Extra Cleaning Costs Recovery - Best Practice?

[Patrick3629]

Hi there fellow Airbnb hosts. I am hoping that you can help me with a difficult situation. Thanks in advance for your expert suggestions.

We are superhosts of a 8-person holiday home in Australia and have a rating of 4.92 from about 160 reviews. Unfortunately, our last guests left our holiday home in a shockingly dirty state, with rubbish and food rests everywhere. They also left persistent stains on the kitchen benchtop.

Our cleaners had to spend an extra two hours cleaning the place, which has created a significant extra expense, further potentiated by public holiday cleaning rates ($240). I would like to charge our guests this amount, but don't know how to best manage it, without creating more issues, especially if they were to turn against us and give us a bad rating.

The other thing I would like to do, is to provide an honest guest rating, so that other Airbnb hosts know who and what they will be dealing with. Interestingly, the guests had previously stayed in two other Airbnb properties, but had no reviews at all. I could of course just walk away, wear the extra cost and not welcome them back again, but I believe I owe it to them and the Airbnb community to provide honest feedback.

I would appreciate any suggestions on how you best manage this situation.

Regards, Patrick

[Robyn555]

I too would welcome replies. I had 4 plus unpaid extras book for 2 weeks. Refused a mid week clean and after several attempts to wash linen and towells after 7 days of workmen's use got refused. Was read my rights that I could not go in according to airbnb policy and it seems correct. They left early and requested a refund after taking my cutlery,  using half a tank of water and the place took 5 hours to clean. I do the cleaning. I think airbnb do not help us here as if we review we will surely get a low review and they are not honest.

[Joan2709]

@Patrick3629 

The red flag was previous stays with no reviews. This usually indicates the Host decided not to review the guest and usually do that as they fear retaliation reviews from the guest. This causes Hosts to decline reservations where there are trips but no reviews or no trips for new guests. This is not fair to those good guests who are first time users of Airbnb, but you see why Hosts do this in your situation. Airbnb has created an environment where a guest damages a property and if the Host claims for damages (as they should) the guests then leave a retaliatory review with fake claims in order to punish the Host and the Host is unable to get the review removed. Hosts have suggested several ways to resolve this issue to no avail. 

Timing of Your Reviews & Aircover Claims
Handling these scenarios is all about timing of your Air Cover claim and your review of the guest.

3 important dates to remember:
- 14 days to write/submit a review (Host & Guest)
- 14 days to file the Aircover claim
- 30 days to submit any addl proof if asked (video/photos/receipts)

I suggest Hosts not let on to a guest they will be filing an Aircover claim until the guest writes their review, or the 14day window is about to close. Wait for the guest involved to post their review first. Gather all your proof (video/photos/receipts/Police Report, etc.). Do not post your Host review and file your claim until the guest posts their review.

If the guest doesn't post a review, wait unit just before the 14day cutoff and post your honest review first and file your claim immediately after posting the review. Give yourself enough time to enter the information on Airbnb just before the cutoff. If Airbnb asks for more information on your Aircover claim, you have 30days to provide it, so don't miss that deadline either. Be factual and non-emotional in your review and don't give any reason for Airbnb to remove your honest review, or make claims you can't prove. Undoubtedly the guest will try to get Airbnb to remove your honest review of them.

If the guest writes their review, then no need to wait until the 14-day deadline. Post your honest review, file the Airbnb claim and some Hosts also message the guest AFTER the 14day window has expired that damages were discovered after their stay and can they shed some light on that? Guests cannot change their review once theirs and yours are posted...they only thing they can do is ask Airbnb to remove their review. This usually prevents "revenge" reviews from guests.

[Patrick3629]

Thanks @Joan2709  for your very comprehensive recommendations, which are much appreciated. I was going to play it super transparent and contact the guest before they post their review, but will now time my honest guest review and Aircover claim just before the expiry of the 14 days, as per your recommendation. With this in mind, the 14-day clock starts at check-out time, right? In my case, that would be 10AM. In all honesty, I would prefer to provide feedback immediately, but it seems from the many posts from fellow hosts that Airbnb does not always follow through on removing retaliatory guest reviews. I will keep you and our host community posted on any further developments. Thanks again for your help.

[Joan2709]

@Patrick3629 

I agree that most Hosts would prefer to contact the guest, but Airbnb has created the current environment by refusing to remove reviews that are clearly retaliation for filing damage claims. 

I'm told the countdown of the 14days does start at checkout time (in the time zone of the listing). You can check that by monitoring the countdown Airbnb provides as it does go down to hours and minutes remaining. Remember to give yourself enough time to file your claim and post your review. Most Hosts prepare that ahead of time and just copy paste it when needed prior to the cutoff.

[Patrick3629]

Thanks @Joan2709 , that will be perfect in terms of getting the timing right. Such a shame that we have to play the system this way, but it seems that we unfortunately don't have a choice. By the way, I am also in touch with Airbnb to see what they have to say about the whole situation. I will share any further insights with you. Thanks again for your help.