How to handle guest denial of damage in resolution?

[Jayne34]

Just had a check out and they shattered the tv, broke shelves and glasses but left a discustung mess. I sent in a request for money and they replied that they did not leave the house in the condition of the pictures and nothing was broken (except the leg on the tv which they claim they fixed) claiming I'm lying and they will  call their family lawyer. (Group of young people obviously).i wasn't here to check them out but no one broke in did all that damage then relooked the door when they left in the span of several hours until I got there. How will this be handled? I can't prove they did it but of course they did!

[Lisa723]

@Jayne34 read all of this carefully: https://www.airbnb.com/help/article/767/what-is-the-resolution-center

Be sure you take photos of everything, and get receipts and/or professional repair estimates for everything. If you haven't already, file your claim before next guests check in or within 14 days whichever is first. If guest does not agree to pay within 72 hours then select "involve Airbnb". The result is going to depend a lot on what CS agent you get. Write your account clearly, accurately, completely, and professionally. Note you probably can't be reimbursed for the mess, but you ought to be for the damage.

[Robin4]

@Jayne34 

Hi Jayne, @Lisa723  has told you what you need to do, and in most cases, if you document the damage  and provide a reasonable assessment of what has happened Airbnb will cooperate and help you. Most cases like this are resolved to the satisfaction of the host. 

Just be reasonable with the Resolution Centre and ask for help....don't demand action! The quickest way to get the door shut on a claim is to bounce CX.

As far as how this came apart Jayne, these 'guests' would not have been locals would they???

There is a golden rule in hosting.....Don't let to locals! You need a cast iron reason why this guests needs the use of your property and not their own. 

Most travellers will treat a property with respect because the last thing they want is to put their booking options off-side. But locals could not care less. They don't want to ever stay with you again, they just needed somewhere close to stage their little celebration that got a bit out of hand.

Jayne, Don't let to locals!

Cheers......Rob

[Alice595]

@Robin4I agree that it is riskier to accept locals. But the current Airbnb system only shows the first name of a guest. There is no good way to get information like full name, age, location, pictures of guests. You may risk your superhost status or your property being delisted if your acceptance rate is too low. We as hosts should provide feedback to Airbnb about these unreasonable restrictions introduced by Airbnb.

https://www.airbnb.com/help/feedback

[Jayne34]

Thank you for your input. No they werent locals. They were a group of young people and I suspect there were more than the 4 that were booked on the reservation. This comes back to a question I have about how to verify ages. I could tell from his picture that I didnt receive until after accepting that he appeared young. How do u obtain I'd and ages from not only guest but the rest the the party prior to arrival? My bookings have been slower after I got a bad review from another guest who trashed my house and I put a claim on so I've resorted to taking guests w no prior reviews. For the most part they have been ok but I take the chance of one like this who is now going to give me a bad review sending my rating back down to what it was after the first bad one. 

[Alice595]

@Jayne34I feel your pain since I have had similar situations like yours: party damages and retaliatory review. Airbnb system definitely needs to have some changes before they lose hosts because of the following issues

(1) Lack of screening of guests and hiding guests profile before a booking is confirmed. Anybody can register and make a reservation. This has great potential risk to hosts because hosts have the property listed publicly and most of time they live on the property as well.

(2) Rigid review system which favors the guests. Airbnb allows the retaliatory reviews. But with the poor screening system, hosts have more chances for getting retaliatory reviews from unreasonable guests.

(3) Airbnb does not enforce house rules and sometimes even encourage or help guests to break house rules. Just give one incidence occurred recently to me. I have strict cancellation policy. One guest canceled a booking two weeks after. She called Airbnb and requested full refund. Airbnb strict cancellation policy is only refund 50% in this case. But Airbnb customer service called me and asked me if I could give full refund. A rule is a rule. It is very simple for an Airbnb customer service rep to say NO because it breaks the rule if a full refund is given.

(4) There are no penalty for guests who break the house rules. Many guests ignore the house rules. Most common ones being broken (i) Extra guests more than booked; (ii) No party; (iii) No smoking

I would suggest all hosts who suffered should provide feedback to Airbnb

https://www.airbnb.com/help/feedback

Btw, you need to involve Airbnb as soon as possible for getting the money back. Airbnb will take depreciation of damaged items. Therefore, you may not get the entire money you requested back.