Thanks for checking in - so far we have a new couch on the way. The guest is refusing to pay for the damages, and claims that it wasn’t her and wants to have Airbnb pay for it. I don’t know how its going to get sorted out, but we do have a lot of photos of before and after as our housekeeper takes diligent photos between turns. Airbnb assured me they would take care of it but we have to wait 72 hours before its handed over to the case manager. So we shall see.
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When you are shopping for a camera system keep in mind temperature may affect their smooth operation. I was going to get an “Arlo” system but I have heard they do not work well in my climate. Temps dropped to -20 cel last week here and my neighbour has Arlo and it stopped working and needed re setting. I am going to check out the Blink system now.
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I have the outdoor Blink cameras, and while it doesn’t get quite that cold here it has been down to 20 °F with no problems. And up to 100!
Reolink has models that are designed for extreme cold. They are very good quality cams for a fraction of what Arlos cost.
Here is an info page below. Their customer service is great too. Answered all of our technical questions before we got our Reolink Go and have been fast to respond when we had post-sale questions as well.
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Really? Why they behaved in that way? That’s what some drunk people do …they drink too much. And then puke and then trash a place. There is nothing here to be learned and or to be done to prevent it . I am not sure what you mean by that. How do you prevent to have drunk guests who puke?
And this is not even a big house . It was just 2 people.
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It was not her? My house was trashed few times as most hosts experienced. Before anything else done… pictures . Airbnb makes you work though for getting money . We had to submit receipts of newly bought items and cleaning receipts. We didn’t get paid the whole amount though , about 70%.
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Thank you for sharing. We have photos and receipts too, hoping that we can be recouped. My father driving 3 hours round trip to bring it to the dump and paying the HOA to get it out of the unit before the next guest arrived. Now we have to pay them again to help us get the new one into the unit. Such a headache.
It doesnt happen often but when it does what a pain.
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You are correct of course.
I also recommend couches that are as “destruction proof” as possible.
That means either:
Leather Sofas
or
Slipcovered Sofas
Regular residential sofas have a hard time holding up to abuse.
Just my suggestion
Write to the guest requesting the money owed again. Airbnb read the communications. Unemotional but direct and precise about what you want. Include all photos if possible. I have had it happen to me, and I had photos and a backlog of messages with the offending guest. It was overtly clear that Airbnb could not ignore the damage. Get quotes asap for everything, including increased cost of cleaning. Finally, explain to your forthcoming guest. Offer the first night free and 25%off thereafter. This can then be added to your cost with guest.
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You put cameras inside the house? Do you make the guests aware?
Absolutely not. I don’t recommend that anyone do that and probably wouldn’t stay where any host did that. I’ve said exterior cameras about a millions times on this forum already, but I did slip on this post. I’ll correct that now.
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I have baby monitors in each house since we host a ton of younger babies and children. I had one mother complain to me that it would be better if my monitors had video. I told the woman then the next guest would say I had camera’s in the house watching them, so it’s just not an option.
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I bought the sleeper sofa for my Airbnb at Rooms To Go. It came with a warranty (either 3 or 5 year, I forget which) that they will repair any damage free of charge, or replace the entire sofa!
I don’t know the terms of a warranty like that. If you ever need warranty service or replacement, definitely don’t tell them you use it for Airbnb. The warranty may be predicated entirely on residential, not commercial, use.
Thank you for the suggestion! I told them when I bought it that it was for my Airbnb, but perhaps the salesperson wasn’t super aware of the finer points of the contract. Better safe than sorry!
I know how you feel. 
The only thing I can say is… each time it gets easier. I think if someone trashes my place again, I won’t be nearly as disturbed as I was the first time…
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Hah yeah, and since everything got sorted out pretty quickly it wasn’t nearly as bad as I imagined. Still shocking that someone could pee and vomit all over a room…
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Thought I would update everyone on what happened - Airbnb CS got involved, they confirmed all of the photo evidence but unfortunately the guest deleted her account, so they have no way of reimbursing us. They are giving us 50% of the damages that were incurred. But allowing her horrible and lying review to stay 
Really disappointed but trying to learn from it. The new cameras are installed, we require a deposit now…so yeah, moving on
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I would call again - how can they allow a negative review to stay for a guest who deleted their account?! What BS!
Sorry for you on this!
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