No power for over 24 hours AirBnB

I’m currently staying in an Airbnb for an extended stay (3 months) and due to the recent weather, we’ve been without power now for over 24 hours. I’m a little confused as what to do in this situation. We have no way to stay warm, everything in the refrigerator is spoiled, and I can’t shower for work. Being a hurricane-prone area, most of the neighbors have generators but our host does not.

I guess what question is, what’s appropriate to ask for? A partial refund? Damages? Cost to cover a hotel? Supposedly the power should come on sometime tomorrow but in the meantime I’m pretty miserable.

Submitted January 18, 2018 at 08:30AM by illiana89552 http://ift.tt/2FNbkcS AirBnB

Question for hosts: What qualifies a space as an "entire apartment" as opposed to a "private room"? AirBnB

My family has started listing the master suite of our home, along with a living room downstairs (with a pullout queen bed) as a private room on AirBnB. It is separated from the rest of the house by french doors that are locked to both sides and covered by a blackout curtain. The space has a private entrance. It currently has a wet bar with sink and mini refrigerator but no cooking surface.

As I said it is currently listed as a private room but I feel that it is much more private and a much bigger space than what you would expect from such a listing. So what does it take to list something as an entire apartment? A wall in place of the french doors? more soundproofing on the doors? A cooking surface? Does AirBnB have strict rules in accordance with city zoning, etc.?

If anybody has been in a similar situation and had a private room listing turned into an entire apartment listing, did you find that you could make more money or charge more for an entire apartment listing?

Submitted December 27, 2017 at 06:39AM by rustycrunchers http://ift.tt/2CacXQy AirBnB

Are these rational and/or realistic host expectations? AirBnB

So, my SO and I got to a house - a really cool looking place in the middle of nowhere - and left 10 mins later, not to come back. Hosts weren't rude, but here's what happened.

We drive 14 or so hours, make our way up two miles of off-road terrain in a non-off-road car, get to the door, male host answers, tells us to take off our shoes... We do, walk in, meet the female host; male host points to a bedroom (w/a bathroom) and says, "Guest quarters are there"; two seconds of small talk about the road in; male host goes back to his comp, directly outside the "guest quarters" door; female host goes into the kitchen to tend something she's baking, then outside to water her garden; end of interaction.

Here's the thing: I wasn't looking for someone to hold our hands or anything but my impression was that Airbnb hosts should do one of two things: if the place is empty, leave a note with instructions; if it's a shared situation (erroneously described in the ad as a "bed and breakfast"), give us the lay of the land, house rules, etc., i.e. "Let me show you around the house; this is where we'll be; this is where you're expected to be; ok to put groceries in the refrigerator, not ok to watch TV after 10, etc." We felt like we were interlopers in their lives, like the derelict nephew they were pressured into letting crash on their couch, not people who paid to stay there.

So, question: is this typical? Was the weirdness in my head? Or is this bad Airbnb-ing?

Submitted August 30, 2017 at 07:51PM by silentmonkeys http://ift.tt/2xxPk1E AirBnB

Are these rational and/or realistic host expectations? AirBnB

So, my SO and I got to a house - a really cool looking place in the middle of nowhere - and left 10 mins later, not to come back. Hosts weren't rude, but here's what happened.

We drive 14 or so hours, make our way up two miles of off-road terrain in a non-off-road car, get to the door, male host answers, tells us to take off our shoes... We do, walk in, meet the female host; male host points to a bedroom (w/a bathroom) and says, "Guest quarters are there"; two seconds of small talk about the road in; male host goes back to his comp, directly outside the "guest quarters" door; female host goes into the kitchen to tend something she's baking, then outside to water her garden; end of interaction.

Here's the thing: I wasn't looking for someone to hold our hands or anything but my impression was that Airbnb hosts should do one of two things: if the place is empty, leave a note with instructions; if it's a shared situation (erroneously described in the ad as a "bed and breakfast"), give us the lay of the land, house rules, etc., i.e. "Let me show you around the house; this is where we'll be; this is where you're expected to be; ok to put groceries in the refrigerator, not ok to watch TV after 10, etc." We felt like we were interlopers in their lives, like the derelict nephew they were pressured into letting crash on their couch, not people who paid to stay there.

So, question: is this typical? Was the weirdness in my head? Or is this bad Airbnb-ing?

Submitted August 30, 2017 at 07:51PM by silentmonkeys http://ift.tt/2xxPk1E AirBnB

Guest Broke my stuff/Resolution Center woes AirBnB

My guest, who off the bat was dishonest, shattered the glass shelf in my refrigerator and said nothing about it.
I went through resolution center and explained that i could not get receipts until after xmas holiday (they give 72 hours). They did not respond and closed case. When I call "customer service" they said that those reps can't call hosts and only communicate through email. When I told them they didn't respond to my emails they said well there's nothing they can do.
What about security deposit? I asked about that in email and they did not respond, I looked at link about it on airbnb site and got not info. Does anyone have any ideas on how to proceed?

Submitted December 27, 2016 at 06:22PM by GayGringo http://ift.tt/2izlaGS AirBnB

Has anyone read Airbnb's new Terms of Service? AirBnB

Regarding the new Terms and Conditions, TL/DR: Hosts are screwed.

There is a new thing called a "Travel Issue" that allows a guest to cancel and get a refund within 24 hours of arrival if they decide they find a, er, "travel issue."

Some of them are reasonable (guest can't get into the place and can't get ahold of the host to get the key, etc.). But some are so open to interpretation that any halfway sneaky guest could use them to cancel. Such as:

"...(iii) special amenities or features represented in the Listing are not provided or do not function, such as decks, pools, hot tubs, bathrooms (toilet/shower/bathtub), kitchen (sink/stove/refrigerator or major other appliances), and electrical, heating or air condition systems, or (iv) the physical location of the Accommodation (proximity). (c) at the start of the Guest’s reservation, the Accommodation: (i) is not generally clean and sanitary (ii) contains safety or health hazards that would be reasonably expected to adversely affect the Guest’s stay at the Accommodation in Airbnb’s judgment, (iii) does not contain clean bedding and bathroom towels available for the Guest’s use, or (iv) has vermin or contains pets not disclosed on the Listing."

Notice the words "do not function." That basically means the guest's word against the host's. The heater may not get the house hot enough or the A/C may not get the house cold enough for the guest's taste. The toilet may not flush completely because the guest didn't push the handle down far enough.

"Not generally clean and sanitary" or "has vermin" means they can move your appliances and probably find some kind of dead bugs and dust.

Does anyone else find this a frightening development that signals a big shift by Airbnb toward satisfying guests at the expense of the hosts, or is it just me?

The worst thing is that I think the guests who will try hardest to weasel out of a booking are the ones paying the most (who maybe feel they are overpaying), like for a holiday weekend. And there go the big paydays we all wait all year for. :-P

EDIT: I can't find the old version of the policy on archive.org since apparently Airbnb does not allow indexing of their site. If this stuff was in the previously existing terms of service, let me know. It's still pretty bad, but if it exists already and guests are not abusing it, maybe it's not a huge deal.

http://ift.tt/OMk7Qn

Submitted December 08, 2016 at 01:03AM by TillikumWasFramed http://ift.tt/2gVpNJI AirBnB

Guest Stealing Food Out Of My Refrigerator. AirBnB

OK. What the actual f*ck. Kind of pissed. Our guest leaves Friday. Just talked to her about the cigarette smoking policy yesterday and she's been going outside to smoke ever since. Great. So last night my girlfriend and I grilled 2 steaks for dinner and had 2 halves of steak leftover which was put in the fridge. Currently at work, and receive a text from my girlfriend asking me if I took my steak to work with me. I did not, I left it at home to eat tonight. She tells me, there was only one of two halves of steak in the refrigerator and she could smell meat in the microwave. So our guest most likely helped herself. It had to be her because nobody else is in my apartment besides my Girlfriend, my 18 month old toddler, the airbnb guest and myself.

What do I do? Report her? Theft is theft, but over a steak? She's been eating Ramen Noodles since her arrival and attempted to drink Tap Water but we told her she could help herself to WATER BOTTLES. I don't know what her situation is but it seems to me like she's struggling financially. She's asked to stay longer for a discount and offered cash because she did not have a debit card. But she did request to stay via the Airbnb platform so she must of had some type of debit card.. Sorry, Im not going that route.

But damn, I have stomachs to feed too, bills to pay. We're just as old as she is. (Early twenties) Should I feel bad?

Anyway, now my steak is gone. What would you guys recommend I do? She's a young girl, no car, but has a job. I know its just a steak but she could have asked... I wish I would have invested in security cameras. Really considering it at this point.

Submitted November 10, 2016 at 03:00AM by aqwhereius https://www.reddit.com/r/AirBnB/comments/5c3v3j/guest_stealing_food_out_of_my_refrigerator/?ref=search_posts&utm_source=ifttt AirBnB

If you rent out your own place while you're away, what do you do with your clothes? AirBnB

Do you empty out your chest of drawers and closet so guests can use these? What's the standard procedure on that? What about the refrigerator and freezer?

Very curious about how hosts handle that.

Submitted September 16, 2016 at 10:04PM by delonasn http://ift.tt/2cLAhdd AirBnB

Business guests- microwave or toaster oven? AirBnB

I am outfitting a room with a private bath and want to offer a very basic food area. Appliance-wise it will include a coffee maker, a compact refrigerator, and either a microwave or a toaster oven. Place your votes! Thank you.

Submitted August 31, 2016 at 12:55AM by nlkuhner http://ift.tt/2cpbIEa AirBnB

Business guests- microwave or toaster oven? AirBnB

I am outfitting a room with a private bath and want to offer a very basic food area. Appliance-wise it will include a coffee maker, a compact refrigerator, and either a microwave or a toaster oven. Place your votes! Thank you.

Submitted August 31, 2016 at 12:55AM by nlkuhner http://ift.tt/2cpbIEa AirBnB

Nightmare guest walks away with several house items AirBnB

My first guest requested to stay for a week, It all went well and she decided she wanted to stay one month longer. She wasn't very tech savvy, so as she lost the password to the old account she ended up creating a new one for the second booking. I've noticed during her stay that she was leaving with cups and spoons in the morning and not returning them. I even grabbed one really dirty trash filled cup and 2 spoons from her car the one time she asked me to move it (as it was blocking another guest in the tandem parking spots). As the end of her stay approached I asked her about it and she said she would return them. She left the day before her checkout date when we weren't home, without coommunicating. Upon checking on her room I noticed that she took 2 face towels, 1 bath towel, and one of the DECORATIVE PILLOWS. I get that people might pack a towel by mistake while confusing it with theirs (She didn't bring any of her own, so not the case here), but packing a BIG DECORATIVE PILLOW cannot possibly happen by mistake. That, along with the 3 spoons and 3 cups that she took, made it for a really unpleasant first guest experience. As a new host I tried to be extra nice and loaded the guests refrigerator with A LOT of breakfast foods and a wide variety of snacks. I mentioned that they were for breakfast but she took the opportunity to save money and, until I was forced to empty the fridge, she was having breakfast, lunch, snacks, and dinner from that supply, not once bringing food of her own home. I still left basic healthy breakfast food available as I knew she wouldn't gorge on that, and had to remove everything that needed to be cooked on the stove as she was leaving it a huge mess every single time. The food part is not the issue, and it was my fault as I did put myself on the line for trying to be too nice and provide way too much of it. However, the items that she left with did get to my head. There's no way one could possibly run a small business like airbnb if every single guest left with 3 spoons, 3 cups, 2 face towels, 1 bath towel, and 1 decorative pillow. The pillow came in an expensive set with 7 other items, so I can't just replace it. Same with the forks. The other items can be replaced but they definitely weren't cheap. I tried messaging her through the app and she won't answer. I tried calling and she sends me straight to voice mail. Leaving a bad review won't even hurt her, as she can always use her other account or even create a new one. What can I do in this situation, given that as being my first guest I didn't count on such a nightmare and didn't stipulate a security deposit?

Submitted August 14, 2016 at 05:12PM by vagin4 http://ift.tt/2buiNTw AirBnB

Really Shy and Silent Guest AirBnB

So I had a guest arrive late last night. He introduced himself at the door and apologized for being late. Check-In was at 3pm, he arrived at midnight, which wasn't that big of a deal to me since I was up anyway. I noticed that he was very nervous. I could see him shaking and sweat He keeps telling me "I apologize" for bringing his luggage into my apartment and apologizes for putting his peanut butter into the refrigerator.

He's friendly though, just very silent and super shy. I let him know that if he had any questions he did not have to hesitate to ask. He's staying for a week, hopefully he'll adjust.

Submitted August 08, 2016 at 07:31PM by aqwhereius http://ift.tt/2aVlsRx AirBnB

Without sounding rude, how to specify that it's AirBed&Breakfast not AirBed&EverySingleMeal? AirBnB

I've just started hosting 2 rooms on airbnb last week. Wanting a good rating, my wife and I bought a wide variety of snacks for breakfast that we keep mostly in our second refrigerator that is now exclusively dedicated to guests. My first guest has been in the house for a week, and she'll be staying one full month. She didn't bring any food items into the house yet, she's been living exclusively of the breakfast food provided (she even packs lunch and snacks for work). We thought it would be nice to have some frozen snacks too so we had gotten a HUGE bag of mini pizza bites from Costco. Yesterday her dinner consisted of half that bag. I feel like now it's too late to approach the subject with her without it affecting the review she'll leave at the end (which I assume would be terrible for the listing being that it would be the first review ). Without sounding rude, how can I approach the subject to avoid this happening again in the future? I was thinking of something along the lines of "Food provided for breakfast only". Would it be bad to have that included in the house rules or in a note somewhere in the kitchen? Is this something that happens often with you hosts, or is it something rare enough that I shouldn't risk leaving tacky notes/rules?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

Submitted July 22, 2016 at 09:10PM by vagin4 http://ift.tt/29Sb2S9 AirBnB

Without sounding rude, how to specify that it's AirBed&Breakfast not AirBed&EverySingleMeal? AirBnB

I've just started hosting 2 rooms on airbnb last week. Wanting a good rating, my wife and I bought a wide variety of snacks for breakfast that we keep mostly in our second refrigerator that is now exclusively dedicated to guests. My first guest has been in the house for a week, and she'll be staying one full month. She didn't bring any food items into the house yet, she's been living exclusively of the breakfast food provided (she even packs lunch and snacks for work). We thought it would be nice to have some frozen snacks too so we had gotten a HUGE bag of mini pizza bites from Costco. Yesterday her dinner consisted of half that bag. I feel like now it's too late to approach the subject with her without it affecting the review she'll leave at the end (which I assume would be terrible for the listing being that it would be the first review ). Without sounding rude, how can I approach the subject to avoid this happening again in the future? I was thinking of something along the lines of "Food provided for breakfast only". Would it be bad to have that included in the house rules or in a note somewhere in the kitchen? Is this something that happens often with you hosts, or is it something rare enough that I shouldn't risk leaving tacky notes/rules?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

Submitted July 22, 2016 at 09:10PM by vagin4 http://ift.tt/29Sb2S9 AirBnB

Wondering if we could have handled this differently? AirBnB

Home now but recently rented two airbnb's (my go-to). The first one was fantastic. The second one was like nothing I'd ever seen before, absolutely filthy in that way that you think, "This is not habitable" upon walking in. However, we were determined to make the best of it because the owner was very nice, the apartment had a great location, and we decided "let's not be fussy or judge-y." We had reserved it for ten days.

So, we know about the policy that says that you have to 1.) contact the owner first if there is a problem and 2.) contact airbnb within 24 hours of inhabitance to get a refund. The problem was that everything in the apartment kept breaking to the point that it was ridiculous and unusable: the pull-out bed broke, the microwave AND refrigerator broke, the glass shower door fell off suddenly, something in the kitchen started spilling, a raw sewage leak happened near the door on the fourth day and construction workers began jack-hammering to fix it, only two electrical plugs worked, one stove burner out of four worked, which along with the fridge and microwave wrecked my plan to self-cater, the washer/dryer did not work at all, and I just wanted to cry and cry and get out of there but we learned about these issues very late, like on days 2-5, as they developed.

Every time something happened, I would contact the owner, and he would show up in minutes and say "Eh, the place is very old? What can you do? How do you like the city? Eh, you need to cook? There's a great restaurant down the street..." and I really thought he was nice, but clueless. He managed to at least put the shower door back on and ask the people jackhammering to not start before 9am.

Then the really bad thing happened, which lead to us checking into a hotel for four nights despite still paying at the apartment. To get in, you had to use three sets of keys shaped like jailers keys to get past two doors that were made of iron bars. This included exiting. We got up and tried to exit on the 6th morning of being in this apartment and found we were locked in, and nothing we could do would unlock us. The apartment was underground, by the way, so there were no windows to crawl through. We texted him and he said he was out of town and instructed us to try a screwdriver and where it was. We did, and it didn't work. Some neighbors heard us and came and helped with their screwdrivers. I think we woke them up since it was like 6am. At this point, I wanted to scream. With all of the doors open, we packed everything and went to a nearby hotel and checked in (for a price I cannot afford and am still paying off on my credit card). I texted him to ask him to please fix the door lock on the 6th day, and he said he couldn't because "His keys worked perfectly." I was tired of this guy, who was like 22 years old and seemed nice but clueless about the whole thing. I didn't have the heart to tell him why we were leaving because I was cognizant of airbnb's 24-hour policy, so we didn't know what to do at that point.

This was all about two weeks ago now. But I've thought about asking if there was something else we could have done? Nothing came to our attention in the first 24 hours probably because we checked in at 8am, left for the entire day until 10pm, slept, woke up early, went sightseeing a second time, and then came back at some point in the afternoon. And the being locked out part didn't happen until day 6, and he did refuse to fix the locks even though our keys would NOT work (I suspect someone else stripped them with a bad key while we were there? The neighbors with screwdrivers?)

Would you have involved airbnb in this situation?

We want to definitely keep using airbnb in the future. This guy also had many positive reviews with subtle warnings... like "funky but charming" and stuff. I think it's occupied almost 100% by young partiers! We were a 40-year old family of three with an older teen renting for an extended period of time with the expectation of being able to self-cater (which I told him clearly when we arrived). He just dismissed every concern or mickey-moused it together to kind of work?

How could we have handled this differently, if at all, and should we have?

Also, how can we avoid this kind of thing in the future? This one had plenty of good reviews?

Thanks greatly!

And I hate to complain only about bad things! We rented another airbnb for about 9 days before that, and it was small, but literally perfect in every possible way, and I saved a LOT of money cooking for my family and washing clothes too. Plus, it was a lovely apartment and the owner was also very nice. So I am not at all saying airbnb is somehow "bad." We just had this weird, weird experience and did not know how to handle it or if there is any refund we could recieve now, which I highly doubt.

Submitted July 17, 2016 at 12:18PM by mahakali_overdrive2 http://ift.tt/29GGkdY AirBnB

New Host - I want to offer few amenities. What you think? AirBnB

We'll be renting out a room with a newer bathroom on the same floor. Our kitchen and bedrooms are on a higher floor. The location of our house is very good - nice section of a medium sized city pedestrian friendly with a ton of restaurants and shops a short distance, and great public transportation.

What we CAN offer - a very clean room with new foam mattress and wi-fi (fire-walled from our own network). Also we can offer lots of advice about the area. Maybe coffee and a bagel.

What we can't offer: TV, kitchen privileges, washer/dryer (there's one around the corner for guests), ...

What I'm concerned about is the marketability of our place without a kitchen. Do most guests want or use a kitchen? I suppose I could store food in our refrigerator but don't want guests in that part of the house. Nothing wrong with our living space - it's just the way we roll. What do you think? Other AirBnB in the area offer kitchen use.

Submitted February 01, 2016 at 11:16PM by tmodo http://ift.tt/1Pakfly AirBnB

Massive amounts of leftover food (USA) AirBnB

Hi everyone, I have a rental property that typically rents out to 8 guests at a time. After many of our rentals we have an entire (huge) refrigerator completely packed full of food as well as food strewn about the counter. I keep what we can use, keep some things the next guests might enjoy, and give our cleaning crew whatever they'd like to take home.

However, there is still usually a lot of space taken up, which means I need to clear it out so the next guests have room for their own items. This past cleaning I threw out an entire kitchen trash bag full of food.

Does anyone have a good idea for what to do with these perishables that are typically already open and partially used? Is there some where you can donate things like this?

Submitted September 06, 2015 at 07:56PM by Samantha797 http://ift.tt/1IRLIUL AirBnB

Sadly, I had to leave this review today. LPT for hosts, if you get an inquiry from a guest who has never used Airbnb before,direct them to the Guests FAQ! AirBnB

Review for Daniel

Horrible!!! I have hosted almost 300 trips and have never walked into my apartment and seen a disaster like this. While Daniel and his girlfriend are very nice people, and this was their first Airbnb apartment there was no excuse for the disgusting mess that I walked into this morning. There was a bit of trash laying about but when I walked into the kitchen I realized that I might be in trouble to have the apartment cleaned and prepared for my next guest (arriving in only four hours). Almost all of the dishes, pots, pans, silverware etc had been used but not a single piece had been washed. There was food on the floor, there was hamburger on the coffee table, there was a pile of dirty dishes on the (obviously for clean dishes) dish drying rack, there were piles of Nutella bags and snacks just left on the bar. At that point I was thinking, over the last year I have gotten pretty pro at cleaning, I can do this! Then I opened the refrigerator. It was stuffed with all of my big bowls full of cooked food. Disgusting. The pot that was still sitting on my cook top was full of boiled cabbage. Disgusting. This was the first time I have ever had to wear my rubber bathroom gloves to clean my kitchen. So, I think to myself, just get to it. As I was almost finished knocking out the kitchen I was feeling pretty good, yes the place was a mess but at least nothing was broken... then I went into the bathroom. Out of my designer, matching, soap dispenser and toothbrush-cup combo the toothbrush-cup had been shattered. My wife had ordered this for our home but I had thought that it would look nice in our apartment. It is now gone. I just wish that that was all. My vintage, made in WWII dresser of drawers was damaged. They had spilled some kind of something all over the top of it that damaged the finish pretty severely. This piece had survived the Nazis, this piece had survived the Communist occupation of Czechoslovakia and had survived for over 40 years of being stored in a barn outside of Plzen. It seems that it did not survive Daniel. It goes on from there but gets quite boring. At the end of the day, these were literally (and yes, I know the difference between literally and figuratively) the worst guests that I have ever hosted. Btw, I forgot to mention that they accomplished this amazing feat during a brief 2 night stay. Daniel, I strongly recommend that you read very carefully the Airbnb guest responsibility FAQ before booking another space with Airbnb. Us hosts take our responsibilities very seriously, we expect our guests to too.

Submitted June 07, 2015 at 12:18AM by ahostinprague http://ift.tt/1eV4jbO AirBnB

Lost power at rental AirBnB

My girlfriend and I rented a cottage in Aruba and the power has been out for about 24 hours. According to our host, the whole street is out and he doesn't know when it will be fixed. If this continues and we contact AirBnB, what will happen and will our host lose money?

It's very hot so even in the sealed refrigerator/freezer things are starting to go bad. We obviously have no AC now, and have no WiFi.

Is this something we just have to "suck up" and is a reality of AirBnB or should we complain? Our host is a nice old guy so I don't want to screw him over.

Submitted April 24, 2015 at 12:12AM by knickfan5745 http://ift.tt/1Jyzpip AirBnB

Bad Guest Experience - Seeking Advice AirBnB

So I've been an AirBNB host for a little over a year now, with two types of listings for my property (Penthouse Loft in St. Louis City). I started off with just renting my second bedroom to travelers who are coming downtown for conventions and business trips (I'm an easy walk to all the city center locations). That was going really well, but I found myself traveling with work more and more, so I decided to create a second listing, for the entire 2,800sqf penthouse while I was gone. That listing has done very well, to the point that I'm making myself go out of town more often that I need to because of so many reservations. I've had really good luck, and been very fortunate that I haven't had any issues with anyone as far as them being excessively loud, damaging, or rude to my neighbors in the building... until this past weekend.

I had a woman from Iowa make a reservation for her, her boyfriend, and (2) other couples (a total of 6 adults) for this last weekend, they were coming in town for a sporting event (didn't know what event at the time). I greet her and her boyfriend this past Friday at the space and show them around, I'm getting really good vibes from her and her boyfriend, they seem really chill and nice. They had an additional fellow with them though who didn't speak much, but when he did, he was rather negative, and didn't give off the best impression. Regardless, as we worked our way around the space, I showed them the kitchen, and offered to them that they could have anything they wanted in the refrigerator (there was a few light beers that other guests had left behind, not much else). I hit the road and wish them the best for the weekend.

Fast forward to 2AM Saturday morning (their first night there), I wake up to my phone buzzing with a series of text messages from my neighbor. She's concerned because there was a loud thud that came from my space, and then for the last hour, there was a woman crying loudly and in a shouting match with a man. She said that she also heard what she thought was wooden furniture breaking. Concerned, as she should be, she was messaging me to see if I was OK. I let her know there was AirBNB guests in the space for the weekend, and asked her if it was bad enough that I should call the cops. She said no, but asked that I look into it in the morning (which I was planning to do regardless).

First thing in the morning, I immediately contact AirBNB and explain the situation. They are great to deal with, and suggest that I start by sending a quick message via the platform to the guest to make sure everything is OK. I immediately do so, and about an hour later I receive a text message from the guest on my phone saying "I'm so sorry your probably worried! Nothing broke and no one was crying or flighting! We came home from the bars! We were probably loud, but all safe and nothing is broken! Promise!"

I let them stay the additional night, and I make my way back to the property on Sunday. I get into the space, and could immediately tell they had had a party there. The wood floor in the kitchen was still sticky from spilt drinks, the stainless steel table in the kitchen was a sticky mess as well, and there were bags of trash laying up against the wall. I open the refrigerator and I find close to 50 Busch Light beer cans filling up the refrigerator. Then I look to my liquor cabinet above the refrigerator to find my selection of Grey Goose, Patron, New Amsterdam and JD, almost completely empty (they were brand new bottles purchased a few weeks ago). Then I notice a open bottle of wine sitting on the kitchen counter top. It's a bottle that was given to me by a family member in 2009, even had a special label on it with my name... quick glance to the wine cabinet, same deal, at least 3 or 4 additional bottles missing.

I work my way into the bedroom, sure enough, the wood runners for the queen size bed are busted and hanging down towards the floor on both sides. Someone had to been jumping, or fighting very rough to bust it up the way it is, its solid wood and has always been a solid bed.

I contact AirBNB and immediately let them know what I'm seeing, they tell me to photograph it, and submit a request to hold the damage deposit ($300). Yesterday afternoon, I'm in the elevator coming up to my space, and two of my neighbors get on with me (from different floors). They ask, "Did you happen to have some people in your space this weekend?" For which I said "....yes... was there an issue?". They both go on to tell me that they were coming into the building on Saturday and about to get on the elevator when a group of people coming from the top floor (my floor) were getting off the elevator, but before they left it, they were kind enough to press all the buttons on the elevator and walk off leaving my neighbors to ride the elevator stopping at every floor up to theirs. It's not that big of a deal, and they didn't seem to much to care, but its just a stupid immature thing that an adult, or even a guest, shouldn't be doing.

So, now I'm out a bed, booze, wine and likely a review from the guests. I'm filing a claim to keep the $300 security deposit, but the bed that was broken will cost more than that to replace. I know that airBNB has a $1 million host insurance if the guests were to break something... and I guess I'll be the first one to experience how that process goes to recoup some of the lost funds from this guests stay.

What do you think /r/AirBNB ? Is there anything you would have done differently than I? Anything else you'd still do? I'm submitting all this, photos, and paperwork to airbnb this afternoon. Anything I should add?

Submitted March 31, 2015 at 08:59PM by topherfitz http://ift.tt/1Exqgbo AirBnB