First time dealing with guest damaged: seeking advice

[David11304]

hi all -

A guest left this morning, and my housekeeper reported that they had (1) broken one of the window screens, which was now on the lawn outside (2) left a big, nasty stain on the carpet and (3) damaged a sort of bed curtain/doorway thing.

I was on my way home when I got this information, but unfortunately the next guests arrived at exactly 3pm and I didn't have a chance to go in the house and check the carpet, which is my main concern. I heard from the guest right away, that there was a 'wet and gross' stain on the carpet and wondering if we had any spray or anything to help it. I offered to come down and try to remove it, but the guest said they wanted privacy and offered to spray it with hotspot, a pretty good carpet stain remover I keep around the house.

So, now Im not sure what to do. I don't want to push the current guest on the issue because they already had an issue on checkin and I don't want negative review. I don't want to start a resolution request because I'm not really sure if the carpet stain can be removed or not, so I don't know what to ask for. And, I don't want to risk negative review from the guest who damaged the carpet and hoping they will leave a positive review before I file the request.

The current guest doesn't leave for a week, and I could possibly just wait for them to go then fix it up. 

This is my first time dealing with any real damage, so I am trying to figure out what to do. My main concern is negative reviews - we have a 4.98 rating on the house and I really see how a high rating helps keep occupancy nice and high. I already refunded $100 of the current guests fees in compensation for arriving to see that stain right by their bed, hopefully they won't leave a negative review either.

What to do? Maybe just wait a week?

[Frances3408]

@David11304 . I'm hoping the cleaner took photos (date stamped) and sent them through with a brief report to you. Aircover claims are required to start to be lodged within 14 days or before next guest arrival (otherwise it can be hard to prove who did the damage). So if you havent started this process I would be concerned youve lost your window of opportunity.

If the next guest is settled in then just keep in contact via messages to check that they are happy with DIY stain cleaning otherwise make it clear you are very happy to send in cleaners at a time that suits them. If you dont have any photos and you think you might need some for your records, then ask the guest to send you some; otherwise you may want to minimise this issue with current stay.

Dont review previous (damage) guest until you get back into the listing. you have time. If its going to be a bad review (and you decide to do it) then wait until almost deadline, keep it factual and make sure that you respond to any guest review they write.

[Helen3]

Hello @David11304 

It would have been better when the cleaner found the damage for you to have sent photos of the damages to the guest before the next guest checked in and told them you would be getting quotes to repair the window and damage to the carpet , if you wanted to make a claim against the Airbnb guarantee. 

why did your cleaner not use the spray you had to treat the carpet? 

you can try and make a claim but Airbnb may turn it down.

you could also claim on your own home insurance for short term lets .

[David11304]

I do have photos of all the damage, yes. 

The housekeeper did try to clean the carpet as best they could.

[Rebecca]

Hello @David11304 👋

It's lovely to see you joining in conversations on the Community Center!

I'm tagging @Helen8 here so they receive a notification of your message. If you type "@" and then the username, this will tag the member that you're replying to. 

[David11304]

UPDATE: 

It's been 12 days since the guest left.  I've had a carpet cleaning service come out and they removed the stain, although it cost $199. I also found that the non-slip padding underneath the carpet was soiled and ruined, and had to be replaced for $30.  

I also ordered a new window screen for $90 and it's been installed. 

I took photos of everything including receipts and even the carpet cleaning guys doing their work. I decided to not worry about the bead curtain (I can fix it myself) and the $100 that I comped to the next guest for having to deal with that wet stain in the bedroom. It seemed like it would be better to simply claim the clear, documented, simple expenses that were easy to explain.

I've just submitted the reimbursement request. Now we wait 🙂  Meanwhile, i haven't had a review from the guest and continue to worry about getting a mediocre review from him in retaliation, which AirBnb won't remove.  

It annoys me that this same guest violated the house rules by bringing 3 children (our max occupancy is 2), but I don't think that really changes anything so I didn't mention it in the reimbursement request.  

Here we go 🙂

[Helen3]

If they had extra people staying I would have charged them for that too. Please leave an honest review to warn your fellow hosts about these guests @David11304 

[David11304]

I considered it, but decided not to engage it. The reason is that I worry about getting reviews that aren't five star when I do something like that. We're up to 64 reviews and 63 of them are five-star reviews, and I really noticed how having such a high rating affects occupancy and the nightly rate. This year occupancy is very high, even during the slow period, and we have bookings throughout the entire spring already set up. Also, I've upped the rates more than 10% since last year. 

I can't say for sure that this is because of the good reviews we're getting, but I do seem to be getting more bookings than other hosts in the area. So I'll become very wary of doing anything that might lead to a negative review. It's a tricky choice. 

In the end, I'm just going for revenue, so the occasional small repair or rule violation is okay if it brings in more revenue. We'll see how it feels in another year.

[Joan2709]

@David11304 

Lots of great advice....

Same day check-ins can be a real issue for exactly the situation you describe. Some Hosts forgo adding extra time between guests to maximize revenue, but it can lead to problems. If you had set 2 days Advance Notice and 1 night between bookings, this would allow you a full 24hrs between guests to address cleaning and repair issues before the next guest arrives.

[David11304]

Yes I used to do that, but nowadays I go for the same day to try and squeeze more revenue. So far it's been ok, and even the guests who had to look at the stain left a 5 start review. Hopefully I don't regret doing same day turnarounds but so far so good.