New host, first guest and problem with water

I am brand new host to Airbnb and tonight is the first actual night of officially hosting someone to our house (entire house and I am not present). I was really excited about the opportunities of hosting and then I got this message “We cut off water to fridge bc water filtered through the door wouldn’t stop. We plan on looking at it tomorrow”. I got this text about two hours ago and tried contacting the guest so I can come over to try and fix it.

I haven’t heard any replies back. I’m worried about potential water damage to wood floors and a negative review since I have none posted yet as a host (I have several as being a guest). I finally sent another text saying I will come by in the morning when they check out after no replies.

Wondered if other experienced hosts would have gone to check on any potential damages if they did not hear back from the guest. Or if they would wait for confirmation that it was okay.

What sort of place do you rent? It sounds like it is separate from your main residence. How far away is it? An active leak of water sounds like reason enough to stop by. It is bizarre of them to not respond after that. Be sure to attempt to contact them via he Airbnb messaging system so there is record if you have to file a claim. I would not be sitting idly by if someone told me there was water flowing constantly onto the floor.

If there is damage be sure to document it with photos. You must initiate a claim against the Host Guarantee within 48 hours. Pictures and a message trail will be quite important.

Also, it maybe useful for you to include in your House Rules that the host may enter the property at any time for emergencies and immediate maintenance needs.

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Just added those words to my ‘whole house’ listing. Although I usually have that blocked off because I do get very nervous for that very reason of possible maintenance needs!

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Great suggestion - thanks! As it turns out, they just turned off the water to fridge and I don’t think there was any damage when I looked at the floors. I haven’t had time to see how to repair the water dispenser but I know it’s a couple of hundred dollars if I have to repair it.

Just to clarify your response, do you usually block off the ice and water dispenser to the fridge? I haven’t thought of that. So do you then provide ice trays?

My ice maker is not connected to a water source. I do have multiple ice trays in my freezer. I live alone, so there is usually not too much food in my freezer, so I take up some space by prefilling used water bottles with water and freezing them. I personally use these as a way to keep my lunches cold in my little thermal bag I bring to work, and I do frequently in the summer let guests borrow a thermal bag and bottles of frozen water to keep their food cold if they are traveling for day trips with sandwiches. Mine is a shared house arrangement (sometimes I rent out the whole house, but not frequently). But you could easily get ice cube trays and just keep them filled up. If people run out of ice, they can either figure out how to fill them up or go to store for bag of ice.

Thanks for the clarification. My plans were to put a sign to say that the dispenser doesn’t work (unless I can fix it today or soon) and just have ice trays available.

My frig doesn’t have a dispenser. I’ve never in my life had a frig with a dispenser in it! Then again, my tap water perfectly safe to drink.

Ice makers are trouble! We live in an area with rain catchment tanks. We had a neighbor here with a vacation rental house near the beach in our neighborhood. He left the fridge ice maker hooked up and he was an off-island owner… Well the ice maker somehow malfunctioned, and pumped the entire 10,000 gallon catchment tank into his house. When someone finally checked on the house months later, they found the entire home flooded with four feet of water. Needless to say, not only did it ruin the kitchen floor, it ruined all the floors and more throughout the entire house. You can only imagine what was living in the water after being enclosed in a house in the tropics for a couple of months!

Lesson: never ever leave an ice maker unattended! disconnect!

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Even if they don’t leak, they can grow mold in fairly short order.

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Oh my. I never realized how much damage a fridge dispenser can create. I have heard someone’s floors were ruined after they turned on the dishwasher and headed out of town for a week, and by the time they returned, their floors were ruined since there was a leak. Hmm, maybe it’s best, I leave it off then…