My Resolution Request was managed very professionally. Thank you.
We are glad it worked out… You do realize this forum is not actually affiliated with AirBnb right? So what happened? we like to hear positive outcomes.
RR
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Hi RiverRock, yes I was happy with the Aircover coverage.
Guest with no reviews requested a last minute two night stay just after Thanksgiving. I contacted guest to confirm # of guests…only 5. 10 is our limit.
I didn’t know his age. He was 18. I had thought he was much older, so I accepted the res.
Turns out the guy invited 200 of his closest teenage friends over late Saturday.
Purposely disabled security cams, landscape lights…to conceal the violation.
Resolution Center took two weeks to process the claim. They were very responsive & professional.
NOTE: on a side note, I do NOT think an 18 year old should be allowed to make a res. PLUS, hosts should be notified of the age of the person making the inquiry.
Thoughts?
I’m happy that you were happy with Aircover coverage. I am curious what it was that they covered here. Was there damage that the event/party caused? How much was the claim?
I’m curious what changes you’ll make given that this happened, that the outcome could have been worse – irreparable damages could have occurred, someone could have been hurt, non-covered damages could have resulted, neighbors could have complained and been inconvenienced (or worse).
A few suggestions:
- Have a scheduled reply in confirming the reservation that summarizes the salient rules. Ours says this:
We look forward to hosting you starting at 4 pm on short code start
[check-in date]short code end
; your check-out is at 10 am on short code start
[checkout date]short code end
. Your reservation is for short code start
[number of guests]short code end
and you understand that the home is suitable only for children age 12 and over. No animals. Maximum occupancy, whether overnight or not, is six. Property not for smokers; no parties or events. No third party bookings, meaning that the person making the booking must be staying overnight throughout the stay. Questions? Just ask!
I suggest crafting such a message to your rules.
-
Depending on your state, city and situation you could consider a house rule that says that the guest must be age XX to make the reservation, which you would communicate in the message above.
-
When the cameras went out, what did you do?
Did you know? Did you check?
I suggest a procedure where you do check. Once you see that the cameras are not working you then visit the site (or your co-Host does) to determine what’s happened and take the appropriate action.
Related to this many Hosts have a rule that says that if the security cameras are disabled or tampered with the Host may enter the property (with recording equipment), cancel the reservation, eject the guests, and no refund will be given.
I’m sure others here will have other suggestions.
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I think it’s probably a moot point for you since your profile says you’re in California. You don’t want to mess around with the Unruh Act (age 18+ is a protected class in CA so it’s not an option to discriminate based on it).
You said you have security cameras. Did you not notice they were disabled or did it not alarm you? It sounds like a big red flag to me, the opposite of concealing an issue. Or do they just randomly go out sometimes?
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The security cams went down Saturday afternoon. That made me very suspicious so I sent my prop manager there to tell guest to reconnect the WiFi extenders. She also told him not to even think about having a party.
Guest disabled WiFi and broke entry gates at top of driveway. Also disconnected landscape lights.
All of this to conceal the # of party goers.
We hit them with a BIG invoice for everything under the stars. Got the $$$$.
As a postscript: I hired a local security company and activated the estate’s very elaborate home security system. I control the alarm from anywhere in the world.
Obviously you aren’t going to tell us how much but apparently you have quite an upscale property. It sounds like you are in the category of owners that Airbnb favors the last few years as opposed to live in hosts.
In terms of what you asked for and were paid by Airbnb, would you be willing to give a range? Like 1-5k, 5-10k, over 10k or over 20k?
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I provided all the required documents. I hope they are able to recoup their cost from the guest.
That would be fantastic. The guest was immediately removed from the site.
10
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I’m happy to hear about your good outcome. I remember a host here with a big house who was always complaining about Airnb and the poor guests they sent her. Nothing but complaints but one day she casually mentioned getting 6k for a pool table repair. Then it turned out she’d had a couple of other significant payments by Airbnb.
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It is helpful to have damage & liability protection from Airbnb. They did a good job.
The HOST is their business. The GUEST is their customer. The HOST has to be protected.
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No one here would disagree with you but there are several hosts here who have not been as happy with Airbnb as you have.
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I hope you realize that is not something to depend on, and that you have your own str insurance policy, although you got what you were after this time. Other hosts have not been so lucky.
As far as 18 year olds not being able to book, while I agree that it’s more of a risk, 18 is the age of majority in most places, and lots of young people are very responsible and respectful. And there are plenty of hosts who have had guests in their 30s throw unauthorized parties and trash the house.
Knowing a guest’s age could also lead to discrimination beyond not accepting 18 year olds. I’ve read plenty of host posts saying that seniors are their worst guests, that they are fussy and demanding, can’t figure out how to work things, and expected a hotel or traditional B&B experience. If hosts were privy to a guest’s age, they might very well decline anyone over the age of 65.
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Excellent points! Yeah, I have had over 1,000 bookings in the past decade. All ages.
I do have vacation rental insurance too. Good to have aircover and private insurance.
I am not a very experienced guest (less than 20 stays so far), and one of my early and least pleasant guests (because she left a quite disgusting mess) was fairly young (22 if memory serves). That had me skeptical about young guests, but I read here on this forum people talking about the great experiences they’d had with young guests, and so I reminded myself to not judge based on age. Shortly after that, I got a reservation from a 20 year old man who booked our apartment to celebrate his 1-year anniversary with his 18 year old girlfriend. They were just lovely, left the place very tidy, and were glowingly appreciative in their review – one of my fave guests ever. It was a good reminder that age isn’t necessarily a predictor of ABB behaviour. That said, it’s a 1-bedroom apartment that is perfect for couple getaways; if I had a big house (“estate”) like you, @Reedyhouse, especially one that slept 10 people, then I would definitely be more skeptical about an 18 year old reserving it! Glad everything was resolved satisfactorily.
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Yes. Very questionable allowing an 18 year old getting the keys to a $10 million estate.
Not a good scenario
For sure an 18 year old booking an entire place that is listed for 10 would and should raise red flags- that’s different from them booking an apartment for 2 or a private room.
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Totally agree! And it was last minute…and had no reviews…and I didn’t know the age…PLUS at the bottom of the request, the site added something to the effect: help (guests name) get his first review by accepting this reservation.
Ugh.
Hope Airbnb gets the guest to pay the cost!
I have only had two bookings out of 1,000 in the past decade that resulted in filing a claim against the guest. Both times, AirBnB Resolution Center was VERY responsive and fair.
They require documentation of damage and/or missing items/unexpected cleaning. That is reasonable. They also require a request be issued PRIOR TO another guest checking in. This too makes sense to me.
I grade them: A+