I think it is ridiculous to keep valuable items in any furnished rental! The is common sense for any landlord! You would also need landlord insurance, since standard insurance does not cover theft from a renter who is granted access. As a host I lock a closet with just supplies like TP, sheets and towels! These are things that I can afford to replace but have convenience of on site storage.

So here is what you have to collect as a landlord for a deposit. It should be a months rent or the typical stay value. That is $1000 for my $500 rental. It has not been a problem for guests and is not even charged to the guests … but instead pre-apploved by airbnb to collect for damages. What airbnb does not say is that it is YOUR Burden of proof to document damages as a host. What they also do not say is that many damages are “option voluntary payment based” for guests. That means you have to deal with collections!

Another terrible trick airheads pull is that if you use a security cam for proof they start to interrogate you as a host and claim that you are eavesdropping on the guest and therefore you lose the case! Just a few years back it was fine to use parking cam shots for things like over occupancy charges or smoking. Now they use it against you even when you have the parking cam disclosure on the listing! It is all about profit, and screwing the hosts to the benefit of dishonest guests who basically default on the rental contract. Airbnb still gets paid, and keeps one more guest user on the site for income and damages to other porpertties never to be paid by airbnb.

Oh dear, Basel, I do feel sorry for you. Thanks for providing more information – it does make your situation clearer.

You’re very kind, perhaps too kind. I would not call it a “self check-out”; I’d call it a moonlight flit, i.e. to leave secretly, especially to avoid paying money.

Having the cabinet broken into would be more of a reason for me to call the police immediately regardless of AirBnB’s so-called guarantee. If there was no break-in it would have been difficult to prove the theft, the guest could simply deny it. Whereas a broken into cabinet shows evidence of theft.

I realise it is not a hotel. I am astounded there is no insurance in your country for private dwellings.

If it is not feasible to take a returnable security deposit, perhaps an alternative would be a passport or some valuable. Otherwise you’d need to invest in a safe or a reinforced door on your bedroom with state of the art locks and keep absolutely everything of value in that room. When I commenced short-term letting, I removed everything of value to me, I mean everything, from the common areas leaving only items which were too big to steal or if it were stolen, would be of no consequence. This goes so far as to remove good cutlery and crockery and replace it with cheap, second-hand op-shop stuff. That is what I meant by setting yourself up appropriately to do short-term lets. It does mean your home is no longer as you’d like it to be though.

As for AirBnB’s $1m host guarantee …. what can I say? Pffft! It’s not worth the paper it’s written on. Other than giving them hell and pester them and spread the word, there’s probably not a lot you can do if they do not honour their so-called guarantee.

You may be better off getting a permanent lodger than doing short-term lets. But I think the writing is on the wall that you should not deal with AirBnB again.

I advice you to stop bullying and watch this video by airbnb who claim that even if you wanted to leave electric guitar it’s protected.

https://youtu.be/Nh6GcX4A0Kg

Anyway my apartment is private condo but in your opinion what about the whole idea of airbnb that you rent a room in a house with the hosts should those take your ‘advice’ as well?

Thanks,

1.It was self check out since they suddenly checked out at 1am.the another day I come in very early in the morning and I called airbnb and they told me don’t worry we have your back, every reservation is host guaranteed with 1,000,000$ … and they told me what to do and I did every single thing they said from taking photos and receipts to contacting the guest…
anyway it was long term reservation (1month) and it was my second reservation as a host.

2.they weren’t accessible. It was locked in a closet with a locker however they managed to break the closet hand,

3.it is not a hotel and in our country there’s no insurance on private houses and apartments.

4.it’s 30 meter squared apartment if let’s say that I took 200$ security deposit which is almost 7 days stay (not reasonable for so many people who are using airbnb) it won’t cover 20% of my losses of that particular incident and that’s why there is supposed to be the “1,000,000$ Host guarantee”

I’m also surprised you left valuables accessible so they can be easily stolen.

I’d suspect your own insurance, if any, does not cover loss caused by persons you have allowed into your home or without forced entry. It seems you did not have the appropriate insurance, ie landlord’s insurance.

It appears you did not take a security deposit or credit card details from the guest.

It appears you were not set up appropriately to undertake a business involving strangers in your home.