Hi everyone,
This is my first post here, and I’m hoping to get some insight. I’ve spent over 7 years living and traveling across more than a dozen countries on 4 continents. Most of this was before Airbnb became widespread, so I stayed in hostels, hotels, and even rented apartments in London, Edinburgh, Brisbane, Auckland, and Vancouver. Recently, my entire family—five grown adults—visited Paris and stayed in a beautiful apartment in the Latin Quarter. My parents are in their 70s, so I specifically chose a Superhost listing to ensure a smooth experience. The trip was wonderful, especially for them, and I left a very positive review on Airbnb.
However, after we returned home, the host sent me a photo of his coffee table in pieces on the floor. He said his housekeeper "found the table like this." This surprised me, as that is absolutely not accurate. The housekeeper arrived around 8:15am just before we left and came into the room where the table was to have a conversation with me. The table was intact at that time. I actually found a photo taken that last morning (at 8:04am) with metadata confirming the time. The table is visible in the lower right corner—perfectly intact. We had briefly moved it for the photo and returned it to its original place. At that time, I noticed it was quite fragile—held together by a single, thin strap. The host claims the table is an antique and that the strap holds it together well, but from our experience, it was quite wobbly. I believe the table likely collapsed later, possibly when the housekeeper moved it while cleaning. The host says he trusts her completely, so I’m not sure what else I can say to prove that we are not responsible for the damage. He has said he intends to file a claim with Airbnb, and I’m really unsure how to proceed.
Given this was my first Airbnb stay, and the host's 'Superhost,' status, I now feel quite vulnerable. More than anything, I’m upset that any negativity has followed what was otherwise an incredible trip. We were very respectful of the apartment, its furnishings, and the house rules. The listing stated the apartment had internet, a washing machine, three bedrooms, a sofa bed, and space for six guests. The host’s rules required that we wear socks between 10pm–7am, which we actually did anytime we were in the apartment. Unfortunately, our whole family came down with pneumonia about halfway through the trip. Thus, packing had to be done slowly over the course of our final days. We had an early flight out of CDG, so on our last morning, we had to move around the apartment quietly from about 5am. We were very careful, but a neighbor knocked on the door shortly before we left to complain about the "floor creaking." We apologized in both French and English, though I’m not sure he understood our situation (that we'd been so sick,) or that we had actually followed the rules.
Another issue came up with the washing machine—it locked shut and trapped our clothes when we used it. The host sent his brother-in-law to fix it. He created a workaround to open and close the door and said a rubber seal needed replacing. After that, we used a local laundromat instead, in order to make sure we didn't damage the washer or lose any more clothes. Despite being as sick as we were, we cleaned the entire apartment thoroughly, washed all dishes, and emptied the trash multiple times. We didn’t launder the provided linens or towels ourselves, as the guidelines said they would be handled by a professional cleaning crew. However, the host later said the housekeeper struggled with the volume of laundry. Had we known this would be a problem, we would have gladly used the laundromat to wash them. With five adults showering daily—and using towels to clean the apartment—there were naturally quite a few.
My parents are in their final years and this trip was extremely important for them. Pneumonia for people in their 70s is exceptionally dangerous and finding an MD in France, especially for people their age, became very complicated. Therefore they both had to wait and go directly to the ER after we returned. Nevertheless, it's both heartbreaking and confusing to know that we're being blamed for damaging the furniture, and causing issues with things we were told wouldn't be problematic. Again, our family took great care during our stay, and I’m hoping for advice on how to navigate this situation with the damage claim.
Thanks so much in advance.
