House trashed, wrecked, destroyed by guest

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Chris80
Level 3
Eugene, OR

House trashed, wrecked, destroyed by guest

I just had a guest check out and they destroyed my house, causing over $3500 in damages and lost bookings. The list of things wrecked is so extensive, it's not even worth going into exhaustive detail, but here are the highlights (or low points, as the case may be):

 

Huge party lasting until well after 1am, disturbing neighbours and a general nuisance

Vomit stained sheets left in bag upstairs

Mattress stained, wet after sheets and mattress cover removed (presumably because of the vomit)

Two vintage audiophile stereo systems nonfunctional and broken speaker stand

Everything filthy, floor sticky, dirty dishes in sink

Bathroom vile, vanity shelf ripped from wall

 

Additionally, I had to decline a $250 booking since the place is not habitable. I can only hope that the host guarantee covers some of the losses. Has anyone had a positive experience with the host guarantee and how long did it take to be compensated?

1 Best Answer
Breanna
Community Manager
Community Manager
Pontefract, United Kingdom

Hi everyone,

 

You can learn more about damage coverage for Hosts by reviewing this Airbnb Help Center article: Getting protected through AirCover for Hosts.

 

Please note that this content has been archived.

 

You can still access if if you have the link but it won't appear when you search on the Community Center.

 

To ask a new question just click below:

 

Stephanie_0-1677152405466.png

 

Thanks

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110 Replies 110
Christina163
Level 10
United States

I have lots of advice as I have been through the exact same thing. At this point I would start fresh while everything is new & send a certified letter to Airbnb corporate with a return receipt stating that you would like an executive to respond to the situation.  It seems that the customer service centers are all based in Asia & these people are paid low wages & do not understand anything to do with real estate. 

I have been in vacation rentals long before Airbnb came on the scene & the first two times I disputed a guest they lied & Airbnb believed them.  I began to realize Airbnb wants to side with the guest & they reward people for bad behavior.  I had to spend $2000 for septic damages when someone brought 30 people to our house on Malibu Road that was listed for sale at the time.  We sold the property for $7.2M.  The next time I had a problem I cancelled a reservation on Broad Beach because a man who had NOT booked called me to get the keys & when I asked him how many people were coming he said he did not know & I said "I don't know means no keys."  Airbnb called me begging to accept his booking.  We sold that house for $7M so you can understand at these prices & values I am not playing games with some losers who are going to trash the houses.  

 

I am currently renting a house out for one of our business partners & we put cameras up on the front & back doors so we know how many people are coming in & out of the house.  We charge people an extra $175/night per extra person over 6 people.  No children or pets are allowed under any circumstances.  

 

I have had people lie & say I had bed bugs & also lie & say I had cameras INSIDE *which is against the law* I would never have either of these things at my house....they lie to get out of paying.  They will say anything to get out.  The last time I disputed I had 10 people coming in & out of my house - they were the ones who lied & said we had bed bugs...how would any ONE person even stay let alone 10 people if that was the case?

 

Get receipts for everything AS SOON AS POSSIBLE.  You will either wait 60 days or perhaps by sending everything up to corporate in San Francisco someone will read this faster.  

How do you get the SF address and who do you refer it to? 

Antonia126
Level 1
New York, NY

Hi guys, I have a question. What happens to the guest's profile if Airbnb paid host guarantee for the damage they did? I had a situation and Airbnb did help, but I cant leave the review for that guest and warn others because this guest left ( probably ) bad review for me (because I tried to get compensated by the guest first), so I decided not to write anything. They still out there booking freely without consequences? If so, that makes me mad. 

Sarah977
Level 10
Sayulita, Mexico

@Antonia126   It seems that you do not understand how the review system works. You say you can't leave a review because the guest probably left a bad review for you? 

Reviews are published 14 days after the guest checks out whether both the host and guest write a review or not. If both parties write reviews before that time, they will appear when both are submitted. If I write my guest a review 3 days after they check out, and the guest writes a review 5 days after, both reviews will appear at day 5. If I write a review for my guest and they do not write a review for me, my review will still be published 14 days after the guest checks out and vice versa.

If the 14 days since this bad guest left have not passed, you need to write them a review to warn other hosts!

 

@Sarah977 Thanks for the info! Anyone knows what is the Airbnb penalty for those guests who are found responsible for the damages caused during their trip? 

@Antonia126  As far as I know there is no penalty aside from having a bunch of bad reviews and low stars, which is why it is important to review a bad guest to warn other hosts. 

Also the reviews are blind until they are published. You can't see what the guest has written about you until you write a review as well, or after the 14 day period. And the guest can't see yours either until that time. This is to prevent revenge reviews.

 

But if the guest writes you a bad, untrue review, you can respond publicly to it when it is published. It is important to do this in a factual, impersonal, brief and professional manner or it can make you look like a nasty, unhinged host. If you are angry, or ready to cry, wait a few days to cool down before reviewing.

 

So instead of saying "XXX was the worst guest I have ever hosted. Everything he says here is a lie, he trashed my place, was rude and refused to pay for damages", you can say " I was extremely dismayed at the state of my home after XXX left, as I am accustomed to my guests respecting the space and me. House rules were ignored, extensive cleaning was required, as well as replacement of many damaged items". Thumbs down and low stars. Any host who reads that will not accept his booking.

Stephanie-S-0
Level 2
Rochelle, IL

As the owner of a large house in the country and a smaller house in an urban area, I have experienced unauthorized parties at both places--a total of three. I have been reimbursed a total of 5K for all three combined. I have come to accept gatherings you don't want are a part of being a host. Yes, the damages are and were severe. Yes, these things are usually considered a tragedy. But the fact is, they happened, and there are some silver linings. One of the silver linings is the the money. I made much more money from these events than I could have if my home had been properly booked. I'm just going to say it right out.

 

I have learned more from accepting these situations (even though when my grandma's house gets destroyed it makes me so mad,) and figuring out how to change them than I have from beating myself up about it having happened. While I do what is in my power to prevent parties, I was not able to prevent the three that occured. The last one was much smaller than the first two, but still qualifies. I am a smart person--but people are looking to treat our Air BnB homes like hotels. It is one of the reasons why there are people out there who are against Air BnB, and sometimes, I don't blame them for being, because there is only so much a person can do to prevent this kind of thing. When you become a host, you open yourself up to this stuff. We are not superhuman and hotels go through this crap, too. That is why people avoid them, now. However, they have brought their hotel behavior to our door. What's a girl to do?

 

I recomomend that, for your own peace of mind (and I recommend this to anyone who has experienced major damage from guests,) that you clean it up as quickly as possible, replace your items to the best of your ability, and move on. Tighen your rules and tighten your belt. I started my own cleaning service just to be able to clean up my own house after an air bnb party and still get reimbursed.

 

DON'T spend undue time being devastated. Don't make moutains out of molehills. If someone threw up on a sheet, wash the sheet and get over it. Put your big girl panties on. Spend time getting back to the things that feed you and make you happy. Don't let these people take any more of your peace than they already have. Realize they have a lot to learn and that these types of behaviors will catch up with them someday. God will deal with them. 

 

I feel that the biggest hurdle and challenge for hosts under these circumstances is when they realize they will have to clean up the damage themselves. Yes, you can hire a cleaning service. Some people have to. But if you clean it up yourself, it feels better AND you move on in a certain way. It sucks, but you must move on. I have realized through these experiences that this is life--I'd better get a hard hat or give up this job of being a temporary landlord to lots of peeps. People insist on treating my home like it's a hotel, but it's up to me to impress upon them and teach them it is not. Unfortunately, I don't always have the proper chance to do that because I DO have my own life and I have trusted guests I shouldn't have. I have left the scene when I could have been sneaking back onto it and observing from my car what the hell was going on. But I didn't. SO: when I fail to take proper precautions, I take what the universe throws at me and I go with the flow and I make the necessary changes so it can't happen next time. While I don't want these parties to happen to me, I have accepted that they made me a lot of money. And that makes me feel better. But there is some guilt on my part from participating in an industry which is difficult to regulate. 

 

My bottom line here is that PARTIES ARE A PART of being an Air BnB host. I have been a 9 time SUPERHOST, and they are STILL a part of my life! This response might be unpopular but I have to be honest about my feelings, and my experience. 

What did you charge for the extra cleaning ? I had urine in a trash can and on a carpet in two areas, throw up on duvet and insets, and ruined furniture. I have no idea what to charge. 

@Stephanie-S-0 Parties may be part of being an Airbnb host when you host a separate dwelling where you don't live. They aren't part of being an airbnb host if you host a shared home where you live.

Candace84
Level 1
Williamsburg, VA

I literally just had a very disappointing host issue with Airbnb. I had a large group leave trash all over the home, throw trash in the yard, bottles, etc. It took 2 people 5 hours to clean the home and I still had to have my handyman come and pick up the yard and haul away about 12 bags of trash they left on the property. I asked for the extra $150 it cost me to clean the property. 

 

Airbnb contacts the host who tells her they couldn't light the fireplace (this is the only thing they reached out to me and I told them to call and my husband would walk them through it, they kept insisting the home was out of propane but it wasn't because it was filled a week earlier and the previous guest has the fireplace working), they couldn't figure out how to increase the heat on the thermostat so they were cold, they didn't have constant wifi....first I had heard of these last two things. They sent pics claiming that was how they left the place despite the pics my cleaning company had of how the place was left. End result, I have to eat the extra fees because otherwise, I would have to not just eat them but refund the guest half of their stay! 

I don't see that as much of a resolution. The end result though is that I am now much more strict on who I will allow in my home. 

 

Carolyn39
Level 2
Santa Rosa, CA

Devastating when a guest trashes your home.

I know what it is like to have guests who do not respect you or your beautiful

vacation rental. It is distrubing and quite devastating really. Becasue this is

your livelihood and I know how much LOVE, hard work and real care goes into

running an excellent - superhost airbnb.

 

My heart goes out to you. I think the other folks who suggested getting rental

insuranve is the best advise. Airbnb's strategy is to avoid these costs. I have no

idea how much or how frequent are these incidences of damage ... but I imagine

with hundreds of thousands of properties and the way human nature is -- you

can bet its got to be a huge cost to them. Although with their new loan "opportunity"

to hosts - they must be doing very VERY well.

@Carolyn51@Jeff85  and everyone:

Follow the money trail. It will tell you all you need to know, and don't expect airbnb to publish any statistics on these occurences.

 

Do have the right insurance, and I'm not a believer in unnecessary litigation, but do know your rights, and what your legal recourse is about damages, lost time, etc.  Educate yourself about small claims, civil suits, and breach of contract, and have a lawyer handy to write letters when you need them.  It's far less expensive (and less embarassing) to settle out of court.

 

Lisa1670
Level 1
Jackson, WY

So this is my first experience with trashing of my house by a group of guests. Is there not a deposit to deduct additional cleaning fees from like the competition does for me?

how do I go about collecting fees from the guest?

you Need actual receipts - I have had this happen several times and the last time I got stuck w $ big expenses for furniture cleaning.

big boy pretending to be a rapper w an entourage showed up - acted like 1 person was staying w him in a $2m house. Brought a bunch of druggies with him. Awful.

they won’t always back you be careful!!!!

Thomas1382
Level 4
St. Louis, MO

I recently hosted a guest who brought a significant amount of extra people along with them to stay in my home. They threw what appears to be some sort of a party. I found evidence of them smoking marijuana in the home, drinking, balloons, confette. My rules explicitly say no smoking inside the home and no parties. When my cleaner informed me of what had happened I immediately drove into town to see for myself. If that wasn't enough of a depressing reality to walk in on. I found they had broken a few minor items in the home as well as a brand new vanity I had just installed. Every sheet, linen, towel, and cloth in my place was wet and bundled in a massive pile at the bottom of my steps (I have enough towels and linens for 15 people).  I had spoken to multiple Air Bnb operators about how to go about documenting and seeking payment from this guest. I only had a limited amount of time to take photos, schedule a handy man for repairs, and get my cleaning staff back out to get the property ready for my next guests. Now a month later, the claims department is telling me my handyman who is a long time friend of my mother's does not have a valid invoice, my pictures do not go into enough detail, and the security deposit I request actually is not taken from the guest or put in an escrow account as insurance for situations such as this. Basically it is starting to sound like people can easily get away with stuff like this. I do not feel comfortable using my rental property as an Air BnB as much when I began this journey. I dumped a healthy amount of time, love, and money into this place. I am starting to feel that less you have a small manageable property, or a loft that is indistructable that Air Bnb is a bad move.