What to do if my guest damaged the mattress?

[Sarah6116]

Hello! We only just hosted our 2nd guest in our brand new tiny house. Sadly, our guest damaged the mattress (there is a big stain on it) and we will have to purchase a new one. We still have the receipt of the mattress, as it is brand new as well. 
How should we approach the situation? 

[Mike-And-Jane0]

@Sarah6116 You can claim from the guest and then air cover if they do not agree to pay. I wonder if both would suggest you should have protected the mattress better. Waterproof mattress covers are essential for Airbnbs. 

Your alternative is to clean and flip the mattress, buy a cover and move on.

[Kia272]

@Sarah6116  Utilizing mattress covers that protect from wetness, stains, bedbugs, etc. is essential when running an AirBnB. As a guest, I'm probably going to check. You can't have strangers exchanging beds, without protecting from anything that might be spread, as well as the occasional accident.  

It's not nice that your guests did this, but I'd chalk this up to inexperience as hosts, and take the hit yourselves. A hard lesson, but necessary. 

[Sarah6116]

We've been really forgiving with this guest, as she had booked for a full month and ended up leaving earlier - we then refunded her for a full week. 
It very much looks like this is a urine stain, so since we refunded more then double of the amount of what the mattress is worth, I have now filed a request to her to pay for the same mattress in new. 

We did have a mattress cover that would be fine for any normal staining, but not for that amount of liquid.