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Hosting team: how does making a claim with Air Cover work? Will the guest pay a penalty?
Quick background: woman with two children leaves me a message that she was leaving and informed me that her daughter colored on our coffee table. She was nice and apologized.
When I saw the damage, I was able to clean it off with the magic eraser, but it was also on a little kids desk we have as well. There was a fair amount of scribbling with crayon and a ballpoint pen, both of which were in the kids desk.
I messaged the woman to let her know if there were a few things left behind and also to let her know that I got the coffee table cleaned so there was no problem. Then I literally turned around and saw ballpoint pen scribbled on our gray leather sofa.
I’m trying to decide how to move forward. And also frantically cleaning for the next guest who gets here in a couple hours!
I feel like I should definitely write back right away and tell her I just discovered more ballpoint pen on the leather sofa…
I won’t have time to research how to clean and try it until after the current guest checks out.
“I just discovered pen ink scribbling on our leather sofa. I don’t know what my success will be in removing it and will update you when I know.”
Meanwhile, I think you have just 14 days to make any claim against the guest. You need to make that claim and that claim needs to have been unpaid by the guest before possibly receiving reimbursement under AirCover.
You also need to examine the rest of the listing to make sure there is no additional damage. If you find damage take time-stamped pictures of it. Anything you don’t find before the next guest stays will likely not be recoverable since you won’t have evidence on which guest caused the damage.
You are lucky that she is apologetic and offered to pay for remediation.
As a mom and grandma myself, I can never understand why a parent would let a toddler walk around with a pen or any sharp object. Beyond the issue of them scribbling on something other than paper, it’s a safety hazard- little kids put everything in their mouths and if they trip and fall, that ball point pen can stab them in the throat.
In my experience the toddlers find the dangerous stuff, it is not a matter of letting them run with scissors! I mean I guess the perfect parent would have scoured the rental on their knees at toddler level and found the pen that was under the sofa that the cleaners missed, or in the drawer or…
I was not that perfect parent, especially when I had two running opposite directions!
Somehow they have made it to become teenagers, some days I miss the toddlers…
For sure, sometimes the toddlers manage to get ahold of stuff they shouldn’t. But it’s also true that parents don’t always think of all the possible safety hazards- they tend to be safety concious about the things that are publicized a lot, like making sure they’re securely fastened into their car seat, putting safety latches on cupboard doors where dangerous items are stored, putting covers on electrical outlets, but often don’t think past that stuff to other hazards.
On my 55th birthday, a friend of mine gave me a wrapped "present’. It contained a little serrated kitchen knife, a box of matches and a plastic bag. When I looked perplexed, he said I was now old enough to play with those things.
That was a good idea. I had a guest who is a digital nomad who had extensive travel experience in Airbnbs. She obviously looks around after she checks in to make sure there are no damages she could get blamed for, because 5 minutes after I checked her in to her private room, she came to tell me there was a loose shelf in the closet- she wasn’t complaining, she just didn’t want to get blamed for it.
(I had actually noticed there was a loose screw when I was cleaning, I had just forgotten to go back in with a screwdriver and tighten it- it’s just a low, small shelf someone could put shoes on- it couldn’t fall on anyone)
From what I researched before recently getting into this was that AirCover used to almost be a blank check (within reason) for almost any claim. It’s an insurance policy that they’ve (AirBnB) added as a marketing piece to limit some of the negativity and headaches (from guest perspective) and administrative costs (from ABNB perspective) associated with security deposits… I don’t think guests are hit for much if any of the costs, because the majority of hosts don’t file nickel and dime claims, and it’s still cheaper to ABNB to have the insurance claim.
Although I think many have taken enough advantage of it that they are no longer letting claims just get paid, without some level of arbitration and providing of proof via AirBNB messaging, and pics.
I haven’t had the issue YET, personally, but I’m anticipating there to be some challenges along the way.
I’d say file the claim and see what happens. Sounds like the guest already acknowledged it.
Yes, I’ve read host posts complaining about AirCover not paying out, saying things like, “I’ve only had 3 claims in the past year”. Seems to me there is something wrong with a host’s vetting and overseeing process if they have that many claims- it’s not normal, as they seem to think it is.
Then there are the hosts who want to claim for a stained towel, or because a female guest had a menstrual accident- they say, “Of course I had to throw out the sheets”, when in fact, they need to learn how to remove blood stains and understand that dealing with that is part and parcel of hosting. To expect one’s rental and contents to stay in pristine condition, or get reimbursed for every little thing is unrealistic.
I appreciate the continued comments as I was just sitting down to pose the question: what is the difference between normal wear-and-tear and damage that could be a claim?
I was able to get the ink marks 70% lighter but they’re still noticeable. It’s to the point that I don’t feel I need to tell an incoming guest that I know about it and know that they didn’t do it.
I’m really torn about what to do here. Part of me feels like pen on furniture is to be expected and it’s part of the rental process. The other part of me feels like this brand new sofa now looks kind of dingy.
I thought with leather I was making the best choice for cleaning spills but I didn’t consider the pen factor. Newman!
This is a generous sentiment but I don’t think it’s normal wear and tear. This is damage.
Although it might be unreasonable to ask for a new sofa without trying hard to remove the stain I don’t think it’s unreasonable to ask for what it will cost to get rid of that ink stain. I’m feeling that there MUST be a way to remove it because the alternative is documenting well that it cannot be repaired and that the guests SHOULD buy you a new sofa, which of course will be contentious.
There are a lot of amazing people on this forum. I hope you get more suggestions on how to remove that ink and after that, what your path forward should be. Remember, that you have just 14 days from checkout (include the checkout day in the count as I’m not sure how that works) to make a claim of the guest, have that paid or denied/unpaid and an application made to AirCover.
I wouldn’t call ball point pen scribbles on a leather sofa normal wear and tear. On the other hand, if you accept families with children, I think you can reasonably expect more of this kind of thing than if you only hosted adults.
As the guest has accepted responsibility and offered to pay for remediation, I would suggest you contact some professional cleaners who clean leather, who may have tricks and products which can remove the stain completely.
And the only real way to have bullet-proof upholstered furniture is to use removeable, washable slipcovers that aren’t too expensive to replace if necessary.
