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We live in a huge hippy/college town on the west coast. Booked some younger guests with no reviews but they seemed enthusiastic about our place so we decided to take a chance.
Here’s a list of what they did:
We’re missing a throw blanket
They were smoking pot inside (absolutely no smoking allowed.)
They left their drink bottles all over the place.
They left a torch and a can of butane inside (drug paraphernalia)
Our foot stool was left turned upside down
They ripped a seem of one of our chairs
They left a 30 dollar tip but this doesn’t matter as they gave no regard to our house rules.
We are a new property and we pride ourselves in going the extra mile for our guests. All of our 4 reviews thus far have been 5 stars. We don’t want a bad review but obviously we would not want these dumb kids to turn anyone else’s property into a flop house.
We called customer service and they noted down our info, we emailed them photos. Now we’re waiting for a call back. In the mean time. How should we handle this situation??? Help!
When did they check out? Do you have a security deposit?
If so, you have 48 hours from checkout to make a claim against it.
If damages exceed the amount of the deposit, you then move to the Resolution Center where you provide your evidence and request compensation for replacement/repair of items.
If things are not worked out between you and the guest, you can make a claim against the Host Guarantee.
Go ahead and start getting estimates and replacement costs in order. You will need these.
They smoked inside the house. To me that is a clear disregard for the house rules we have clearly laid out. They stole a throw blanket that we can not replace. These two violations alone are enough to cover the entire deposit. Not to mention the damaged furniture we will have to have repaired.
Don’t keep irreplaceable things in your rental. Why would you do that? Wait until the last minute to review them. You have 14 days so when 13.9 days have passed, post your review. Be honest, factual and unemotional. Say they left their bottles, a torch, a can of butane, they smoked inside, missing blanket, torn chair. You don’t really need to speculate about drug use. I’m assuming this isn’t in WA. As an aside it’s very unusual to get a tip so count your blessings. You might also invest in some security cameras on the exterior since you live off site. That way you can tell when people are bringing unpaid guests or having an unauthorized party. You might have even been able to see them smoking outside and carrying it inside. Mention the security cameras prominently in your listing, put pictures of them and this will quietly discourage guests who like to break the rules from booking your place. Let us know what happens and welcome to the forum.
@amfm, @KKC. I truly feel for you; some guests are irresponsible and immature. However, as someone has posted, there is no reason a host should leave irreplaceable items in a property being used by guests. I suggest that you take a good look at your rental property and make sure nothing irreplaceable is made available to guests. I do hope your next guests are respectful and responsible!
If you search the forum for “smoking” you’ll see that other hosts have had a really hard time getting AirBnB to take claims of smoking seriously - best of luck to you, but I would focus on the things that need to be replaced (blanket, chair) and any extra costs (i.e. for disposal of the garbage they left behind) if you’re pursuing costs exceeding your deposit.
Thanks for the advice everyone. It’s not that the blanket was an heirloom or anything super expensive. It’s only irreplaceable because the pattern is discontinued I’m sure we can find something similar it was just a really cool pattern on he blanket. It wasn’t priceless or anything. Just said that in the moment out of shock and anger.
Lucy thanks for the advice I will focus on the missing blanket and the torn chair. However, regarding the smoking the kids that were staying here instagrammed themselves smoking inside our house so we have physical proof. Do you think that will help my case?
So they reviewed me and gave 5 stars luckily before the 48 was over.
I left an honest review for them. Submitted a claim for $350 to reupholster the chair, $20 for the throw blanket, and a $200 deposit forfeit to for smoking inside and included photo proof for everything except the missing blanket.
Lucky for me they accepted the charges and paid it.
