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My staff contacted me this morning to tell me the guests that just checked out broke the TV in one of the rooms (his daughter hit the screen). I contacted the guest and he says his daughter didn’t do it (of course). Our housekeeper says she cleaned it before they checked in and did not see damage and now it’s cracked. So it’s a “she said she said” deal as I don’t have a picture of the TV working prior to them checking in.
Advice?
Since they’re not owning up to it and you don’t have proof, all you can do is write it off as a business expense. Raise your nightly fee by a few dollars to help you offset the expense of replacing it.
This is a good time to test the new Air Cover policies. You asked them, they denied it but it’s not in the condition it was when they checked in. I’d put in a resolution center request. If Airbnb doesn’t help out it’s probably not worth filing with your homeowner’s insurance and then you can write it off.
I agree- I would try Air Cover. Submit a photo of the cracked screen, don’t worry about not having a photo of the uncracked screen- they will either accept the claim or not. Seems like it’s worth a try.
How do you know his daughter hit the TV?
The father denies it and house cleaner came after they checked out
Our housekeeper is there daily for at least a few hours (we’re a staffed villa). The daughter never told the housekeeper that the TV did not work but moved into the other bedroom to watch that TV so she appeared guilty by omission.
You can’t blame a guest, though, based on an assumption. And it seems rather strange to message the guest saying his daughter did it, simply based on her watching TV in another room, and may work against you as far as making aclaim.
If you are going to try to make a claim, just say the screen was found cracked after the guest’s stay, and was in perfect condition when they checked in.
I see…still not enough evidence the girl did it.
How would you handle this situation if it happened in your Airbnb?
Agree, you don’t know who broke the TV. Everyone always likes to (unjustly in most cases) blame the cleaning staff, but it’s odd that your cleaner pinned it on the kid without actually observing them knock it over or whatever, if I understand you.
It’s so hard not to react in the moment. Go for the Airbnb claim for sure, can’t hurt. Maybe be more factual and ask open-ended questions if there is damage in the future.
“Our property management team reported the TV screen was cracked during your visit. We are sending you an Airbnb Resolution Center invoice of $xxx to cover the damage.”
I think you have to have a go at the guest first anyway to make an Airbnb cover claim, yes?
Cleaner: The kid did it.
Host to Cleaner: Hmm, how do you know?
Cleaner: Well I certainly didn’t do it and they acted guilty.
Host to Guest: The TV screen was cracked during your stay. How did that happen?
Which is exactly why I started the thread with this is a “she said…she said” situation. I trust my housekeeper to tell me the truth, and I don’t know the guests. They have good ratings but none of them mention the children being with them. So who is to blame?
I agree with your approach except for asking the guest how it happened. It doesn’t matter how it happened, only that it did, unless the TV is placed somewhere it can easily be knocked over, in which case it would be a live and learn momentfor the host.
(I’ve seen this before- one host had a TV set on top of what looked like a flimsy little bookcase, another had the TV on a stand right at the foot of the bed, where a guest could easily kick it over in their sleep)
I don’t understand why whether the daughter did it, or someone else on their booking did, is relevant. And you are drawing some presumptuous conclusions based on zero proof.
None of their prior reviews mentioning their children and the daughter watching TV in another room are anywhere close to anything resembling a situation to which one can assign specific blame. It’s all circumstantial speculation. All you know is that the TV wasn’t broken when they checked in, and was when they checked out.
I sure wouldn’t want you on jury duty if I was a defendent. 
It’s already happened twice. I put Small TV on a table and first guest just knocked it down . He himself offered to pay me for the TV.
Second guest cracked it…I am assuming he also knocked it down. It was when I understood that it’s time to mount TV on a wall.
In OP case I wouldn’t go after guest because as he said himself: he said she said. He can try through resolution center…but I doubt it will work.
You can try resolution center…doubt it will work though
A couple years ago flat screen TVs were getting so cheap that I would just treat it as the cost of doing business. The prices, however, have gone up and if it was a large TV you might want to pursue it in the manner that others suggests. All of my guest room TVs were second hand with the anticipation that one would get broken eventually.
Make the claim through Airbnb, send the photos! Then go from there, it doesn’t matter how it happened.
I’m going with the kid did it and assuming the housekeeper has experience with teenagers and their guilty behavior.
But the housekeepers mom instinct is not enough to pin it on the girl, but it does not matter. It is broken and it was not broken beforehand.
TV’s do not hold value, if it is even just a couple of years old AirBnb will likely value it at less than $100
I would let it go, chalk it up as a cost of doing business.
RR
Why I save all my receipts and warranty paperwork. I certainly know, I just cleaned out files with invoices for my original cassette and CD Walkmans, which will be going in the giant downsizing sale as I empty the house to make my estate agent happy.
If you have a record of what you paid for the item, and when, it’s much easier to make a claim. This kind of guest behavior is one of the reasons some hosts are making videos of the unit after cleaning to have proof of cleanliness and a record of what’s in the place.
But yes, you should send them a request for payment. If they won’t pay, then go to Air. As other s have said, don’t accuse, just say that it was “tested and working” when the cleaner was finished, and broken when cleaner arrived after their stay.
BTW, it’s a good idea for whoever does the final check on the turnover to turn on the TV, make sure it’s working, and make sure that your guest didn’t leave it streaming porn or logged in to their Amazon Prime or Roku account. One host reported doing a guest walkthrough where the TV was tuned to something embarrassing when they turned it on.
One thing about being a compulsive saver of paperwork: Folks buying appliances and electronics from me are surprised that I actually have the manuals!
I also save receipts and manuals. But I’m also a minimalist, so I do go through my file boxes once a year and remove stuff that I’d have no more use for, like things which are past their warranty dates and have no other purpose for which to keep them.
The challenge in Mexico is that they use the cheapest ink, that fades. You have to scan or photocopy receipts right away, because they will just be a blank piece of paper within a few months.