This is what I had to do - new sheets, blanket, new towels. Without going into details, the problem wasn’t even smell, this “accident” was way worse. Airbnb claimed I was late (I filed 4 hours after check-out) and finally refused to pay me unless I went shopping and filed a police report. The didn’t guarantee they would pay if I bought new ones, so I just tuser old ones instead.
No one said you could NOT. The fact that AirBNB does not give you a way to present your rental agreement to your guests like other popular sites do and the fact that they want my rental agreement to be “approved” but give me no way to do this and the fact that they tell me that they will in the future, not recognize certain aspects of my rental agreement, tells me that they do not want to mess with rental agreements or hosts that use them.
“Airbnb has a good point here though: their
competitors Expedia, Tripadvisor and Booking.com never compensate hotels
if a guest destroys a room. Why should Airbnb help? Maybe their policy
will change.”
Not really, though. Expedia et al don’t ask hotels to set a security deposit and you aren’t given amount when you book.
But those are the terms you accepted. Not saying I love them either, but that’s what we put up with to list with Air and get the benefit of their worldwide exposure.
The other listing sites are as of right now, are also moving away from a classified site to a transactional site. Very soon, except for one or two small ones, all your actions will be restricted and controlled. It’s the VR world we live in sadly.
You do have to put down a credit card for damages though.
It’s in my instructions how I expect guests to behave. I don’t know why, but I don’t get horrendous messes. Do you live on site or no? Sometimes that has a lot to do with it. They can’t get too crazy, knowing I am right upstairs.
Also, I just have a small studio and limit the number of guests to two.
And I’d be very happy for Airbnb give me a credit card number and facility to charge for damages if they’re not prepared to do it.
I know. They won’t let us. 
Doing anything like that violates the terms of service and could get you booted. So we either do it their way or take the highway.
I remeber after huricnae Wilma destroyed my house, my insurance asked me to replace some of the damages first and then only they paid me. May be its the same case was with Air when they told you to buy it all first before they reimbursed you.
I had 143 guests so far, but in my case they rent a room in a house where i live. So, yes, they are much cleaner than guests who rent separate units for sure. My friend though had the same story with smoking and she could not get compensated for that either.
Did she try rubbing a white rag on the insides of the window, to show a soot stain?
Xena, are you asking me? If yes, she did not have to. There was ash everywhere, and cigarets… She made pictures and send it to Air. There was no burns, and smell evaorated quite a bit before she got to the house as she does not live there and could only get there in 2 days. She was more pissed at guests than it was actually an extra work for her. She vaccumed and threw away few cigaretes, but other than that she did not have to do anything extra.
That is terrible of Air not to reimburse!
A few days is several hundred in lost revenue for me because I can’t rent it with smoke smell.
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And it wasn’t me who mentioned them if you read back through the thread.
It was me who said they are competitors, not Wilburforce.
HomeAway, Booking.com, Expedia’s sites, Flipkey, Airbnb, Wimdu, 9flats, Roomorama and others have these items in common:
- They offer accomodation listings for their visitors
- They provide guests for their hosts
- They charge the host, the guest or both a fee for the services
- They currently charge the guest or are planning to do it soon, then paying out the host
- Some offer the hosts guarantees or insurance
- Some allow the hosts to choose their guests, some not
- Some punish hosts that “misbehave”, including Airbnb
In this sense I consider them competitors. In which ways do you think Airbnb is different from the other accommodation sites?
My Airbnb page changed yesterday and I received an email about there change in policy - now even if you don’t have IB and you cancel on a guest you only get one free cancel every 6 months and any others it’ll cost you $50.
My front page has changed when I click onto manage booking - does everyone else have this now?4
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What is IB?
I do not have a section like that, that I can find.
Where exactly is that?
Instant book
First page when you click manage listing
Yea I do not do instant book. Looks like trouble to add that feature.