Hi fellow hosts, I need some advice on a situation that doesn’t have a clear solution in my mind. The background: guests (husband/wife/one yo toddler) checked out earlier today. Earlier this week, though, the husband called me to tell me that he’d accidentally broken my thermal coffee maker lid. It’s not cheap to replace since it’s thermal, but I told him not to worry about it. During the call, husband raved about the cabin. He’d been saying very positive things throughout the stay, but this time he asked more questions about how I found the cabin, the furnishings, etc. Then he mentioned that he’s an architect and his wife is an artist and continued to go on about their love of the place. Now in some circumstances, having an architect and maybe even an artist rave about your place would be inconsequential or even seen as a liability - ha! - but for my target market, this kind of validation would likely carry a lot of weight. Okay, so today I arrive at the cabin and indeed the coffee lid is broken but otherwise the cabin is in fine shape. Not the cleanest, but certainly not the messiest. Anyhow, I walk into the kitchen and immediately notice a big dent in my stainless steel fridge. It’s the kind of thing that is impossible to un-see once it’s been seen. I even checked the door in different light to see if the dent became less obvious. Sadly, no. I live in my cabin when I’m not renting it, and I’m afraid this dent is going to drive me nuts! So what do I do? Of course the guest immediately left me a review and I’m 99% sure it’s positive. But what do I do (if anything?) about the dent? I’m not hesitant about contacting the guests but to what end? The fridge is small but pricey since the cabin is off-grid and the fridge is propane. Plus, I bought it 1.5 years ago and there’s no way I would replace something unless it was malfunctioning. So what would I even ask for in terms of compensation? I think I’m answering my own question here that it seems silly to make a claim when nothing can be done about it, but it sure is a bummer. Any advice or relevant experiences you can share? Thanks much.
Well, actually the same thing happened to us – the dent in the stainless steel refrigerator. [Months later we found scratches on it, whether from a guest or the cleaners, we don’t know.]
The difference in our situation is that we can’t be 100% certain of which guest did it, because it’s easily missed. The Host and I (co-Host) had a conversation. She thought that if we KNEW we would ask for a new refrigerator and give them the dented one. I felt that was totally unreasonable. I think the real issue is that a stainless steel refrigerator is not well suited for a short-term rental,
We had to let it go though even if I knew which guest did it I couldn’t prove it. I take time-stamped videos but the dent isn’t easily visible from all angles and ours is not not that bad. And even if I proved it I really don’t know what’s reasonable. If someone gave us $100 I wouldn’t feel much better about it. Even if they gave us $200 I’d forget soon enough about the $200 but remember and see the dent.
So, I think you just got to get over it. Try to forget about it. Consider hypnosis.
I see ads for suction cup devices that reduce dents on cars. I wonder whether something like that would lessen the impact.
I would take down the model number of the fridge and call an appliance repair company for an estimate on replacing that door panel. I know you said you’re remote so maybe this isn’t an option. But, if it is, I would get that information and file an AirCover claim.
I used to clean houses and one time I scratched my clients brand new stainless steel range. I was really worried I would be paying to replace it with a new unit but I called an appliance repair place and got a quote on the parts and labor to just replace that part. I then presented that to the client, with my sincerest apologies, and offered to work off the amount ($350) or pay her on the spot.
I’d love to see a picture. I wonder if the door can be taken apart and the metal un- dented. Decades ago I took apart a fridge to paint it and it wasn’t difficult even without youtube.
There are companies that take dents out of car doors (such as dentdoctor). You might call them to see if it would work on your refrigerator door. If so, charge the guests for the repair.
I feel your pain over your pristine and fairly new fridge, but I’d chalk it up to wear & tear, normal use and not engage the guest.
You know they are honest because they fessed up to the coffee lid. Maybe a rollie suitcase banged it on the way out. Maybe the toddler kicked it with no witnesses (they’re fast and sneaky, those toddlers).
I think one problem with coverage by Airbnb is that they make you identify the specific guest stay and try to get compensation from the guest first, is that right?
As other hosts here frequently advise, don’t have something in your rental you can’t bear to see damaged. Hope you can get the new part so it’s not crazy-making for you.
After sleeping on this, I agree with the others that I would really give some thought to “doing” anything about this as even if you get this fixed, it will probably happen again. Stainless steel appliances “wear and tear” at a faster rate. It might be worth getting the quote on fixing it just so you know. But at the end of the day, if a young family with a toddler managed to dent your fridge door, someone else is going to manage to do the same. To be fair to all guests, if you charge these guests to fix it, you would then need to charge all future guests.
The one thing I definitely wouldn’t do is charge some kind of damage fee you pull out of thin air. Either charge to fix it or let it go. If you don’t charge, I would mention it to the guest in the private part of the review so they understand the damage happened and will hopefully proceed with more caution in future homes.
My experience is that things used to be made to be fixable and are not necessarily so now.
I had a fridge that worked perfectly well, but the seal was worn- brittle and cracked and slightly gapping in some places. As I’m mechanically inclined and good at repairs, I searched for how to take the door apart, by physically inspecting it, but couldn’t see any way to do that.
I called some appliance repair guys who told me the seal wasn’t replaceable- that the door is factory pressed together and the only way to deal with it is to order a new door. And when I called the company, they told me new doors weren’t available for that model, as it was 10 years old.
I probably could have used a door from another model of the exact same dimensions, but I didn’t bother to pursue it, as I had been thinking of getting a larger fridge anyway. It was big enough for me, but once I started hosting, guests’ groceries in addition to mine created a stuffed-full situation.
Quick update that @HostAirbnbVRBO convinced me to do some research and I found a few ways to fix a dent. I tried the plunger method but that didn’t work, so I’m on to hair dryer/compressed air. As a last resort, I’ll get one of those car dent repair kits because they say that’s another way to fix a dented stainless steel appliance. Stay tuned! Oh and I know the stainless steel option is not the best choice for a rental, but the propane options are very limited and I can’t bear to put a white fridge in the middle of a gourmet kitchen. Hopefully my DIY repair works so I can continue to indulge my foolish choices. Ha!
Well, you always paint the door of a white fridge. My partner did some kind of a dye paint job on it between yellow and orange with bleeding colors and it came out super.
A friend of mine who runs a small hostel had a fridge that was quite rusty on the outside, due to the salt air here, but otherwise worked fine. She sanded it down and painted it with blackboard paint, so it can now be used to write shopping lists on or notes to or between guests.
There is something on Amazon that my husband purchased to fix a dent on our dryer. It helped, it didn’t totally fix it but it made the dent less noticeable. Plus we also used a blow dryer to heat the spot before trying to pop out the dent with the gadget.
I think you can’t ask them for compensation because you can’t prove it was them. They can just say it was already there. It’s your word against theirs and Airbnb will take the guest’s side.
Nowhere has the host indicated she is uncertain of which guests did this. How do you “prove” guests caused any damages? You only know it wasn’t like that when they arrived and the only way to “prove” it, is to take a photo immediately before they check in and immediately after. And even that isn’t proof. Guests could say, “Hey, we checked out at 9:30am and that photo says 11am. Maybe the cleaner or host did it and are blaming it on us.”
Exactly, the only way she could get compensated is if the guest admits to doing the damage. The guest will deny it even if he/she is guilty of causing the damage.
The guest might deny it because they were unaware of having done it. That’s a real possibility.
True, the host did mention they had a child. It’s possible that the child did the damage and parents didn’t see it.
Or the parent could have had something in their back pocket and leaned strongly against it, or . . . well, it could be a lot of things.
What a great idea! I’m buying a freestanding refrigerator/freezer just for guests’ beverages and ice. Even though the front is stainless, the sides are black and will show. So I’ve been thinking about painting it. I’d thought of stainless, but now blackboard might be a better choice.
Thanks everyone. Love this idea of making the fridge into a chalkboard though I have to admit it would be hard to take the plunge and start sanding/painting without knowing exactly how it will turn out! As far as the damage, I’m headed into town today to pick up things for plan B repair. I’ll keep everyone posted on what works in case it helps someone in the future. I did write the guest and he says he doesn’t recall them doing the damage but he also admits that it could have happened without them realizing. I asked him to cover the cost of the repair kit if I need to buy it - under $100 - and he agreed. I do have a question though in response to @Ritz3’s comment. Wouldn’t the damage be covered under aircover even if the guest denies it? I’ve only ever made one claim through ABB and that was a long time ago with guests who were pretty reckless with the house rules and that annoyed me more than the damage itself. They covered the expense. Otherwise, I’ve had a few claims through VRBO and that is so much easier and less awkward since it goes through a third party. On a different note, I’m surprised how many in this community admit that they just absorb damage as normal “wear and tear.” Of course I absorb things like a broken dish, blind, etc. I even overlooked a guest earlier this year who broke a treasured wooden flute from my trip to Tazmania (totally my fault for leaving it out!) But if you take something like this dent, I’ve now spent about two hours researching, posting here, writing the guest, trying to fix it, and now I have to go into town to get things to try plan B and C. The kit itself is only ~$50 but it’s more about my time. If I calculate my time at a decent rate (but not what I charge for consulting) that certainly adds up. Plus I didn’t charge the guests for the broken coffee lid, so that’s another line item for me although not charging shows the guests I’m not the type of owner to walk around looking for every possible issue to get free upgrades or something. That’s super annoying too. So I’m curious how others decide what is damage to be claimed and what’s normal wear and tear?
First, I ask myself whether I KNOW 100% that the previous guest caused the damage. Or did I just notice it now? If not, it’s wear and tear. [We take time-stamped videos but not always with the precision to catch everything. And, see below, it’s tedious and time-consuming for me to examine these videos for small items.]
Second, I consider the value of my time. We pay our cleaner/gardener $35/hour. My time is worth as much. Plus, I consider the ‘energy value’ of my time. If I choose to ‘engage’ I’ll want to succeed. Is it worth it to me to experience the darker side of guests or AirCover? [Yes, we get much better and easier results with VRBO’s damage protection, but usually at $35/hour it’s not worth my time to pursue small claims.]
Third, I consider whether the damage caused was something I might have done accidentally and whether the accident was in part a result of bad design. A guest must have dropped something and chipped a wood cabinet in the kitchen. I might have done that too: it’s wear and tear. A guest bumped their head on a pendant Turkish light and it broke. I had hit my head on it too: bad design. [I moved it up. That guest admitted it and asked me to send her the bill but I said ‘no, our fault, I did it too.’
So most items don’t get past these three questions.
Exception: Our last guest had a lot of recycling and trash; didn’t separate all of it and put recycling in plastic bags, which we had messaged them would not be picked by by the City unless in paper or cardboard or plastic bins. So, after they left we had to separate it and happened to find a broken plate. [Our checkout message asks to tell us if anything was broken.] So, that irked me a bit and we did ask the guest for the $16 for the plate. The guest has seen the message and not responded to it. We won’t pursue it (not worth the time or aggravation – fails on Question 2) but it will factor into our review.