Vandalism

[Olga1407]

Hello everyone. I am a new host and was very unlucky with our recent guests. I am sorry for the gross details, but they left excrement marks throughout the house (one family with 3 teenagers,  no babies, no animals), hid dirty (with the same substance) towels in drawers, put used toilet paper in a hairdryer’s bag, scratched windows, walls, counter. I could not believe it was even human. I have pictures of all of this. What should I do? I read about posting a negative review close to 14 day deadline. Should I file a claim for extra cleaning, scratched surfaces? These are not just messy people, this was intentional and I don’t with anyone to go through this. 
p.s. they had 7 positive reviews over the past 6 years (including comments on the clean house they left) but the very first one from 2018 described a very similar situation to ours… 

[Alicia753]

Hi @Olga1407 , 

I'm sorry to hear about your challenging experience with these guests. Here's a step-by-step approach you might consider:

Document Everything: Ensure you have clear, date-stamped photos or videos of all the damages and mess.

File a Claim: Submit a claim through Airbnb’s Resolution Center. Please look for "Aircover" using the Airbnb message thread on browser. Do this promptly as you must file within 14 days of the guest’s checkout or before the next guest arrives. Include all documented evidence and a detailed account of the damages.

Communicate with the Guests: Message the guests via Airbnb to discuss the condition they left your property in, keeping a record of the conversation.

Leave an Honest Review: Post a factual review detailing your experience after documenting and addressing the damages. Consider waiting until near the end of the 14-day review period.

Contact Airbnb Support: If the issue escalates or the resolution is unsatisfactory, reach out to Airbnb support for further assistance.

Taking these steps should help you manage the situation effectively and prevent future incidents.

I hope this helps.

All the best,

**

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[Lorina14 · Accepted solution]

@Olga1407 

I’m so sorry to hear about what happened. I agree with @Alicia753, Take pictures, document everything, file a claim, message the guests stating the facts and asking them what happened as this is the state of the space when your cleaning crew came in, contact Airbnb support and let them know what happened.

File a damage claim ASAP (but within 14 days of the reservation max) and explain how you found the space after they left. It is important to make sure your claim is filed before the next guests reservation as I have seen some posts here on the community forum that their claims were denied because they were filed after another guest or two checked in, even with the documentation and date/time stamped photos of the damage from the guest in question. 

Please let us know what happens. Please also post a factual review so other hosts know with the numerical rating as well as an honest factual account of what state you found your space in. This can be filed on the last day to prevent them from filing a retaliatory review. 

[Paula]

Hello @Olga1407,  I am sorry to hear about this situation.

Have you had a chance to read the suggestions from our experienced Hosts? Have you decided to file a claim?

Please keep us posted.

[Olga1407]

Thank you all for your kind support and helpful guidance in this matter. At the end, I did not file a claim. First, we had guests arriving the same evening, so i was already late with filing when I read your messages. Second, outside of gross and lengthy cleaning, I am not sure Airbnb would consider surface scratches (and you know how difficult it is to capture glass scratches, for instance) other than normal wear and tear. I was quite concerned also that this blatant disrespect to the house was a reflection that they were not happy with smth (despite never mentioning any issues). And also because upon departure they claimed that they left the house clean, I did not want to réengage with them before leaving the review. So as you suggested, I waited to post my review. They left their review 2 days ago and I posted mine. I was honest and factual but not too detailed or harsh. I gave them 3/5 for cleanliness. I thought 1 or 2 should be reserved for real property damage (broken things etc). They left a great happy 5 star review. Later I saw that they left a public response to my review saying none of it is true and mentioning some other negative things about the house. Both my concierge/cleaning lady and I decided to just leave it at that. I can’t deal with liars. Moving on… 

[Lorina14]

@Olga1407 

I think rating a 3/5 was way too generous. I would definitely file a claim whether or not Airbnb reimburses you there was extra time spent and the condition that they left your place in was unacceptable. This is also so there is a log of an offense. If they do this again to another host, they will have a pattern of occurrence and hopefully will not be allowed on the platform. Nobody would want to host guests who disrespect their property like that.

@Paula is there a different team where his experience can be forwarded to?