Problem with Airbnb Host Guarantee: hosts beware!!

[Valentina32]

Dear Hosts,

I have been a host for many years and recently found myself in a situation where a group of guests caused considerable damage to my property.

I submitted my request to Airbnb on time and according to guidelines and after two weeks of back and forth where Airbnb asked me to provide a sizeable amount of documents to prove the damage, I was told that my Host Guarantee payment request had been declined as it was not possible to determine the guest's liability for the damages.

This is more than disappointing  as it means that unless you can prove your guest was directly responsible for the damage (by taking a picture of the damage while it is happening? by installing CCTVs in your property?) Airbnb will not cover you. When I raised this point I was told that they are sorry but Airbnb reserves the right to make the final determination with regard to these disputes.

What this tells me is that the Airbnb Host Guarantee is not exactly what they lead us to believe and the deposit they hold for you (which should be held on your behalf exactly for situations like this one) is little more than a joke.

I do not feel as safe leaving my house in the hands of strangers which could damage it without consequences.

Please be careful and assume that Airbnb will not cover for your damages and take extra precautions to protect your property.

If anyone else had similar experiences please share!

Valentina

[Jennifer464]

Same thing happened to me. The girls damaged my 115 year old, orignal hardwood floors. ABB said it was normal wear and tear.  They are 115 years old and have no damage like this! How is a weekend of 4 girls scrratching the heck out of my floors normal than!? After 115 years I'd have no floors left.  

I too have raised my prices to keep certain types of guests out and increased my cleaning fee. So far that has worked. 

[Alec17]

@Kelly149 Airbnb's will deny claims in all circumstances where either 1) the guest refuses to accept responsibility for the damages, or 2) the host cannot prove the damages were the responsibility of the guest.

Hosts who have never had problems being reimbursed for damages must have been lucky in that their guests admitted responsibility. Those who have problems are all in the second category - trying to prove the guest was responsible. 

[Kelly149]

@Alec17 I’ve had 4 claims paid that I can recall at the moment 

1. Guest told me about damage in msg thread but then didn’t accept the RC claim so abb CS paid the claim. $192

2. A lamp was broken. Guest never responded to messages or RC but abb CS paid the claim. $40

3. Towels were bleached by acne cream. Guest never responded to messages or RC but abb CS paid the claim. $30

4. Shower valve was spun such that it didn’t stay in place so plumber had to come disassemble and repair. Guest actually authorized that RC payment.  $175

None of those are huge amounts but there will never be proof that a guest did something other than our word that it was right before & it has a problem now. Maybe it is the luck of what CS you end up with or some other nebulous thing that we won’t figure out and I have no doubt that many claims don’t get paid. My point is merely to point out that it can happen. 

[Rachel1700]

My entire condo has been destroyed!  Carpets are so gross and everything else has either been broken or destroyed.  They lied about how many people and a pet.  That is how I got them finally out.  They put my antique Kilm rugs out on the patio to get wet and ruined.  All my books were boxed and thrown out on the patio to get wet and ruined.  There are no blinds in the bedroom and the other window is missing blinds.  Lamps broken, fans broken....even stole all my bedding in the master, including the memory foam!  Every piece of furniture was drawn on by permanent marker.  All the pool towels stolen and most of the other towels gone....Alot of the flatware gone too.  Its too much to mention.  Mostly I am wanting compensation for the floors.  That alone is close to 5K.  I have taken many pictures and have witnesses as well as my cleaners to vouch for me.  

They also wrote in their review that it was like that when they moved in.  AirBnb refuses to take that off and it is a complete lie!  

I live in Northern CA and this was in Palm Springs.  It cost me a small fortune to take time off work and get everything lined up.  There is no space on the Resolution Claim Form to put down those expenses as well as the lost rental income!

I also have an AirBnb in Texas which I am considering not renting out anymore on AirBnb because I just don't trust them to stand behind their word.  

I was told by and attorney to sue AirBnb if the damages are not paid for, but I'm not sure if it would take so much time and energy, and I'm sure they have big attorneys.  I may however.  

I'm not a wealthy person, and this mishap has wiped away all my savings!

[Robin4]

@Rachel1700 

Rachel I am so sorry for you and the hell you have been through.

The reality is, it doesn't matter how much proof you provide to Airbnb your chance of receiving adequate compensation is virtually zero!

If you are going to use Airbnb you must approach your dealings with them solely as a booking agency and expect nothing more than that.

Sure it's unfair, they will tell you that they will protect you but, as you have found out, their words are very shallow. You had no opportunity to assess the suitability of these guests Airbnb introduced to you prior to inviting them into your property but, learn from this, and if you continue to use Airbnb make sure you are properly independently insured with a reliable short term rental insurer to cover yourself against these potentially catastrophic events.

Once again Rachel, I feel for you and hope you can recover from this, good luck.

Cheers........Rob  

[Rachel1700]

Thanks for interest and your thoughts.  I am going to reconsider using AirBnb for my properties if they don't stand behind their promise to cover some of these costs.

I could easily rent my properties on FB Marketplace or Craigslist but it is the promise of having some sort of insurance to fall back on that had me confident in dealing with them.

We shall see???

I am pretty disgusted and upset that they have put the tenants lies on the review.  They said my place looked that way when they arrived and that surely was not true!

I even gave this family a ton of furniture when they said they didn't have any money to get started on their own.  

Sometimes it seems that the people you are the nicest to, are the ones that stab you in the back.   

[Alec17]

@Kelly149 I guess you got lucky but as you said, the amounts appear to be low so the Airbnb reps might have some threshold at which they're allowed to just accept the claim. The whole process seems very subjective. 

[Kelly149]

@Alec17 Yes, that is part of the struggle, so many hosts think that the security deposit is theirs to decide about or they struggle with how to create the documentation (I have a construction background so getting estimates/repairs from trades is easier for me than someone else) and then there are the conflicting timelines (48 hours, unless someone else is checking in & what if it’s an odd thing that takes awhile to figure out...)

Im not in anyway saying that it is easy to get damage reimbursement BUT

1. Hosts should first of all consider themselves & their personal insurance as the only guaranteed repairer of damage. 

2. Guest screening should account for the lack of true security deposit. Do you know who is actually renting from you. Do you have a rental contract that you could use to go after a guest thru small claims or through your insurance company. 

3. Maintain control of your place. If you rented to 4 & they show up with 12, you should kick them out rather than believing that your security deposit will solve whatever problems they cause

4. Don’t let fear of a bad review keep you from filing for damage. I had it on record that the guests loved their stay before the damage claim was filed. I have already discussed with CS that I’ll expect a revenge review to be dealt with if the guest gets cranky bc of the damage claim. 

[Brett3]

Hi Kelly, 

Please do update on weather or not abb remove a review.

I was told the same thing by abb but now have a dishonest, nasty review. Abb told me it is something to learn from and I should try and see the positive side of it. Looks like they have nailed the training in empathy 101!!

(sorry the system would not let me tag you) 

Brett

[Monica492]

Wouldn't it be easy to prove just by the number of emails guest and host exchange? That would certainly show the dates the guest was present in the home.

[Kelly149]

@Monica492 perhaps what @Valentina32 means is that unless you have detailed photos of every inch of your home then how do you "prove" that the guest caused the damage while they were in your home? This is a reasonable and fair question. I think all of us hope that ABB will look at our track record of hosting and take our word over the guest's, but clearly this is not always the case. The calculation that @Maria1507 is talking about is a good thought exercise. Is our place setup to handle the wear and tear and possible damage that guests may bring us and are we making enough money in the process to offset the risk?? For many hosts the answer may be no.

As @Fred mentioned earlier, hotels are built specifically to withstand this level of traffic and they have the benefit of deep corporate pockets to average out the mostly good with the occasionally terrible. Those of us with residential spaces (that we're fairly attached to since they're our HOMES) have to compute the value proposition differently.

[Tim-and-Laura0]

That's not true: I'm facing the situation were the guess admit they did the damage, I have picture of before and after the rental, and Airbnb host guarantee don't want to take care of it because it's the famous "normal wear and tear" (no damages in months of rental but all they did in 3 days is "normal")!

[Stacy3]

Unforutnatey, It's not about whether damage can be attributed to the guest. The guest has to agree to pay. Because of the way it is currently set up, Airbnb and the host cannot force them to pay.

I've have had several guests who caused damages and very kindly agreed to pay - this is smooth.

BUT, I have had 2 absolutely horrendous guests who caused damages, lied about it despite providing photos, and they paid 1/4th of what I asked for to cover their damages (and we were low-balling with what we asked for).

[Cliff-And-Claudia0]

Yes, lousy support from  this company ! We had over 10,000.00 worth of damage done to our house  over a month ago. Have not heard one word from the bogus trust & safty dept.  Apparently if you are not a super host then they care nothing about the low revenue you bring in for them. But cummulative we add a huge amount to their bottom line.  Discusting !

[Peter653]

I’m a super host. They don’t care about me, either.