Reliability of Airbnb support in case of extensive damages and high cost

Yes I am based on Airbnb Host Guarantee …

2 big bedrooms, kitchen, bathroom gross 70 sqm.

So you have long stays and don’t do a weekly clean?

It was undertakenby the guest in all cases. The two former did it perfectly.

Making sure i understand
You are a relatively new host.
You have had 3 long term stays.
You do not do a weekly clean to check your property and guests.
You do not have your own insurance.
You closed the property down for 3 months
You are depending on the Airbnb to pay you for damages and they are ignoring you.
Did the guest admit to the damages?

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@Costas Wondering this, also. Also wondering if guest/s had previous reviews, and if they were new to Airbnb, and if they had gov’t id and selfie verification.

@Costas You did not indicate what the communication was, and if you had any gut feelings about the guest prior to/at check in.

I ask these questions for myself, without any judgement, and for any other hosts who may be wondering how to potentially avoid what you’re dealing with. I very seldom accept non-reviewed guests with no gov’t id or selfie verification any longer. I’m an in home host with enough other business so that I thankfully can be choosy with those guests who I welcome into my home.

Thank you for any information you can provide so we may all learn a little from your unthinkable experience.

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Sure - why not? If the place has been thoroughly cleaned and refurbished, I can’t think of a reason not to stay there.

The guest had 6 very nice reviews and one 2 years ago from a host who " found the apartment extremely dirty and degraded". Conclusion: We have to read carefully all the reviews and not only the general evaluation.
The communication before seemed OK. The only point which I reconsider now was her questions about how long I would be away for holidays.

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You were out of town then? How experienced is your co host? What were the suspicions you mentioned - were these reported to you by the co host?

We live and we learn from our mistakes, or gut instincts that were ignored. I have had my share of learning in this life (with hosting over three years, and with life in general). I honestly feel for you, and wish you all the best as you recover from this horrendous incident. I had double checked with my homeowners’ insurer over a year ago to make sure I was covered should something happen here. Since I’m an in home host, it’s not likely I’d experience what you have, but more if someone slipped on the ice, fell on the stairs, etc. I was willing to obtain additional coverage for STR, but at the time my insurer didn’t offer it, and assured me I was covered. Your experience will now prompt me to check back, and make sure nothing has changed, and that I will be covered should anything unforeseen happen.

Thank you for sharing your experience!

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CONTINUATION

After 24 hours from my first post, I truly thank all who contributed in this thread even with doubts and objections. I try to answer more systematically some basic questions.

Am I new in the job?

I am co host since 2017 in a listing with my daughter who is super host for this, but practically I do all the job as she lives abroad. For this listing and the vandalized one I have an experience of about one hundred guests. I had been till this case impressed from the generally nice behavior of the guests, less or more. So now I face a case 1 to 100.

Why I posted photos?

Speaking with many representatives of Airbnb I realized that this vandalism is an extremely rare case. I felt that I had to illustrate it

Did I check of the house during the stay and did I make a weekly cleaning?

I was not near the house in summer and I am not permitted by law to enter in my property during a stay of a guest even if I have suspicions for cleanliness. However, I always check with guests, who stay over a week whether a cleaning lady should come and change bed sheets/towels and clean. I cannot impose it though. A washing machine is also available for the guests in the house. It is therefore up to them to decide. Now I realized that I have to include it for staying more than a week in the house rules. The suspicious of the co host were about the cleanliness, but I would never suppose what really happened. .

Would you stay in the house after that?

I would not like to host someone in a place in which I would not stay knowing what happened, unless every trace of the vandalism will be radically removed. I think that this is responsibility from my part and this would be the golden rule for every host. “Prepare your listing as a place you would love to stay in”.

Is the claim enormous?

The approach of the study on which the detailed claim was based is:

Special cleaning and decontamination are the preliminary works. The main ones are restoration works for the surfaces of this traditional and carefully restored house:

For the traditional wooden floor careful treatment of the joints and light polishing with special light machines.

For the restored mosaic floor grinding and polishing with special treatment in the many corners and the steps of the stairs.

For the freshly painted walls, the doors and the windows repainting.

The replacement of all the furniture and of the equipment. What I would not use again personally, I would not like to be used by a future guest. As the equipment on which mice walked.

What about Airbnb support?

I don’t know yet if the guest has admitted or rejected the request. The info from Airbnb is till now general. As soon as possible a specialized team or a senior case manager will communicate with me. But 11 days have already passed .

TO BE CONTINUED WITH FRESH NEWS

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You most certainly can. Put it in your House Rules.

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I’d be on the phone daily, and asking to escalate to case manager each time. Have you been in touch with them at all over the past 11 days?

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I don’t know what you mean by “radically removed”. You need to clean and disinfect surfaces; that’s all.

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I don’t know what you’re using to translate to English, but it’s a bit off, so some of your responseds are probably not getting interpreted correctly by other hosts reading your posts.

I don’t expect Airbnb to pay you anything close to 22000 Euro. I’d be surprised if you get much more than 10% of that. I don’t believe the necessary cleanup cost that much and I don’t believe Airbnb will, either.

Why are you using Airbnb for stays of multiple months? It’s a short term rental platform and you are using it for long term rentals where you don’t even do regular cleaning. You are throwing money away using Airbnb for that type of rental.

You need to get appropriate short- or long-term rental insurance before you book your next guest. You are expecting Airbnb to be your insurance, but they are not.

It appears that you are a very naive host and I am sorry this happened to you and I hope the experience helps you make changes to protect yourself and your property. Good luck to you.

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I agree. You most certainly can ‘impose’ it. And I don’t have it in the house rules. I simply let guests know that the linens, towels and others (bathmat, shower curtain etc) will be replaced with fresh ones and that at the same time the apartment will be ‘freshened-up’. I don’t say ‘cleaned’ to the guests because I don’t want to put the idea into their heads that someone will be round to clean up after them.

I do this for all stays over 8 nights.

Furthermore, I don’t rely on an untrained cleaner who isn’t familiar with the standards required for Airbnb - I do it myself.

I have two apartments and look after a third for a neighbour. If I had the remotest idea, the vaguest inkling, that guests weren’t keeping the place clean I’d be knocking on the door.

A property owner has every right to enter their own property at any time if they suspect that there’s any sort of ‘emergency’. Here in the sub tropics, lack of cleanliness is an emergency. It doesn’t take long for insects to appear from seemingly nowhere.

Of course, the laws are different everywhere but landlords also have the right to enter without the need of any suspicions as long as the guests are given 24 hours notice - and there’s nothing like 24 hours notice mid stay to get them moving about and cleaning up.

It’s hard to tell from the photographs but the house looks to be a reasonable one. The OP talks about the traditional wooden floor, the restored mosaic and so on so it probably wasn’t a dump pre-guest.

So I’m still trying to understand why anyone would let random unknown strangers take a one month possession of a valuable asset with no-one on the spot checking the place. I’m not exactly saying that the OP was negligent, however I don’t understand the logic.

I would be curious as to what exactly happened.

A home is a major investment. Who or what was protecting yours?

This didn’t happen overnight. It took time and effort. It almost looks like squatters got in. And nobody noticed?

The major structures are intact - cupboards, appliances, walls, even windows. Yet you are charging major fire rates. Why is that?

In fact most of the damage other than possible odour is on the floor. Why is that?

While no pigpen is the same, this looks very different from the kind of damage hosts tend to see. Why didn’t you contact your home insurer first?

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He’s been asked about STR insurance but hasn’t answered. This makes me wonder if he doesn’t have proper insurance. He’s been asked too about other stuff but answers selectively.

I’m hoping that Brian is right in what he says and that it’s the translation tool he’s using that makes him hard to understand.

True, the place looks to be in a not too brilliant area but a restored two bedroom apartment is still going to cost the guest a reasonable amount and what sort of guest pays good money to trash a place like that? It must be a translation problem as it’s not easy to understand.

He’s starting to come across as either a very naive host or someone who is trying to scam Airbnb out of a lot of money. I’m sure it’s the former but it’s hard to get to grips with what’s really going on here.

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I would say we are on the same page.

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Basic point in the rules of this forum is: "remember to criticize ideas, not people" . I followed this rule even for the guest: No characterization.

Jacquo (Jakie) wrote initially that I am “new”. When I explained that I am not, she writes that I am " very naive ". Is that according to the rules?

She is also suspicious if “I try to scam Airbnb out of a lot of money”. But this would be reversed: “if she works so that nor the guest nor Airbnb will pay anything?” I don’t believe it.

Maybe I need a better “translation tool” but no one needs an optical tool to understand what happened looking at the photos. Unfortunately no smelling tool has been invented, which could make the photos to stink.

Do I answer selectively? I answered in the beginning of this chat that I am based in (depend on) Airbnb Resolution Center and Host Guarantee. The property has the normal insurance against theft, fire and natural disasters. It has nothing to do with the damages by a Responsible guest, which must be covered by the guest or by Airbnb Host Guaranty (see Host Guarantee Terms and Conditions).

But enough with the apologies to Jacquo. I wish her to have a good time in the “brilliant area” in which I suppose that she lives because it seems that she does not like our area.

Bye. If I have real news I will come back because I think that this case is useful for every host.

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