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What happens when an unconscious guest abandons a house with extensive damages, which need a high cost for special cleaning, decontamination, restoration and replacement of the spoiled furniture and equipment?
That’s the case of my property: The house, which was a listed property for only 6 months and evaluated by the past guests with 5* in all fields, suffered a vandalism by the last one. It was abandoned full of garbage and all the surfaces and the furniture were covered with human excrement (vomiting, shits, urine etc).
I sent immediately a report to Airbnb to inform them and to have their advice for the proper actions.
The most affected items were thrown at once, a cleaning team specialized in heavy conditions of squalor was employed for immediate cleaning and afterwards a decontamination took place with special forms, masks, gloves and shoes.
I prepared a detail study for the claim for reimbursement with a total cost about 22.000€.
21 days after the first report of the vandalism and 10 days after the written submit of the claim for reimbursement my repeated questions to Airbnb remain unanswered, we are in darkness and the house is closed.
The reliability and professionalism of Airbnb are to be proved.
TO BE CONTINUED
The number is so unussualy enormous that may be that was the reason for Airbnb to ignore you . To be honest I am a bit sceptical that even this horrific mess on pictures can cause so much damage .
I had few times when guests left seriously dirty
or messy house . One group broke chair and vase and the rest was just incredible dirt. I claimed 700$ and Air paid me 500$.
Next time guests wore socks in a pool and lint damages filter .Out of 350$ I got 80$
I don’t know but may be they look at how many times you claimed damages ?
Exactly. If it was me I’d fire it in to Airbnb but at the same time get my own insurers on it.
Got to be frank, €22,000 sounds way OTT, even if they shat on the ceiling in every room! A crew of six to clean up piss, shit and vomit is overkill; I mean, it’s not as if it was a nerve agent!
Depends on where the house is in the world. Some police forces look at it in the way that the host ‘invited’ the guest into the property and therefore don’t take it too seriously. Some insurance companies will insist on a police report though.
It also matters whether the damage was actual things-broken-and-destroyed damage or simply can-be-cleaned damage.
I wanted to check the condition because there were some suspicions but the Airbnb recommendation was that the visits of the host during the staying are not welcomed. The amount is not high is very well documented. The special cleaning and decontamination are the preliminary work. After 20 days the stench is still there. I have already throw away the most spoiled items and the only solution is treatment of the surfaces (floors, walls, doors etc) and replacement of the furniture, which is a new one. Would anyone stay in this house if he knew what happened before?
I realise that you’re new to the business but you should have acted upon your suspicions. You say that Airbnb ‘recommended’ to you that your visit wouldn’t be welcome but it’s important to remember that it’s your property and your business.
Airbnb just advertise it for you, they don’t know how to best run your business, or mine, or that of millions of other hosts.
So you called Airbnb with your suspicions and they recommended that you do nothing? Didn’t you think that was a bit weird? Did you feel obliged to take their recommendation?
This is a little confusing because no one would have known what happened until you went public and posted about it - along with photographs - all over a public forum. I’m a bit baffled.
Now I am a bit baffled too Jaquo. Do you answer my question by the proposal “keep it secret”? I prefer the full restoration that your idea: “Don’t publish”
Thank you very much dear Jaquo for your interest. The problem is not if I had to publish photos or not. The question for you and everyone is if one would stay if he knew what happened? My duty is to face this condition as if everyone knew what the photos show. The word “mess” is a very flattering term. Thanks again.
Yet another person who asks people on the internet for their opinion and then objects to the reply.
So this is your question:
And this is the answer:
We are just hosts, we aren’t Airbnb. We don’t know what will happen. Even if you had your insurance and made a claim with them they would not issue a payment instantly. Airbnb will probably not pay anywhere close to the amount you’ve asked for. You may have to contact them every day for a resolution. You have no control over if they will make your listing active again (if that’s what you mean by house is closed).
It is well known here that people shouldn’t count on Airbnb making payments under their host guarantees.
The person respects and welcomes every opinion. He tries to explain his own opinion. I closed the house for 3 months in order to have time for the proper actions in order to disapear all the traces of the vandalism.
If you really paid that much, then I hope you have genuine short term rental insurance. I don’t expect Airbnb to pay you 22000 Euros for clean-up of what appears to be a 1-bedroom apartment where only a few items (mattress, bedding, area rug) were actually replaced.
Out of curiosity, how long was the booking for, and how long did the guest/s stay (if you know)? Was there proper communication leading to the visit? And did you ever have a feeling like something wasn’t right?
I am just horrified at the condition of the listing, and can’t imagine what I’d do in your shoes.
I notice the OP never replied to the question about his property insurance. That leads me to believe he did/does not have real homeowner insurance, but depended, instead on the mythical Airbnb Host Guarantee…
