Resolution center refused to refund damages caused by 1st time Airbnb user

[Premika0]

I was devastated to find my home completely torn apart after my super model from Korea left my apartment:

1. The 2 shower heads stripped off the shower hose: the showers were adjacent to each other with a 2 meter long hose.

2. The faucet handle of a rainshower torn from the valve, the part could not be fixed so I had to replace the whole rain shower.

3. The 6 meter floor to ceiling curtain  forcefully pulled down that it fell off the railing and needed to be fixed with a special scaffolding

4. Table top scratched by the guest in the attempt to remove candle wax.

To note: These items are made of metal and could not have been easily destroyed if used in a reasonable manner and for the right purpose:

I had a guest checking in shortly after, so I had to fix all the damages  within one day and pay premium price. I made the claim a few days after prior to my next guest check in to reimburse for the damages caused. The guest denied any responsibility, and requested a refund as a compensation equivalent about 2,000 USD, her 1 month stay at the condo for the mental suffering that all this put her through. After resorting to the resolution center, providing with all the evidence, photos, market price of the items, quotations from contractors, reimbursement was denied, the reason being one of quotations came from a listed company that had many activities that are other than contractor.

I am an experienced superhost with 130 reviews that are in average more than 82% 5 stars. My guest is a first time Airbnb user with no review.

Last year alone, Airbnb gained from my different listings at least 20,000 USD in commission.

The resolution center decided to release the security depost to the guest,  close the issue giving me 0 refund on the damages. The damages are there. I feel that the decision is totally biased and I don't see the point of having a host guarantee. Is there any other channels that I can resort to to review the case or is the verdict final? 

[David126]

If you read the AirBnB Host Guarantee you will see there is an Arbitration Clause, that would seem to be your only option.

There have been many similar stories on here but I have yet see anybody who has gone through Arbitration.

[Premika0]

My listing is in Bangkok and the claim amount is less than 1,000 USD . If I go to Arbitration, does that mean I will have to travel all the way to the US for the hearing? If so, will I have to pay for my own ticket, accomodation and lawyer fees? Thanks.

[David126]

Airbitration is where the parties agree to pass over the paperwork to an arbitrator to decide the merits of a case and agree to accept the result.

According to the wording for small amounts like this ABB pay the fee.

I believe it a a desk based excercise, no appearance needed.

I has been mentioned a few times, if anybody has gone through the process they have not reported back. Perhaps they decided it was not worth the hassle?

[Christine611]

I'm also disappointed by Airbnb's response. It took two weeks (during which time I sent many, unanswered, emails, made phone calls and sent messages on Twitter) before a case manager was assigned. I was asked to send photographs of the extensive damage to our home, which I did straight away, and also to send quotes for repair within 7 days. As this request was made on bank holiday it was difficult to get tradesment to respond and so I asked for additional time for obtaining the quotes, which Airbnb agreed. However, the quotes were sent within the body of an email, and another fitter replied apologising that he was so busy he couldn't deal with the quote until a couple of days time - I sent this off to Airbnb so that they realised the difficulty I was experiencing gathering a range of quotes in a short timeframe. 

Anyway, my efforts were clearly insufficient. Airbnb would not accept quotes which were not on headed notepaper (tradesmen just don't do that always these days) and had no sympathy regarding a late quote due to a busy kitchen fitter. Their decision not to compensate was final.

So it would appear that it is ok if your home is trashed and left in a filthy state with both minor and substantial damage.

I will never host my main home again as I have lost trust and confidence in the basic respect guests should have for the homes they are able to stay in, despite other very successful and happy hosting experiences and the fact that I too have been a guest and tried hard to leave the host's house clean, tidy and undamaged.

Very puzzled by Airbnb's attitude - I'd have thought they would have wanted to show greater support in these circumstances.

[Premika0]

I finally got paid after sending proofs to Airbnb of the contractor's company registration papers that they had other activities than being just a contractor and that they were wrong to assume that I was trying to cheat my guest by sending quotations from a travel agent. The amount that was refunded equals the deposit amount. If the claim exceeds that amount then I think it has to go through the "host guarantee", and like any insurance company, they will go out of their way not to pay you. So what I suggest is that you increase your deposit amount in the future because this is the amount that your guest is liable to pay in case of damages and upaid services. I doubled the deposit in all my listings after that experience so that I would hot have to resort to "host guarantee".

The Airbnb support team staff can also alter the email conversation, by deleting parts of the conversation that would proof that they are wrong or incompetent, or jeopardize their integrity. So I also suggest that you print screen everytime when there is a dispute, because when you go back to the conversation, some messages may also mysteriously dissappear. They are IT experts so anything can be done.

In the past, when all communications were dealt from Airbnb's headquarter in SF, everything was pretty straight forward. But there as been a lot of changes since it is now managed from South East Asia office, Korea, China, Singapore....for us in Thailand anyway. Korean guests also have special priviledges that can override host's strict cancellation policy.

[Peggy-And-Mike0]

Your listings are beautiful!  So sorry to hear of the issues but glad it was resolved in your favor.

[Tracy652]

It seems to me that the so-called security deposit is a total scam. I made my first damage claim after over a year of hosting. The guest refused to pay and so it automatically and immediately went into the Host Guarantee program. Further I found out that stains on furniture are not considered damage and are not covered by the security deposit. I eventually recovered money for damage and cleaning expenses but it was a long frustrating and complicated process and the so called security deposit was completely irrelevant. 

[Adrien95]

Dear Christine

we had a similar experience, completely let down by AirBnB. We are looking to move to another platform.

All the best, Adrien

[Premika0]

From my experience, it seems that some of the Airbnb support team staff today are not only incompetent, they seem to have absolute no knowledge of the Airbnb policy and can hardly speak English, so they are not able to communicate. They are not qualified to be assigned to the job. In the past when everything was managed from the SF headquarter, everything was more efficient and professional. But to cater for many Airbnb users from all over the world, Airbnb has to use local staff that can speak the language (Russian, Chinese, Korean...) to be able to communicate with the guests, but these people also do not speak English well. We have a hard time trying to understand them. You just have to keep insisting, and insisting... The good side is that it seems easier today get hold of an actual human being Airbnb support team, a couple of years ago, there was no number that we can call, and we would be communicating with just computers.

[Elaine701]

@Adrien95 , @Christine611 

Yes, we've had similar experiences and were completely let down by Airbnb, even after presenting irrefutable evidence, and the guest even admitting it. We received nothing. 

But I'd like to comment about "moving to other platforms", and I've even considered starting a thread on it, because that topic comes up so often after getting shafted by a guest, and subsequently, Airbnb. 

So, here's our experience, for what it's worth (trying to be brief about a really complex issue) 

First, we've spent years developing our ratings on Airbnb. We work really hard at it. It's extremely important. Not only for listing placement in search pages, but also because in our case, we're on a tourist island, but well "off the beaten path".

We're not on the beach (which is the idyllic setting for almost all guests searching), yet due to our high ratings, we end up intermixed in the first few pages of most searches, whether the guest searches for beaches or not.

One extremely important strategy to achieve consistently high ratings is to be sure you set expectations properly, and then consistently exceed them. We are very clear that we're a countryside villa, not on the beach, and then explain the benefits of that. 

The result is that often (very often), we are introduced to those searching for what they believe is their idyllic holiday, only to be shown that there's another, perhaps more interesting alternative. 

I don't know how many guests have remarked that they would have never booked our villa if they hadn't been presented with it in the first place. And they're glad they've been introduced to something they didn't realise could be so satisfying. 

....So, hold that thought..... 

As a result of our recent, and increasingly more frequent disappointments with Airbnb guests, and Airbnb, we've created listings on the other major platforms. And I can tell you, it's going to be a long road to even getting intial bookings or anything attention at all. On other platforms, we show up on page 75 or something, simply because we have no ratings, no history. 

Another thing you can be sure of, is that in terms of host support, they're just as likely to be as disinterested as Airbnb.

So, toss away any illusions that anyone else is going to support you in any better way. That's just not the nature of the business. It's the >guests< that do all the buying, not the hosts. Bookings is what their business is all about. Host support is just a somewhat necessary evil. And in some cases nonexistent, such as in the case of booking.com.

So, while you should indeed start listing on other platforms, don't for one minute expect that anything much will come of it for a long, long time, or that they'll support you or get better quality guests. No matter what they claim.

And definitely don't close your listing on Airbnb. You have much too much invested in it. It will hurt you. 

And protect yourself. Nobody else will protect you. That's just the nature of this beast. 

[Ann72]

@Elaine701  I think you've hit the nail on the head and should consider doing a separate post.  I haven't had a bad customer service experience or wanted to leave, but have found other platforms to be very slow and to bring mostly scam inquiries.  I could pay more at one of them to get more, but so far don't have much interest in doing that as Airbnb brings me such steady business.  I've used another platform's prices on Airbnb this year, though, because they're so much higher.

In addition to the ratings we've all built up, Airbnb has a far larger market reach than any other platform.  People have been saying for years that another one will come along and overtake them, but it hasn't happened.

[Elaine701]

@Ann72 

Thanks for that. And akthiygh I loathe the thought of validating Airbnb's declining host support, there's stark reality to consider.

However, I'd question a bit about Airbnb's "far larger market reach". VRBO has been acquiring everybody, and posssbly now eclipses Airbnb I  terms if market reach. But that in no way suggests it's a better platform. They're not by any stretch. They're just big. And rather cattle car-ish, like booking.com.

And, there's some nationalities who are only beginning to be familiar with Airbnb. For example, for our region at least, British tourists have historically overwhelmingly preferred homeaway (now VRBO) and booking.com. I can't say for sure why, but I speculate that it's at least partly due to familiarity, and that Brits tend to prefer British flagged tour operators, of which homeaway used to be. 

That's not to say Airbnb is less desirable than the others in that context, since we've never been much of a British oriented offering, and as Mallorca tourism is dominated by German and other European nationalities, they've always been our focus anyway. And Germans seem to love Airbnb. So it fits. 

Anyway, sorry for the rambling. I might start a thread about moving to other platforms when I find more time.

Enjoy what's left of your weekend. 

[Ann72]

@Elaine701  Definitely other platforms are hot on their heels, but Airbnb still has more listings, a stickier website, more search referrals - lots of under-the-hood advantages.  They can't rest on their laurels, though, that's for sure.

[Ian611]

Hi, I had trouble claiming for a soiled mattress caused by a filthy workman,my place was booked by his employer who is also a host,the first booking by her was ok but the second booking was the disaster one. I actually called her to tell her what happened and she agreed to get it sorted,well she didn’t she got her worker to call me and he said he put a rubbish bag with a bottle of coke in it that leaked on the bed soaking the mattress and stained it.He said it was an accident,I think he wet the bed with the amount of beer consumption.Any he he said what are you going to do about it,I said I want the money for a new mattress.He hung up . I had to go through the process of asking her for the money,why should guests have to do this ,she refused saying I should have had a waterproof mattress protector on, I have one on but not waterproof then she said the mattress was old anyway.The mattress was perfectly fine until this idiot came through the door.I then tried to claim through host guarantee but they made a mistake and used the previous booking dates and said I was too late to claim,it gets worse, I was told to start the whole process over again,the guest still refused. I tried to call abb this was was very difficult but eventually did speak to an agent who sounded concerned and would get someone to call me back,they never did,got email apologies twice as they didn’t call when they said.Eventually I got my money refunded ,as a gesture of good will they said,bloody cheek I say.An admin rep saw my message on here while I was going through the process I think He did help speed it along.

But what a nightmare of what guests have to do.