Surprise and Impressed with Host Guarantee (Damaged Mattress Claim)

[Kaylee18]

I had 2 adults and 2 infants stay for one night.

The unit is 1 bedroom, and I assumed the guests would bring a sleeper/playpen for the babies as all my guests with infants have done this.  (lesson learned - never assume).

Next day I go in to clean and notice the mattress was soaking wet with staining. There was a strong urine odour and it was clear they had tried to clean the mattress. The mattress is memory foam. *There was a mattress protector on, however was not suitable for large amounts of liquid.. clearly. 

I contacted the guest. He admitted to his son peeing, however his version was the boy was wearing a diaper and a small amount of urine hit the bed sheets. 

 I contacted several cleaning companies to inquire if a memory foam mattress can be adequately cleaned after urine going through it. I was told no.

I had to cancel a 2 day stay that was checking in that day due to not having a mattress available at that time. 

I started a claim, and of course the guest denied it and refused to pay. 

I escalated the claim to Airbnb. 

3 days later to my surprise, they advised they would be refunding me for the mattress under the host guarantee coverage!!! 

I've read SO MANY negative stories here about hosts not being covered for damaged items, I was shocked with the positive outcome!

Just wanted to share my experience!

Anyone else have a positive experience with being refunded? 

[Cormac0]

@Susan17 

Nailed it again Susan

[Chastity3]

This is wonderful news! Thanks for sharing. I just started in renting my vacation condo as a short term. No issues yet, but glad to see some positives regarding hosts’ complaints for a change.

[Claire1312]

Quelle chance, moi j'ai eu une réservation d'une personne seule qui a quand même utilisé mon appartement pour faire une fête, vu le nombre de draps et serviettes utilisés, ils étaient nombreux et les dégâts à déplorer, serviettes, draps, peignoir et mon canapé neuf foutus à cause d'un produit à base de javel et le four cassé. Malgré les photos transmises, aucun remboursement, ils ne veulent pas etre injustes avec l'invité indélicat.

[Anne8654]

Hi everyone. What I find sad is these guests can move on to another unsuspecting airbnb host. Generally we all have amazing five star guests but the others, such as in this example, should have 'one strike you're out for good!' Am glad airbnb did the right thing but the lesson would be better learned if the money came from the offenders bank account.

[Mary996]

I agree, and don't understand why it isn't. I thought, subject to Hosts recording an amount, that a theoretical deposit was to be secured over Guest accounts?

[Suzanne302]

@Kaylee18  Glad you posted this!

I had a great experience with the host guarantee as well. They paid out when a guest ran into my garage door. The process was fairly simple and straighforward.

I highly suspect some of the people who complain about a bad experience with the host guarantee are their own worst enemy and may not be telling the whole story. (not all, but some)

[Ute42]

.

@Kaylee18 

Every now and then someone wins a couple of bucks in the 1 Million USD airbnb host lottery. This time You were the lucky one. Congratulations.

[Dune-Vacation0]

We had a guest who decided it was a good idea to cook their bacon in the stove and then proceeded to forget about it. The grease eventually spilled over and caused a fire. Thankfully, no one was hurt and it was caught quickly and did not turn into a major fire, but not before causing about $25,000 in damage. The stove was a high end commercial grade and there had to be some painting and smoke remediation in the home.

We contacted airbnb to begin the claim process, which took several months from start to finish. Even though it was a slow process and the owner had to pay out of pocket to replace the stove and for remediation (so there would be no loss of future bookings), they did come through and paid the full claim amount and the owner will be reimbursed fully.

[Mary996]

@Dune-Vacation0 

Hi Dune

Had you recorded an amount by way of a deposit in your Listing with Airbnb? I was wondering how this works?

[Petrina3]

i have all my  expensive king size mattresses  in an encasement protector (which protects from bed bugs as well as being waterproof etc)- then I have a  fitted mattress protector  over it as well.

In Australia these encasements are from "Pillowtalk" in case any one is interested 🙂

[Jennifer1809]

I also had an excellent experience with the host guarantee when our folding twin bed was broken by a guest who refused to pay for it.  Airbnb was courteous, and easy to deal with. I was pleasantly surprised...

[Simone939]

Lucky you cancelled the next booking and the guest refused to pay. Otherwise you would have had a hard time getting anything out of Airbnb.

[Andyb1]

well so far all comment and reviews here have been positive and i hope to enjoy it soon becus am new here......thanks

[Annette609]

That is encouraging to hear.  Happy for you

[Ian611]

Did you get compensated for the booking you had to cancel?