guest at neighbor's AirBnb damage my property

[Bruce504]

I live next door to an AirBnb.  Guests there backed out of garage into my fence.  I have it on video.  The host (who lives out of state) initially denied any responsibility until I showed him the video proving his guests caused the damage.  Said he would have it professionally repaired but then sent the boys who did the damage to repair it themselves and it was not done properly at all.  I have communicated about this multiple times online with AirBnb (initially using the telephone 'hotline').  Different people keep emailing me back and I have to tell the same story over and over again.  Several have told me to file on the AirBnb self insurance, but there is no way I can do that without having things like the guest's reservation number, which as a next door neighbor, I obviously don't have.  I can never get beyond this point.  No live person to talk to.  No other suggestion except to file on their insurance.  HELP!

[Pat271]

You may be barking up the wrong tree. I wouldn’t count on Airbnb to get involved with this. It’s dicey enough for Airbnb hosts to collect on something like this, let alone a neighbor.

Have you checked your own insurance? They might cover this.

If not, and if your neighbor won’t cooperate, I would look into small claims court, and send your neighbor (and maybe the guest, if you can get his info) a letter indicating that you are doing so. That might be enough to motivate one or both of them to cooperate.

[Debra687]

Taking another point of view  for discussion... 

Why is the host responsible? The host can't control what guests do to others' property. For example, if a guest ran into a car on the road, would that be the host responsibility? Or the driver's responsibility and therefore a claim against the driver's insurance? If a guest is fishing off a dock at an Airbnb property and hooked the next door neighbor by accident, is the host responsible or the person who is fishing? 

[Sarah977]

Airbnb isn't going to compensate you for this, because you aren't the host or a guest. It's the host who would have to apply for compensation either from his guest or Airbnb to pay you to repair the damage properly. So I think the only route that is going to work is to tell the host that you are going to take him to small claims court if he doesn't cough up the $.

@Bruce504

[Gaius4]

Our AirBNB neighbors had kids that rented the property and had a huge party.   Police were called.   There were hundreds of kids that swarmed neighboring homes damaging fences, trees, plants, landscaping, etc.

The damage was in the thousands.

Yes, AirBNB is DEFINITELY paying all of us for our damages and we are not guest or hosts.    The key is to have filed police reports and to have receipts showing the amount spend to remediate the damage.

[Dawn241]

I agree, you can’t go after Airbnb.

You can file a police report. Most likely you will have to go through your insurance company who will in turn go after your neighbors insurance company.