did was point the guest in my direction. 

 

I just find it a bit strange that you would blame the seller/retailer of the motor vehicle when you ran over a packet of screws that fell off someones truck onto the road pavement and ended up with a flat tyre! Airbnb are not our police presence and do not accept responsibility for the quality of the guests we receive.

 

James, l look after my interests, not demand that Airbnb will do that for me, and I reckon joining Airbnb was one of the best things I have done. It's giving me a nice income stream....I don't hassle them and they don't hassle me! Some things go well, some not so well....what do they say.....'Swings and roundabout!' 

Am I going to start a movement to antagonise them and accuse them of screwing me.....I don't think so!

 

Cheers......Rob

Dreamer idiot, what till the authorities catch up with you and Airbnb

 

Robin4
Level 10
Mount Barker, Australia

Deborah

I have on this thread seen a few posts of yours and every one has been derogatory. You seem to have nothing but criticism for the hosting community.

 

We try to be constructive here and help each other to be better hosts and run our business in a better fashion. 

I don't know from which loft perch you have come but with barely more than a handful of reviews I would have thought your time here would be best used learning from the experiences of others. 

I have a pretty full life, I am the carer for my wife who is in the latter stages of MS and can't use her legs. I am also the kitchen coordinator for our local branch of Meals on wheels and I have a listing that has scored me over 150 reviews.....130 of them on Airbnb along with Superhost status for the last two years!

My life is full Deborah, and yet I still want to try and help others and the last thing I need is to be called a 'Dreamer Idiot'!!

 

If you haven't got something constructive to contribute in a way without being degrading and derogatory to others, can you please go and find another forum somewhere to release

you brand of writing!

It is not wanted here!

 

 

Rob

What is wrong with you people? We’re talking about guests destroying things and stealing. 

 

Airbnb shouldn’t have a say in whether we make a claim to a guests deposit. It’s trust money. It’s not their money. If the guest feels like it’s unfair they have remedies in court. It’s the only thing keeping most people from ruining or wrecking the place. 

 

To think otherwise is pure foolishness. And before you throw around your status and bookings, I do 2000 reservations a year with superhost status. (The status is a joke btw)

Well Shawn, launch an action against them, you be the one to force their hand. I am not saying what Airbnb are doing is right. I wish to God they would just dump all this Host Protection stuff and get on with what they do, find guests. None of us would be having this conversation if they did! We would be protecting ourselves they way every other business does.

Guests pay for breakages in my listing, it's called a listing amount. I would charge less as a nightly rate if I had an expectation that Airbnb would cover me, but Shaun I don't have that expectation!

Shawn your method of business is far removed from mine, you have a plethera of listings, I have one, the physicality of having 1800 hostings in one listing in a year is obviously nonsense so, what you and I do is exactly the same.....it's just a matter of scale! I do everything myself,  you obviously have staff to do what you do, but I still respect what you do, I would not insult you for it!. 

What I said was not a matter of 'throwing around status' Shawn, I was merely pointing out that I have a busy life, but I like to help, not be insulted.

 

Cheers.....Rob

Fred13
Level 10
Placencia, Belize

    Totally agree with you James, on basic moral principles. However, ...

    ~How can any company account for 'Napkins, dishes, linens, homes, etc. be vandalized' in the first place?  

    ~Where do people that would do this,  without the slightest thought, really coming from?

    ~Is the 'original' model of Airbnb now being subjected to new human behavior that they (nor Nostradamus) could foresee?

    ~Is it fair that all hosts should 'share' the cost that a certain percentage of people (guests and in some cases even hosts) are taking advantage of? 

    ~Is that percentage now growing?

    ~Is the original Airbnb model less and less doable as first thought in certain cultures, specifically those lacking enough of a moral compass?

 

   Tough, tough questions. The 'blame game' is easy to play, the solutions is the tough part. Personally, I am forever a champion of one principle foremost - set the rules in a manner that holds everyone individually responsible, so no one even gets the idea that there are free rides.

    

Rebecca181
Level 10
Florence, OR

Even when I hold a deposit, such as through VRBO, I do not bother to deduct for small incidentals - I make sure I charge enough a night to account for that. I do not think it is a good business decision to expect small damages to be taken care of by the booking site or even the guest. It is also my responsibility to screen carefully - And yes, even with Instant Booking on, there are many ways to build in various screening features and a screening process; takes a bit more time, but I have very few guest mishaps and damages as a result.

Rebecca,

 

Care to ellaborate on your screening methods with instant booking?

 

I try making my space out to clearly be a smaller area built for 2, and to not be appealing to groups larger than that. I feel that helps protect against partiers, and that groups are likely to leave a bigger mess or damages.

I'm interested in a more rounded approach though, if you think there are better methods.