Dear Fellow Hosts, I need your wisdom, please. In the bathroom, there is a tub/shower with two handles (hot water/cold water) and a faucet. To make it easier to step into the tub I vertically installed a wall-mounted safety bar. I’ve had guests in the past who, instead of holding on to the safety bar to enter/exit the tub/shower area, they hold on to the towel bar, thus ripping the towel bar off the wall; I have repeatedly re-installed the towel bar.
My most recent guest was a couple with a child who booked a 10-day stay in my apartment. On the second day of their stay I received a message that the hot water handle broke but that it was not necessary to get a repairman to fix it because it was minor and it was in good usable condition. I thought the decorative part of the handle had come off (which can be easily fixed) and is merely a cosmetic issue.
Today, after the guests left, I met my cleaning crew to clean the apartment. Much to my shock the entire hot water handle had been broken and removed from the wall, leaving a hole the size of a saucer on the wall. I immediately contacted a plumber to come to the apartment to assess the damage. The plumber mentioned that the only way that the damage could have occurred was that if a heavy adult had put their full weight on the handle, possibly to help the adult enter or exit the tub (keep in mind that there is a metal safety bar installed on the wall about 12 inches from the shower handles). The plumber said that he hopes to find another Kohler handle matching the remaining handle, otherwise both handles will have to be replaced. He estimated that the new Kohler handles and labor, etc, will cost a few hundred dollars (keep in mind that my unit is in an pricey area of Miami).
As I’m about to exit the building, I saw, from the corner of my eye, the guest’s son running in my direction to speak to me and his mother swiftly holding him back. I approached her and mentioned that I just had the plumber come to the apartment to assess the damage and she responded that it was just a minor issue, to which I replied that it may cost me a few hundred dollars, and she walked away. I didn’t confront her or tell her that I expected her to pay; I want to get the estimate and then decide what to do.
My question to other hosts: would you charge the guest for the damage? Your feedback and guidance will be much appreciated, thank you.
ABSOLUTELY HAVE THEM PAY! Its not a wear & tear item like a towel. Several hundred dollars and potential lost income if it is unrentable is not ok!
Sorry to hear of this trouble. Honestly, though? It sounds like you need to either install a more fool-proof system or to personally check in guests and show them directly how things work.
It is very rare that guests deliberately break things. Even though it may be obvious to you how things work you cannot assume that everyone will understand, particularly if they are from another country. I’m pretty clueless about a lot of things and would need you to fully explain and show me how things work if they are that easily broken.
@Magwitch Thank you for your feedback. I personally welcome every guest and show them around; the shower handles are not flimsy or cheap and I think that instructing guests not to hold on to the shower handles to enter or exit the tub is unnecessary particularly since a safety grab bar is available for guests’ safety. By the way, the guests were from the US and not from a remote village in another continent where showers are not commonplace…
Sounds like it’s a potential problem but that you already made a good effort to solve it by installing the grab bar. Assuming the grab bar is installed appropriately, it seems like the guest’s fault. Of course, if they slip and fall and injure themselves, you’d certainly wish for just replacing a handle.
BTW, I think this is exactly how my towel bar got pulled off the wall by a guest (11-year-old child that was overweight) last month. I repaired the wall, re-located the towel bar and attached it with long thick screws that go into the wall studs. It’s already a super heavy duty towel bar, so I don’t expect to have any more problems.
@MissSwan Sarabeth, I’m just holding my breath and hoping the plumber can do what it takes to get the shower in working order as I have a guest arriving on Friday to celebrate a major life milestone…I learned my lesson, next time I get a message that there is a little damage during a guest’s stay I will request a photo so that I can take swift action in terms of getting a repairman…
I don’t even think a handle would break like that (still kind of trying to wrap me head around this) if someone used it as a grab bar substitute. This really sounds like they were doing something completely inappropriate with the handle. Put in the request for payment.
@MissMiami Ok, it seems like a case of guests just being completely clueless. Personally, though, I go through everything as if all guests are clueless - I make it like a joke, eg " I know that you’re probably aware but I’m going to tell you anyway. The shower curtain goes INSIDE the tub like this [demonstrates] to stop the water flooding the floor and potentially leaking’.
Some of them look at me as if I’m an idiot for explaining. But a surprising number do the Toy Story alien face… ‘Aaaahhh!’
This is not helpful to you right now, I appreciate that. 
@KKC, maybe the husband was sitting in the tub and using the Jacuzzi and needed to hold on to the handle to pull himself up, but you’d need to use brute force to pull the handle off…amazing…
?? Like what? I can’t even imagine 
@Brian_R170 Brian, the idea of someone falling as they try to exit a wet tub made me install the safety grab bar as soon as I bought the apartment. I’m very concerned about the safety of my guests and in avoiding any liability.
Going forward I would remove the drain plug and take bathtub off your amenities list. No more fat man pulling himself outa the tub and breaking the faucet, and no more bathtub rings. They can just stand up and shower.
I did this after the first guest ever took a bath and left a disgusting ring.
RR
@RiverRock You are so right! After a blind guest decided to use the Jacuzzi, I immediately removed the Jacuzzi from amenities list. I just don’t get it, the building has luxurious amenities, including an outdoor pool with warm water open until 11 PM, large hot tub, etc, and yet, why would anyone bother with the tub in the apartment?
Ok…so the handle broke. You can not say that it was not damaged prior to the current guest. Having dealt with plumbing issues for years…one person grabbing the handle would probably not break it but years of people doing it…yes…wear and tear from people grabbing it until finally the last person grabbing it would make it break. IMHO…I would make a suggestion and nicely ask people to use the grab bar and not the handles. Also look into placing a rub mat on the bottom of the tub to insure the possibilities of people slipping/falling to a minimum.
Cindy, I understand that you are referring to the cumulative effect of guests grabbing the water handles but to end up being pulled off the wall would require pretty brute strength…besides, prior to this last guest the handle wasn’t even loose or wobbly…
Not disagreeing with you…it just reminded me of a new tenant that called me a t 3 a.m. saying that the hot water handle broke off and there was water gushing out of the wall. He had just moved in a week before and we had gone over the home extensively to make sure there were no issue’s. We had to shut off the water to the entire apartment building until the plumber could get there at 8 a.m. Our plumber says sometimes it just happens that it could appear just fine and wham it breaks when someone turns it and just knocks into it.
OK, everyone is going to yell at me here, because we are not hotels, but if this happened in a hotel, the hotel would probably just fix the damage and be thrilled that the guest was not injured during whatever happened and threatening to sue them.
I don’t know that you could prove to Air that the guest was yanking or jumping up and down on it. Maybe get a written statement from the plumber to include with your before and after pics? Couldn’t hurt, and it sounds like the guest is not going to be responsive when you send them the payment request.
Concur, remove the plug.
@dpfromva I’m pretty tolerant with minor damage caused by guests, and I would not bother with $100-200 damage, but I think that the guest was less-than-candid when she wrote to me about the damage; her lack of candor, and downplaying the issue, makes me think that the guest is aware that someone in the party caused the damage. I’m totally open to more seasoned hosts’ guidance and I want to do the right thing…
The only time I wouldn’t charge a guest for anything is if its unreasonable to the point that it would probably make them afraid to ever use Airbnb again and they are someone who any reasonable host wouldn’t mind hosting.
That being said, I am currently charging multiple guests for lost keys.