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Hi, I’m new here. I’m seeking help to figure out how I can be compensated for damage a guest’s dog did, but does not fall under the Host Guarantee by Airbnb. My guest left Sunday, was staying in our camper. On Saturday night, she sent me a message (with a picture) telling me that her dog had damaged (completely destroyed) the screen on the front door. She offered to pay to fix it. I told her once I knew the cost, I’d let her know. My husband fixed it that day, since we had other guests coming, and couldn’t wait for a handyman. It took 2 hours of our Sunday, from start to finish (going and buying the supplies, to fixing it). My husband is a contractor, and his company charges a minimum of $65/hour. I have 2 bids from local contractors, one for $95, one for $110. We asked her for $64 ($55 for his time, $9 for materials). We used my husband’s veterans discount to purchase the items to save her money. We chose to fix it, not replace it, which would have cost her over $200. We were trying to be nice. When I sent the request for $64, she became obstinent, rude, and refused to give me more than $25. I contacted Airbnb for help, but they won’t cover it because pet damage is not covered under their host guarantee.
Do I have any recourse? What would you fellow hosts do? I’m about to stop using Airbnb, because this isn’t the first time they’ve left me with no ability to recoup money for damages done by guests. I used to require a deposit, but my bookings went way down, so I stopped. Would love to hear advice from others.
All dialogue is on the Airbnb app. I have not reviewed her yet. I will give her a horrible review for sure, but I’m waiting to see how this all plays out before I write the details in the review.
Airbnb said I can request the money from the guest (which she already refused once), but that’s it. Maybe I will request the $25 she has said over and over she’d be “happy to pay”, and see what she does. Something is better than nothing, but she’s still not covering the damages her dog cost.
Send the request for the full $64 (indicating that the other estimates were $95 and $110 so you are saving her considerably) via Resolution Center. When she declines there you can involve Airbnb. Be sure you make it clear to Airbnb that you are seeking reimbursement for damage the Guest agreed she did and will cover, NOT Host Guarantee.
I would ask for the $25 and be gracious as not to prompt her to give you a bad review. Then I would wait until the last minute and slam her in the review. You have 14 days to the minute that Air sends you the first prompt to review the guest. So if you get the email at 2:00 pm on tuesday you have until 1:59 PM two weeks away to submit your review.
Put your sample review on here and you will get some good advice
Yes but why prompt it over 40ish dollars? Air is not going to help her so at least they got the price of the materials. I would add to my suggestion go ahead and review her if she reviews first.
I do not recommend Roxy Renter. Her dog destroyed property and she refused to compensate fully, rather she decided what the repair was worth and paid a fraction of the cost.
Then be sure to click thumbs down.
Do not make any mention of resolution center requests in the review as that can be grounds for deleting the review. River Rocks suggested wording should be followed.
I’m confused a bit. Any guests travelling with the registered booker would be subject to abb’s policies so why not their pet? The guest clearly wasn’t able to control her pet from causing the damage and as pet owner and renter- she should be held responsible… but why isn’t this falling under host guarantee?
Because the Host Guarantee is BS, it is up to the untrained CS person to decide what and if they pay. It is not enough money in my opinion to force guest to pay and be guaranteed a bad review. Some will disagree. If the host has 100 5 star reviews than one bad one will not hurt, if she has 5 reviews one bad one will put her in Airbnb rankings purgatory and it will cost a lot more than $40
Because the Airbnb TOS says pet damage isn’t covered. Period. Don’t like their policy? Don’t use their platform. I’m not trying to be snarky I’m just using every opportunity to remind people that Airbnb is a booking and payment platform. Anything else is just a bonus. So if you get paid for damages, great but don’t be surprised if you don’t.
FYI, I accept pets and have gotten many bookings and extra dollars because of it. The only pet who had an accident, the guest confessed, paid up directly to me and booked a return stay. It’s been worth the risk for me but I realize eventually I’ll have a bad experience with this policy.
I’m not saying prompt for a review but if you think that by giving up $40 she won’t get one that is poor judgment in my opinion. I am not willing to pay $40 to hopefully not get a bad review, which is ultimately what that amounts to.
I look at it from the perspective of what is in my best interest? Should I pursue $40 and be assured of a bad review? Or as I suggested take the $25 be gracious about it and reduce the odds of a bad review? If the host has 100 good reviews than she is in a better position to risk it, if she only has a few then it will cost more than $40 in lost bookings because she will drop in the search rankings. There is no one size fits all solution.
Pretty sure at this point she’s giving me a bad review, which I’m not really worried about because I have close to 200 reviews. She has 1, so my bad review will affect her more than hers will affect me.
I don’t accept dogs. Period. No matter if they are service dogs. My listings are not suitable for people with pets or disabilities. It is the damage they can do and also causing trouble for future guests with allergies. Scrubbing after a pet in a house thats is supposed to be pet free can be excruciating work. A few years ago, when I was a landlord, my tenants had 2 big dogs when they weren’t supposed to have ANY pets. Those dogs completely destroyed (chewed) two wooden french doors. The tenants did 16k worth of damage to my house and that’s why I am doing short term rental only and absolutely NO pets. The tenants declared bankruptcy and I couldn’t recoup a penny. That’s why I simply don’t accept pets. Better safe than sorry.
I’m guessing you haven’t read the dozens and dozens of posts here about service animals. You can’t discriminate against people with service dogs. You also can’t charge them a fee. Here’s the policy. Of course you can get away with it until someone tries to book, you refuse them and they complain.
