I have a six foot solid oak dining table, had it for 16 years. Last weekends guests left 2 large heat/water stains. I tried to solve it with blow dryer, iron and other tricks, but it was too deep. I had the table sanded and urethane applied. Just sent in the resolution centre request for money and noticed that ask for age of item. What experience have others had with Airbnb depreciating furniture? The table isn’t new, but the finish was very good til these jerks, they also burnt a pot, smoked against my rules, late check out and didn’t pay for extra guests.
When they pay out against the Host Guarantee, they pay the current value of the item. This is not the same as depreciation. In fact, the current value of the item could be more that the cost. I would assume that they use the same standard for valuing items that are paid via the Resolution Center.
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Yikes! Hope you gave them a review that reflected their many issues!
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I have a cheap table BUT it’s still my furniture and someone scratched some numbers into the top! What’s wrong with people???
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Hi @Louise
Sorry to hear this. I’ve not heard good things about the guarantee but haven’t used it personally.
Hope you also billed them for the extra guests, pot and mentioned all this and the smoking in your review.
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I haven’t written review yet, may ask for help in wording from this group.
So far, they have paid for extra people, and part of pot cost. I’ve elevated it to Airbnb for further resolution. By admitting the ecxtea guests and pot damage, they have pretty much admitted to damaging table.
Here is their response.
"friends, they have used protections handling the pots on the table. We are not denying anything, it is true.
As I mentioned, if the white stain has appeared even though we used protections. It’s because the table has been depreciated for 16 years, as you mentioned it has been used by many families and groups for that long time. It was too old and the finish on your table was wearing out as well since it’s been there for 16 years. It was not 100 percent our fault. Also, we did not break it or made it unusable. We can not pay $277 for removing white stains on your table.
It is an unfortunate but they did use the protections so it was an accident. If we broke or damaged the table until it is crippled, it’s 100 percent our fault and we surely can pay for it. But you did not give us any information regarding the “oak dining table” in advance that we were not aware of the sensitivity of it. We just used protections as usual just like when we use our laminated dining tables at our places. "
Yes, same thing happened to me more than once.
Ditto “What’s wrong with people”!
Oh, really! Do people not know how to treat wood these days? It’s only the most-used building product for furniture. How long a list of rules do people want?
Is it also somehow your fault that they brought in extra guests or decided to smoke in your house?
Sorry you are going through this, Louise. 
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The disposable society views a 16 year old wood table as ready for the trash, there are many oak tables that have been used for centuries and still look good. A few marks, scratches are to be expected. Dinner plate sized white heat stains are not normal wear and tear.
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Of course it is - your fault for extra guests, late night noise, guests who don’t read house rules, guests who piss off neighbours, for them overstaying, setting off the fire alarm, getting lost, parking in the wrong place and getting a ticket, not checking their flight times, not having anywhere to keep their luggage for an extra ten hours…
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Yup, there are some people who just can’t take responsibility for anything.
You didn’t put it in your rules.
… well your rule list was so long it would have taken too long to read. Not my fault.
What do you mean the coffee is HOT?!
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Ah, so they didn’t use placemats or a tablecloth. sigh If you don’t have the dining table set with the linens you expect people to use, all bets are off. A huge number of people have never lived with fine wooden furniture and have no idea how to take care with it.
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I just got my oak table repaired €350 it was not guests but my youngest and his love of markers. I just got the table back and have put table protectors, PVC oil cloth and place matts. The table is about 6 years old and paid a fair bit but when guests are around, it will be fully protected.
We’ve used this table for many years without cloth or placemats. There is a vinyl tablecloth in a drawer. There are trivets to put hot serving dishes on to protect the wood from extremes.
According to them, they used all the “protections”.
They heated the plates before putting them on the table. It is the only way you could’ve had that shape damage. Chances are, you don’t heat the plates as much as them and Hence, don’t need to use placemats.
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It was a pot. There were some superficial marks consistent with normal wear and tear.
Here is a pic from before.
We heat plates, my mother was insistent that food be served in pre-warmed dishes. Never had any damage even with thin table cloths on teak or oak tables.
Review:
"I had several issues with XXX.
- extra guests were brought in. When I asked them to pay for the extra guests they did pay. However, this should have been arranged ahead of time so the house can be properly prepared for the correct number of guests instead of it being a surprise to me.
- we do NOT allow smoking in the house. (Who does these days?) These guests smoked in our home.
- we require our kitchen to be left in the same condition as found. Unfortunately it was a mess (it took an extra hour to clean the house) and a pot had to be replaced in the process.
- our oak dining table had the finish ruined and had to be refinished. Although XXX admitted to the damage (and other items), they tried to hold ME responsible for not advising them of how to care for wood furniture.
I cannot recommend XXX to other hosts, for being blatantly disrespectful of caring for our home and not following our rules."
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A pot? Someone put a hot pot on the table without your trivets? That is just plain dumb and destructive. Really bad.
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