Our Airbnb was left a disaster...advice on what to do?

[Pam Smith]

Hi everybody-

I knew this would happen eventually, but this is our first instance of a guest leaving our place a mess. The rate is over $900/night and so we were crossing our fingers that perhaps it wouldn't happen so soon. What were we thinking? Lol!

There's a broken wall

Vomit left in the garbage can without the garbage being emptied

Dirty dishes left everywhere and obviously not a single check-out instruction completed

The front door was actually left open not to mention the other doors left unlocked. 

Linens all stained

Questions:

Is it worth leaving a bad review for the guest?

Is it worth contacting Airbnb to get money for the broken wall?

They lost the house key, which is supposed to be returned, otherwise there's a charge, which is in our house rules. Do we ask Airbnb to charge them for this? Do they do that?

We were also charged quite a bit more from our cleaning crew. Would airbnb ever cover this or charge the guest extra?

Thank you in advance for all of your help!

[Jillian Kemmerer]

I am so sorry this happened to you!! What a terrible feeling - I know it!
I had one bad guest in my airbnb, and it definitely made me nervous! I DID leave a bad review, I filed a complaint with Airbnb (they honestly didn't do much), and I did reach out to the guest to ask them to compensate me for the damage done (I needed ALL New linens, I had scratched mouldings/door jams, and it took DAYS of an ionizer to get the weed smell out of the space!), but they never followed through. 
I left a bad review - and that was about all I COULD do. It may just be somethign you have to move on from - 
I agree with changing locks/codes, leave a review, and wash your hands of it.

[Theresa Harris]

Did you get a deposit or have a way to charge them the expenses?  I'd definitely give them a bad rating and report them to airbnb.  As Bruce said, report it to the police.  They can probably get prints from something and if there is a break in, you know who the prime suspects will be.  You should also have driver's license and car plates.  Change the locks.

[Pam Smith]

Thank you all for your advice! We have all digital locks except for one patio door that we cannot put a digital lock on, hence the key. I already left her a negative review and we've been in contact with Airbnb. Unfortunately, our next guest checked in right away but we did file the claim right away and our cleaners documented it all.

[Christopher Hill]

Wow really unfortunate this happened to you. But it seems you handled it the right way! Hopefully there was valuable lessons to learn and I wish you luck going forward with your business!

[Natalie Schanne]

@Ryan Copeland - I’m not affiliated with STS so it’s not self promotion for me to say in response to your question —-

check out Avery Carl - @Luke Carl - The Short Term Shop - BiggerPockets Podcast Episode 364

The Short Term Shop (STS) also has a great Youtube Channel and Facebook Group focusing on buying and operating Airbnb / VRBO in Smoky Mountains (like Pigeon Forge Tennessee / Seiverville) and Destin Florida areas.

One of my main takeaways following reading their guidance is that it’s OK to charge a premium price and take fewer customers. Like to be 50% occupied at $500/night than 100% occupied at $200/night. They also cultivate hundreds of amazing reviews so they appear to be one of the best houses available in their market (assuming you’d rather see 200+ 5 stars vs 5 5 stars on a listing).

[Chris Watson]

@Pam Smith. Forget the extra charges but you must leave an honest review. The key is to wait for them to leave a review.

[Matt "Roar" Gardner]

Pat, I'm glad you filed the claim right away! AirBnB is strict when adhering to the 48hrs or before the next guest checks-in rule.  Just involve AirBnB early, as I highly doubt this guest will pay anything. lol 

My recommendation: Work the AirBnB angle to recoup as much as you can.  They've been flexible with me in the past when determining value and will even accept Amazon links to similar items.  Ultimately if that fails, don't let any negative feelings fester.  Just press on and realize this is the exception, not the norm.  

Best of luck to you!

[Nolan C.]

@Luke Carl are you buying condo's or houses in the panhandle?

[Luke Carl]

Originally posted by @Nolan C.:

@Luke Carl are you buying condo's or houses in the panhandle?

 I have 3 SF and one Townhome in panhandle. There’s a link in my profile to see them. 

[Sebastian Giraldo]

@Pam Smith take pictures!! And yes report it to airbnb you should be refunded for all the damages and mess.

Do you have a minimum booking period. These are typically guests that tend to stay for a short period.

Definitely leave them a bad review many hosts choose to leave them a review on the last date or hours of the 2 week review period.

This type of guest can be prevented with a proper screening process. A set of questions in the beginning to qualify them, minimum nights, previous reviews, age of bnb account, locals are red flags, etc.

[Vincent Chen]

@Luke Carl Good to know you have good number for the STR portfolio, can we know what profile of this portfolio? Like, price range, size of SF? And what is net cash flow of this good portfolio annually? Last important question, normally how much time do you take to manage this portfolio?

Would like to scale and control the meaningful portfolio of STR as well, just would like to setup it correctly, thanks for that.

[Matt Devincenzo]

Originally posted by @Vincent Chen:

@Luke Carl Good to know you have good number for the STR portfolio, can we know what profile of this portfolio? Like, price range, size of SF? And what is net cash flow of this good portfolio annually? Last important question, normally how much time do you take to manage this portfolio?

Would like to scale and control the meaningful portfolio of STR as well, just would like to setup it correctly, thanks for that.

You should start your own thread on this, or reach out via PM. The OP had a question to be addressed and taking this off topic detracts from them being helped.

[William Beck]

Always a good idea to check out insurance options. Since I use Evolve currently, they've got a insurance policy that is zero deductible and covers up to $3,0000 in damage. Sounds like that this issue may exceed that amount. Hopefully backup homeowners/STR insurance if the damage is that excessive.

Agree with @Luke Carl - this will happen from time to time. Keep it emotionless with your asset and just keep plowing ahead. 

[Bruce Woodruff]

Originally posted by @Matt Devincenzo:

You should start your own thread on this, or reach out via PM. The OP had a question to be addressed and taking this off topic detracts from them being helped.

Thank you!

[Jim K.]

Does "a broken wall" mean there's a hole in the drywall or something more extensive?

[Zambricki Li]

@Pam Smith The resolution center is set up for this through Airbnb. You don’t have to talk to the guest again, and it takes 5 minutes. You will get reimbursed for extra cleaning and damages. All love to the people who say move on (and congrats on their success) though this is a very basic feature of the app and you are covered. You don’t need insurance, you don’t need to get into the weeds on it. Just file a claim through the resolution center and THEN move on like many suggest. If they broke your wall why would you just move on? It needs to be repaired by a pro and THEN move on. If you lose a day or two of bookings you can also get reimbursed for that. These responses all have good intentions though they are kinda going off the rails IMO .

[Theresa Nardello]

I've had 10 Airbnbs in the last 6 years and this has happened to me only once.  That's what your security deposit is for (or the insurance policy they can buy if they prefer).  File a claim with Airbnb.  They will probably take a couple weeks to refund you the money, but they will. Be stern and insistent that you are owed that money.  Obviously, you need to provide photos and proof.  I've filed claims two or three times and eventually, they paid me.  My girlfriend filed a kind of big claim for a stain to her countertop and they paid on that too.  

And definitely leave them the WORST review possible - I feel it's our duty as hosts to do this - and then write them a personal note within the review and tell them how ridiculous they are for treating some else's property like that and inform them that you will do all you can to ensure no other host will ever rent to them again.  How infuriating!  I'm sorry that happened to you.  Do you have a Ring or some other type of camera system to notify you when there's a party or the like?  They're well worth the $100 and you can watch it all on your phone.  Exterior only, of course, but that's enough.  The one time I had a similar situation was years ago and I did not have a Ring yet.  Had I known, I would have gone over there and shut off the electricity from the exterior box and kicked them out personally.  

Good luck!

[Sherrie Malais]

@Pam Smith Ho Pam I've been doing short rentals fir awhile. Take pictures and document everything you clean and your time. Get estimate for repairs asap. Call Airbnb and/ or file on line asap. They will catch up with them and settle bill.

[Andrew S.]

Not to be rude, but it sounds like <$100 of work to patch the wall and a few hours of cleaning.  Learn how your systems can improve and move on. 

[Anand S.]

It's hard to hear this but I agree with @Luke Carl

My rule of thumb is if the damage is less than 5% of the booking then I let it go. It's easier to clean up and move on. The overall amount that you end up eating in a year should be less than 1% of revenue, and you will save time not having to chase ABB for damages that may or may not be paid out. 

[Bonnie Low]

Yes, leave an honest review. Other owners will appreciate that and hopefully avoid having the same thing happen to them. Customers who trash a place don't deserve the privilege of this STR opportunity. They can try their luck with hotels (which I'm sure they treat the exact same way.)

[Nicki Shelton]

@Pam Smith wow that is really disheartening. I would definitely leave them a horrible review so this doesn't happen again. That being said may I ask how you found your cleaning company. My husband and I are getting ready to invest in our first rental property and in the mean time I have started a cleaning company in Fort Worth Texas to help build our cash reserves and I'm trying to get into that nich of cleaning air bnb in between stays. I hope everything turns out well for your property.

[Joshua Tessier]

@Pam Smith

Airbnb is an absolute joke for hosts. There policy is dam near impossible to collect on. I have a unit to this day reeks of spoiled mile that in the subfloor. The stoves broken, microwave trashed, and drains are screwed. Even after snaking we still can’t get them to drain quickly. This is what we found when we entered. https://youtu.be/VHIgO9o6BnU for us about 25% of Airbnb guest are a disaster. They overstay there check out time when the cleaning crews and next guest attempt to arrive they have 1,000,000 excuses why they can’t leave. Airbnb doesn’t charge them but will surly allow your next guests to cancel. We have had people claim to find bedbugs I order to cancel reservations but yet after experts do a full examination of an 8 unit building for hours they can’t find a single sign of anything. Guess who’s responsible for those costs, you!

In the end what do you do? You file the claim. You wait the three days for them to close it you make them reopen it. You fight for your business and you show Airbnb what a suck product they have. Then you list your property on furnish finder, VRBO, transition away from the platforms that bring you crappy clients.

[James R.]

I've Airbnb'ed properties for 7 years.  

1)  Never, ever allow instant book.

2)  Never, ever allow guests without AT LEAST three previous positive reviews.

3)  You have an option to demand a security deposit, prior to accepting their request.  Most guests are so dumb, that they don't even know that it was applied to their CC card.  The place is $900/night?  Your SD should be $1000.  If they've got "trashing your place on the brain." then you're covered.  Don't count on Airbnb to do squat to help you.  With a security deposit applied to their card, you simple send Airbnb the photos and say "I want their whole security deposit".  Period.  

Also, it doesn't sound like they trashed the place.  They were just irresponsible slobs.  In their minds, this was normal to leave your place this way. 

Now, a guest who wears triple absorbent adult diapers, loads them up and leaves them behind for you to clean up, well that is just plain gross.  It happened to me and the guest gave me one star, because I didn't provide free Netflix.  People are disgusting, but bad on me, for not screening them out of my beautiful rental property to begin with. 
  

[Sofia Sharkey]

@Pam Smith I don’t get the people who say clean up and move on. I’ve had 100% success rate with airbnb paying for damages. They’ve paid me over 15K in damages before. Like a few have said, timing is key.

1. Submit a claim as soon as you can. Take pictures of EVERYTHING

2. Get invoice from cleaner and submit it to airbnb

3. Get quotes for damages and submit those. Look online for any items you have to purchase again and submit those

4. Work the resolution and include your time working this issue and loss of income from bookings you’ll be missing if you have to cancel anyone

5. For the future, make sure you have STR insurance. That way if airbnb ever decides not to pay you don't have to rely on them to get coverage

Last but not least, look into what you could have done to prevent this. Screened guests differently? would cameras have helped you monitor before things got bad? etc.

Good luck!