AirBnb unauthorized party

[Dale Bertrand]

I'm curious what you guys would do in our situation. We have an AirBnb renter for a STR who hosted a gathering at our house. We explicitly told him no parties or gatherings of any kind. We found 300 beer cans in 8 garbage bags in the side yard the day they left and it needed a deep cleaning.

I'm conflicted because they didn't do any damage to the house. The unexpected cost to us will be about $400 for a deep cleaning, trash removal, and some towels they destroyed. 

Since we just listed this house recently, all I care about is 5 star reviews. So I don't want jeopardize a 5 review rating by asking for compensation and I'm happy to eat the extra costs for a 5 star review. We rent this vacation house for $4,500/wk so the $400 isn't a huge hit. It just makes me mad, honestly.

What would you do in this situation? Should we request compensation through AirBnb?

My current plan is to leave a negative review, but I'm not going to try to recover the $400 to avoid getting a negative review from the renter.

- Dale

[Billy-Dee Greenwood]

Eat the cost and move on. Continue to provide 5 star service and make the best of it. Not sure if you have an exterior camera on the property but it can assist in the future with evidence in your favor of any violation of the rules you’ve set out. In this case, they didn’t trash your place which is a plus. Maybe just a few people drank 300 beers? Lol.
Reviews are important so I understand your concern but I say chalk this one up as a learning experience and focus on making future guests aware of your policies regarding parties or large gatherings.