Airbnb Insurance for Damages is a Joke

This is a real story that proves that Airbnb insurance is a fraud. Although they state that they cover all costs for any damages caused by guests up to $1,000,000, when it comes to paying they simply don’t. I have a house in Crete, Greece, and hosted a family this August. During their stay, they burnt the counters in my kitchen by placing a hot pot there. The guests accepted their responsibility, so I filed a claim for a refund. Unfortunately, the bench had to be completely replaced, as there was no way to fix the marks. This cost me 877 Euros and Airbnb replied that the cost was too high for such damage; they refunded only 160 Euros. Their response:

“We’ve determined that that you should be compensated for your losses, however your guest has offered a higher amount than what we concluded would be the appropriate amount for the damages. As such, the total that we are able to provide for the damages through your guest’s offer will be 160 EUR. I have gone ahead and processed this payout to your current preferred payout method.”

This is totally unacceptable for Airbnb and its reputation. The eventual result is that I paid 877 Euros to cover my guests’ damage and Airbnb refunded only 160 Euros, just because they decided so. I’m really disappointed by them and their service.

Posted in Airbnb Host Stories and tagged , , , , , .

5 Comments

  1. Yep I’m out of pocket to tune of $25000. Airbnb just dumped $2872 in my account & then took $50 as I had to cancel a reservation due to the fact 5 of their clients trashed my house so bad. Broke furniture, ceiling fans, punched holes in walls, ripped out electric wiring, urinated & vomited throughout whole house. This amount doesn’t even cover the professional cleaning that was needed. They then cut email threads after asking for the same information & photos more than twice. Nasty people with no scruples. Just a bad nightmare.

  2. Airbnb is a con. They say damages protected by “insurance”. This summer, some French guests broke the pool robot – Euro 1,464. They left without paying. Six months on Airbnb says this is not covered, even though in the “house rules” all damages must be paid for by guests.

    The rent covered the damages, so I made nothing.

    Don’t rent through Airbnb. VRBO has real insurance coverage unlike the con from Airbnb.

  3. Air bnb is insurance is a scam I had guests cause sever to danage to my home and these guests didn’t book my house some one else did for them .. my coffee table got damaged , my picture frame broken , my bench tops marble scratched , my door handle broken , my walls scratched and chipped and plaster broken . Air bnb host gaurantee manager mike made my life hell I sent him all the documentation 7 times then he kept stating I haven’t I kept sending them again . Then he states in his emails my coffee table I will get $90 dollars for salvage only from the $499 brand new I paid he never even paid me this . He denied my picture frame that got smashed his reason it was denied he stated it was a fitting issue . My broken door handle with broken lock he denied and said paint can fix it I have the emails to prove this . My scratched marble bench tops he said a clean cloth can remove them the polishing scratch removal I paid for he denied my painting he denied ontop of all he states I accepted his claim which I never did he states I am to be paid $1548 Australian only for the other damaged he approved he paid me $1100 only . The resr I paid for I spent 4 weeks complaining to air bnb all I got was computer generated emails do not trust air bnb they are professional liars and scammers your house will get Damaged they will not pay you at all and all you deal with is emails . This Erika on this forum is a liar she denied my claim as well . Be careful of air bnb Australia they will not pay you and even if they state they will if you complain they won’t

  4. Ironically, I am in a very similar situation. One of our guests put a hot pot on the counter and burned it! The guest decided to have airbnb handle the dispute, after I sent him an estimate for $800. I didn’t think twice about it because I know that airbnb says they will reimburse for damages. They told me that the amount was too high and then requested a ton of information from the company giving me the estimate. I just got this email.
    Hi Jenny ,
    Thank you for following up.
    Whenever a situation like this arises, we advocate for an amicable solution. As a neutral third-party not present during the reservation, we must make a fair decision based on documentation and communication from both host and guest.
    Please know I’ve discussed this case at length with my management team and we are in agreement. As you may already know, our policies state that we have the final say in any dispute to which we are called upon to mediate. As such, the decision reached in this case is final and cannot be overturned.
    We understand your frustration and want to assure you that we’re constantly working on new features to minimize such incidents. We invite you to periodically check our Trust Center for updates: http://www.airbnb.com/trust
    Please know that we are thankful to have you as a host in our community and look forward to the many positive experiences you will have using Airbnb moving forward.
    Best regards,
    Erica
    http://www.airbnb.com/help

    This is absolute nonsense! I have now been on hold trying to reach someone in person. I’m sure that this will take a long time, if I even get to someone. Arrrghhhh!

  5. Hey! Crazy how this happened to you eh? I’m thinking of using Air BnB too, but this worries me. Did your guest offer something too on top of it and they didn’t take it into consideration? Because I’m even confused about what they meant when they said: “As such, the total that we are able to provide for the damages through your guest’s offer will be 160 EUR”

    Thanks in advance for your response.

    Cheers,

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