Guest Damange to Kitchen Counter

[Karen1119]

I had a guest stay who used the countertop as a cutting board and there are now cut marks in the countertop.  It's a brand new countertop installed only two months ago.   There is no good way to fix the cuts without replacing the entire counter, which I am not going to do at the moment.  My husband wants me to charge for damage since it's brand new - but I'm not sure how to evaluate the cost of the damange since we won't be immediatly doing the repair.  

Anyone have experience with something like this?  How did you handle?

[Laura2592]

@Karen1119 the only way to get paid for damage is to do an immediate repair and remit the receipt. And even that is not a guarantee by any means. 

Scratches, dings, marks and other damage is unfortunately the cost of doing business. We had a couple throw a flaming firelog on the porch leaving a chemical stain which we still can't get out totally months later. We would have to replace a bunch of flagstones which is cost prohibitive and difficult to schedule so we just bought a rug and covered the stain. We charged the guests for the rug and they agreed to pay. I doubt they would have agreed to pay for the true repair if we had sent that request.

[Karen1119]

Totally agree that dings and scratches are part of this.  The cut marks are so obvious/deep - and it's such a bummer to see when they are barely 2 months old.  I'll see if there is anything small we can do to try and fill/or buff out the cut marks and maybe charge for that.  I am going to send the picture and a private note to the guest to let them know what happened - but I'm not even sure it's worth making part of their review/rating.  Everything else was fine with their stay for the most part.  Thanks for the response, it is helpful!

[Lorna170]

@Karen1119   I am sorry that this has happened to you, and it is so heartbreaking when your beautiful efforts are ruined by a guest.  You may wish to apply to your homeowners insurance and give them the information about the guest who caused the damage if the repair is that expensive.  

I have had guests cut on my countertops too.  My solution was to buy a huge, heavy, oversized cutting board that was left out on the countertop in PLAIN SIGHT and was almost too large to move and could not be tucked into a cupboard.  Good luck!