Systems on Requesting Funds from Guests Who Damaged furniture

[Leon Lee]

Hi fellow STR hosts,

We’ve had several instances where our cleaning team has reported damages to furniture upon checking in, such as major scratches on the new dining table or chipped nightstands. When we request money from guests, most of the time we get the answer that the furniture was like that when they checked in. We’re wondering if there’s a good system available to capture evidence on guests who damaged the house.

What is a good system to prove that damages were made during their stay, not before they stayed? It seems that it’s not realistic to have cleaners take photos of everything after they clean so that we can have evidence to show the guests that these damages did not exist before they checked in.

Any inputs will be greatly appreciated!

Lee

[Michael Baum]

We have had one guest wipe out a futon (broke the frame) and all I did was use the AirBNB insurance and they paid out for a replacement.

VRBO offers up the damage insurance for guests and all of ours have selected it.

We had one guests kids break the arm off a rolling club chair. I just put in with Generali insurance and got paid for the repair.

I took photos of the damage and sent them off. Wham, got paid.

Did the same thing when a guest broke the window locking bar by slamming the window down with the lock engaged. No way to repair other than replace the entire window. They denied they did it. I took photos, got the estimate and got paid for it.

Other than that, that is all the damage we have had that was significant. I have had to replace a railing mount, re-glue some trim, etc. No charge to the guests for that sorts of stuff.