Probably on thermal paper, which fades faster when it’s warm. Here in Rain Country™ where it’s cooler, they seem to be readable for about 4-5 years if you keep them in the dark.
Sadly I do agree with the others that it will mostly likely have to be a cost of doing business.
With the changes that Airbnb has recently made to their policies, I started to video tape the morning of the check-in. I know that won’t help you now and it’s one more thing that you have to add but I think it will be worth it.
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I use a free video date stamp app called TimeStampCamera.
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Videos take up a lot of space and while I looked around for a free app to reduce the video size I found it confusing and hard to manager so what I did was:
a) Created a brand new Facebook account just for my airbnb videos. I did not make the group private but I did not invite anyone to the new account. My thoughts were that if Customer service has a question, I can either invite them as guests, share it to their messenger page or just video tape the video running off the Facebook page on my computer.
b) I make sure I’m logged into the FB account that I use for Airbnb before I start the video. Then I shoot the time stamp video.
c) I include
i. Showing that the guests keypad code works.
ii. Show all appliances and electronics to be working.
iii. I lift up the bed and show that the mattress pad does not have any bed bugs, stains, or poop and I also show the special bed bug encasement I have for the mattress and boxspring and explain that it seals the contents.
iv. I show the clean bathroom and fully stocked linens.
d) Then I select the option to upload to Facebook and put it on my feed with the date of the checking. Facebook automatically compressed the video. Once it is successfully uploaded, I remove video from phone.
Yes, this take an extra 10 minutes from my cleaning time but I think one day I’m going to be really glad that a guest try to accuse me of something that I can prove was false.
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Unfortunately, in our particular situation, damages are always going to be subject to one person’s word against another’s. Our staff is there every day for at least a few hours - just like at a hotel. Most whole-home places can state unequivocally that the guest had to be the one that did the damage simply because no one else was there. We can’t.
Why not try the video taping as I described above. Then it’s no longer their word against yours. I guess you would have to train the housekeeping staff.
I too have started videotaping before a new guest checks into our cottage. Your phone time stamps the video (along with location and other info) so there is no need to time stamp it yourself, although you could.
I delete the videos from time to time to reduce storage burden.
In addition to this excellent list from Lynick, I also cover focus on lamps, lamp shades, and small appliances that could be stolen easily.
I’ll think about it. I’m not sure I can actually get the staff to do that - it took me five years and a pandemic to get the housekeeper to use the dishwasher at all, and she still washes a lot of dishes by hand! It’s a different culture there than in the US.
That is so like Mexico. Really set in their ways, almost impossible to get them to do something new. Mexican cleaners won’t use vacuum cleaners, for instance. They want to only use a broom.
A friend brought down an industrial mop pail he had in the US, the ones with the wringer, as they all use string mops here. He thought his maid would be thrilled that she would no longer have to wring the mop out by hand. She used it once, put it in the storage closet, and went back to wringing it out by hand.
Another friend was a contractor building houses here. He saw that everyone used flat ended shovels, which are fine for shovelling sand and gravel, but absurdly inefficient for digging holes. He went out and bought a bunch of spade shovels for his crew.
They would use them when he was on the job site, but when he would show up unexpectedly, he’d find they’d be using the flat-ended shovels again to dig.
Many insurance claims are for the $$ value of a product today, not the price new. Like a car, over time it loses value… so your $100 tv in 2019 is worth a fraction / percentage now…
Yes, that’s EXACTLY St Lucia! I have vacuums and and a great upright floor scrubber/vacuum (simply put a little water on the floor, run that vacuum over it, and the dirt is sucked up with the water). Mops simply move dirty water around and it settles in the grout lines, making the floor look dirty (cream tile and grout).
Will she use them? Maybe, if I’m there. Otherwise, no. So at least once a year I spend a several days scrubbing the grout lines and using the floor cleaner. Now that I’m retired we’ll be there more often, so maybe it won’t be too much work if I can stay on top of it.
And she won’t vacuum the single indoor rug I have - only uses a broom on it.
She has kept up with using the dishwasher when there are a lot of dishes to use since she realized it was easier than washing by hand. I guess I should be grateful for small miracles.
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Yes, except we can’t get $100US TV’s. A 50-inch TV in St Lucia is around $900US for an off-brand. I buy a decent one (Samsung) from Sam’s and ship it down so it only costs $650US.
Thank you for posting this. I have been using that same TimeStampCamera app but taking pics (which of course will not show appliances working) and not uploading anywhere.
Can you take ONE long 10 minute video? Or do you need to chop it up in smaller segments so not too big to upload?
Do you take any pics at all, vs all video?
Any security concerns that someone could view FB account and see security code?
Do you narrate it at all? Or just the visual of the video?
Do you periodically delete videos? Any reason not to delete, say, a week or so after guest checked out?
I had to look that up- never heard of thermal paper but I think you nailed it. Receipts fade here regardless of whether they are exposed to light or hidden away in a file box.
I had luck on some of them bringing them back with straightening tongs - it turns the paper black but the printing is lighter. I think an iron works, too. It doesn’t work on all of them, though.
I’ve also learned to use the adjustments on my scanner to turn very faint receipts readable after scanning.
Just a thought…but if I checked into any rental, including a hotel, and found a TV was cracked or something obviously was broken, I’d report it immediately.
Wouldn’t y’all?
I leave a welcome note and send a “welcome” msg asking verification that all is as promised in the listing and meets the guest’s expectations. A cracked TV is something I’d expect them to point out. (I also do a pre-checkin video but understand it isn’t always doable)
I’d do as others advise- don’t presume “who” or “how”. Just tell the truth you know and see if ABB covers it.
Let us know what happens!
I’d certainly report something that was obviously broken when I arrived, so I wouldn’t get blamed for it.
I bought Seiko label printers at garage sales that use thermal labels. The first one I had wouldn’t print anything wider than a file folder label and I can date the age of the folder fairly accurately from how faded the type is.
Thermal printers last longer & need less maintenance than ink printers, so most retailers with computerized registers use them. Small standalone cash registers still use ink printers and plain paper tape, as do most mobile receipt printers.
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I do narrate the video and post to a special Facebook account that no one is a member of. I shoot it in one video. You need to make sure you are logged into this special Facebook account you created before you do the video so that you can directly upload (and Facebook condenses the video).
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I just started this about a month ago but since Facebook doesn’t limit there amount of space you use, I see no reason to delete. I do delete the original from my phone.
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Keycodes aren’t an issue for me because I change it for each guest to match their phone number their profile (But I no longer tell them it’s their phone number because I’m finding that folks change their phone number but don’t update their airbnb account.
Update. I went to our villa and evaluated the “crime scene” myself. The staff showed me how they check the TV on every turnover, and said it was working prior to the guest showing up and was broken when they left. I considered whether the damage could have been done by someone hitting it with a handle when mopping or sweeping, but the angle was wrong. So the only remaining possibility was that the guest’s daughter hit it with the mosquito racket that she left lying in front of the TV.
I submitted an AirCover claim over a month ago, and today was denied because “the damage was not caused by the guest or guest’s invitee”.
I asked for clarification on what evidence I failed to provide or why they believed the guest over me, and I’ll update when I hear something.
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Sorry to hear but Airbnb’s response is what I expected. Air cover is a marketing gimmick with no utility in reality.
Update June 4th:
The AirBnB rep was kind enough to tell the me reason - they denied my claim because I told the guest I wouldn’t hold the daughter responsible so therefore, the daughter didn’t do it.
I protested, explaining why I elected to defuse the situation (didn’t want to get into an argument and risk a bad review and ruin his memories of a great vacation) and that I had chosen my words carefully - I never said the daughter or another guest didn’t do it.
Well, ABB reviewed the case, then came back and awarded me a reasonable amount towards a new TV!
Lesson learned - be careful what you say to a guest that damages something. I probably would have been smartest to not reply after he denied the damage.
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