I have been a host on Airbnb since 2009. I had guests stay at my place at the end of March 2018. During that visit, the police were called by a neighbor at 3:00 in the morning due to a domestic dispute. In fact, the police had to break down my front door to get in. The incident was pretty serious.
I received a copy of the police report. There were physical marks on her and apparently he had his foot to her throat to the point where she could not breathe. I had to have my entire front door and frame work replaced. Additionally, as a result I was forced to cancel all future Airbnb guests who were confirmed as my HOA was so freaked out by the entire incident that we can no longer do rentals under 30 days.
All in all I have approximately $10,000 in damages that has not yet been addressed by Airbnb, despite the fact I have submitted all invoices, photographs and police report. They are also aware that I had to cancel already existing reservations (which I relied upon as supplemental income.) Not one person from Airbnb has called me to let me know my case is being handled. What is really sad is that I went to the guests who destroyed my place and violated my living space to ask them to pay for the damage to my home and also the loss of income. They pretty much told me to F off and that they were “trying to heal” from the incident. Wow.
I mean, if you’re going to play hotel maybe have your own insurance? Besides, if you’re taking a unit off the rental market you deserve to have the HOA limit your use.
This is a case for home insurance – I assume you were subletting illegally?
That’s the problem with Airbnb. You may go on for years with great guests but all it takes is that one bad guest who causes thousands in dollars in damage and ruins everything. Airbnb sucks and other short term rentals suck too. The whole idea of turning your house into a hotel is a real problem and a nuisance to neighbors. My message is if you want to get into the hotel business then you build or buy a hotel and get proper zoning. It’s not your right to cause a nuisance to neighbors.
There is why we have zoning regulations. There is a reason why hotels have security!