Guest kills lawn - denies

[Lina-and-Andrew0]

Hi everybody,

I had an incident with a guest last weekend. 

We have a little different set up. Our house is split up in two. The bottom floor is where we live and the second floor is a completely seperate unit, that we use for an AirBnb rental. I always ask people if they have read the whole description and understand the set up of the house before they book. She said it was ok and I booked her.

As soon as they get there, they go right up to our door and try to get in with the code I gave them for their entrance. This never happens. I have clear instructions for check in and it's been enough for 30 some guests before her. I go out and explain the set up and where their entry is etc.

The first thing they do is to move all our furniture from the patio out on the middle of the lawn. Which nobody done before. We were away that weekend and came back to neighbours complaining about noise and there were a bunch of empty fireworks packages. We clearly state in the description that this is a quite neighboourhood and we ask guests to respect that. I relized there is not much I can do about this expect give them a bad review, which I never had to do before.

They must have sprayed something for bugs/mosquitos, because there is a perfect circle around the table with dead grass. She admitted to spraying something, but only on the paths... We noticed the wilted grass the same day as they left and I sent a picture to her right away to ask about it. She just got upset and didn't explain what happened. I sent one more picture a day later and the grass has died back in the same area. She says it because our lawn is in full sun and it been dry. But we have irrigation there and water frequently. The only spot that looks that dead is in a circle, which is not very natural. 

She also broke a slat (in a mattress bottom) in one of the beds (top of a bunk bed which I saw when I changed the sheets, that's how I know they used it). She denied it happen when they were there, but agreed to pay the $10 I ask for to fix it... The $75 I asked for, for soil and grass seed, to fix the lawn she refuses to pay. 

It obvious to me that this happend when she was there, and that the spray something that killed the grass. 

What makes me mad is that she won't admitt to it. I have been very polite and reasonable when asking her about this. What should I do now? Do I keep insisting she should pay? Do I have enough proof to involve AirBnb?

Thanks

[Alexandra316]

@Lina-and-Andrew0 First of all, I absolutely love your place! Gorgeous. Bracebridge is such a pretty town.

You could try and make a damage claim against this guest throught the Host Guarantee, but I wouldn't hold out high hopes of that working out. This is going to be difficult to prove, I think. The easiest way to resolve these situations is to get guests to agree to pay, but as you've said you've already tried that unsuccessfully, you may be out of luck.

If you want more info on the Host Guarantee and how to claim, visit  https://www.airbnb.ca/host-protection-insurance?locale=en. Here is another helpful link that explains the process: https://www.airbnb.ca/help/article/264/what-do-i-do-if-my-guest-breaks-something-in-my-place

Good luck with it!

[Gordon0]

What a beautiful home you have. I'm afraid this is likely to be one of these cases when you just need to suck it up and move on.  

[Emiel1]

@Gordon0 

I Agree.

The grass will grow again with some help, i would not even spent a minute of time on such an issue.

[Matthew285]

@Lina-and-Andrew0 you can certainly file a claim.

Do you also have photos of how they moved the furniture to the area where the grass died? 

That would also be useful in showing how the dead grass was right where they were... doing whatever they were doing on the lawn.

Ideally, you want to be able to show:

1. The grass was alive and healthy before these guests arrived.
2. During their stay, they did significant activities right in that specific spot on the lawn (as evidenced by their moving of the furniture to that very spot.)
3. The grass died shortly after.

[Lina178]

@Alexandra316 @Gordon0 @Matthew285

Thank you all for your kind words and your help. It's so nice to be able to turn to a community like this and hear other hosts opionions.

I didn't take a photo of the table on the lawn. The only reason I saw it was there was that I had to put the garbage bin back after curbside pick up. Usually I wouldn't go back there at all when we have guests. 

Unfortunately I think it would be too hard for me to prove that it happend when she was here. She did admit to spraying something, but only on the paths. So I don't think that's enough. At this point I think I rather not fight her more and risk that she gives me a bad review and rating.  

Thanks again,

Lina

[David126]

The issue is not proving something happened when she was there, but provong that she did it, which is nigh on impossible when she denys it.