Had a question on when a guest breaks or damages and steals things.

[Daniel8276]

What is best practice and I am new to this. I had a quest kick a door off the hinges and steal some small items. Is there an insurance for this type of incident or is it best to charge there credit card. My concern is there credit card is tapped out and nothing to get. Any info would be great, thank you.

[Emiel1]

@Daniel8276 

The (strict !) procedure to claim damages is described here ::

https://www.airbnb.com/help/article/264/what-do-i-do-if-my-guest-breaks-something-in-my-place

[Sarah977]

@Daniel8276  There is no means for a host to charge a guest's credit card. 

While you can follow the procedure Emiel linked to, do not assume that will always result in recompense. There is no insurance from Airbnb you can rely on. You should have your own private str insurance.

[Robin4]

@Daniel8276 

Daniel, my method of dealing with this situation is not popular in the hosting community but, it is practical.

Your situation is, you have had an unsatisfactory guest. He has broken/stolen your property and the chance of you getting him to compensate you for that, are at best, extremely minimal.

You can pursue him, either on your own as a civil matter, or through the Airbnb resolution centre by reporting him. You can do that by clicking the 'Report' tab on your message stream with  that guest.

Experience has taught us all here that this will result in three outcomes.

1/.....The guest will be given 72 hours to respond to your claim, refuse to accept responsibility and will not provide any restitution.

2/....The guest will give you a revenge review because nobody likes being caught out, and he will need to justify himself.

3/.....The Resolution Centre will side with the guest, their attitude being 'you can't get blood out of a stone'! You will spend a frustrating few weeks trying to get an outcome that is not going to happen. You will have a damaged property that will affect any upstream bookings you might have, and you will have all future potential guests see that you have had a dispute with a guest via that bad review.

Do you really consider that this is worth it?

Daniel, I find that possibly one guest in 75 will fall into that category, most are honest and will own up to issues they might create without being badgered and we privately sort out a solution amicably.

Three years ago I lifted my listing amount by $5 per guest night and that additional $5 goes into a dedicated damage fund which I let sit around $1,700.

To keep my property insurance cover to a realistic premium, I set a $2,000 excess which means, the only time my insurer would be involved would be in the event of catastrophic damage.

When I do get a guest in that category I say nothing to the guest or to Airbnb, I pull the required amount of money out of the damage fund, put things right and get on with the business of hosting.

I do not review the guest and I wait until the 14 day review window has expired. In all but one instance I have got a good review from the offending guest because I have let them dodge a bullet.

At that point when the guest can no longer publicly hurt me I message the guest telling them how disappointed I am that they abused my property and hospitality the way they did and inform them that I am lodging a detailed report with Airbnb.

I report the guest, and on the few occasions that it has happened I will get a call from CX asking if I require any assistance. They do this because I haven't asked anything of them, I have just reported the guest as an unsatisfactory guest. I tell CX I do not require any assistance but I would like action taken against the guest so they cannot have the opportunity to do the same thing to other hosts.

I have a feeling this does work because in two instances I have noted the guests profile has subsequently disappeared.

What I do is take control of my business Daniel, I don't expect anything of Airbnb other than to keep sending me guests....and so far it has worked pretty well.

Cheers.........Rob

[Kia272]

@Robin4  Was it really necessary to post a picture of your bank account balances to make your point? Certainly not. 

[Robin4]

@Kia272 

You are right Kia, I had consumed that one too many reds when I posted that. What I was trying to do was put some legitimacy to the point I was making.

I can't do anything about it now but, hopefully one of the moderators will remove that screenshot. 

Thanks Kia for pointing it out!

Cheers.......Rob