Newbie host needing advice — blood all over sofa!!

[Hannah259]

I rented my home out for the first time this past weekend for a large local event. The guests, two men, had good reviews from previous hosts, were easy to communicate with, and responded to messages quickly. They messaged me asking for a later check-out time (it was 11am and they asked for 1pm), and I kindly obliged since we weren't receiving any guests after their arrival. We even had a couple packages accidently deliver to our house while they were there, and they kindly left them in the entryway. However, when I arrived at the house after their check-out, my home was in disarray. They had left tons of dirty dishes and pans in the sink,  food on the dining table, the stove was covered in sticky residue, water bottles everywhere, the back door was left unlocked, and the bathroom window was left cracked. That was all annoying and gross, but what really bothered me was that I noticed BLOOD all over my living room sofa. There is one larger spot (about 4 inches in diameter), where they had tried to clean it, but instead spread the blood out more, and then proceeded to cover it with a throw blanket. I didn't notice this until a couple hours into having my home back. I understand accidents happen, but they did almost nothing to clean it up and did not message me notifying me of the accident. I did not have a damage deposit ( newbie mistake). So my question here is — what do I do? Do I message them privately concerned with the blood? Do I ask for them to pay for a replacement couch cover (it is slipcovered), which costs around $100? Are they even obligated to pay for it? Or do I just write a truthful review and move along? Thanks!

[Mike340]

@Hannah259

Request money for the damge caused,from the guest, and see what response you get. Send photos too.

You have to give the guests 72 hours in which to respond and come to some agreement. If there is no agreement/settlement between you and the guests then you can involve AirBnb...see the link below for details

https://www.airbnb.com/help/article/767/what-is-the-resolution-center

I would still do an honest review and add that, at the time of the review,payment for damages caused has yet to be settled. ...You can leave the review until the last day to see if you get a response from the guest.

[Mike340]

@Hannah259

Of course at this moment in time you do not know what caused there to be blood over the sofa.

Did the guest have an accident? Was there a fight?  It might be a good point to start the conversation by asking if the guest could explain the finding of the blood ( and the trash,unwashed plates for that matter !)

[Hannah259]

Thanks, Mike. Good idea to message to get the details. I just did and am hoping for a response. Thanks!!

[Alexandra316]

@Hannah259 Yes, you can absolutely ask them to pay for a new slipcover. You would need to send them a request for money through the Resolution Center. Go to the reservation in question, and click the button that says Send or Request Money. You can follow the prompts to enter the amount that you want and the reason. Make sure you take some good pictures of the stain so you have documentation. I would also take pictures of the mess they left the house in, in case they're needed later.

If the customer doesn't agree to pay for a replacement cover, you will need to contact Airbnb to collect the money under the Host Guarantee. More details can be found at https://www.airbnb.ca/guarantee.

You're going to have to weigh out whether or not you think it's worth it to make a claim. Personally, I think I'd ask them to pay for the damage.

[Rebecca181]

@Hannah259 Boy, can I related to your post. I had a very similar bloody fiasco my first few weeks as a host; along with my newly painted and decorated Beach Cottage being left in a state of disarray. Clean up required lots of bleach and lots of intensive scrubbing to ensure the walls, shower, counters, etc where blood was spattered everywhere (via the lungs of the guest) were properly sterilized - AND, my next guests were coming only four hours later. It was one of the most stressful things I had ever been through in my life, and that is saying something. I could only be grateful that my co-host was willing to help clean up, and that he had already bought bleach, plastic gloves and face masks, which we needed to safely deal with the bodily fluids that may or may not have been 'contaminated' (having worked in hospital settings, I take the hazardous nature of dealing with the bodily fluids of strangers very seriously). 

In my case, I called Airbnb BEFORE contacting these guests, and I was NOT told to try and get the money from the guests to replace all the white towels, sheets, linens, robes, etc which had blood spatter all over them. Instead, the very wonderful Customer Service rep I reached immediately offered to send me a certain sum of money to replace all of these bloody and soiled things (which were brand new, as I had only recently opened); his kind attention to my case and his supportive manner led to my decision to continue hosting on Airbnb after experiencing this Hitchcockian nightmare ('Psycho' movie reference here). Had I not reached such a fantastic human being, I might not be writing this now - I might have quit hosting right there and then (besides all of the blood everywhere, there were crumbs everywhere, coffee grounds everywhere - These people were unbelievably messy and inconsiderate).

So, it never hurts to call Airbnb first, just in case you get lucky and get an experienced, compassionate, empowered C/S Rep, like I did. Can't hurt, and might help. I do get the sense they want new hosts to make it, and not quit early on in horror and disgust.

[Ariane7]

Even when you have a damage deposit through airbnb, it is rare that aribnb pays out. I have made a few claims before and airbnb just replies that the traveller doesn't agree and denies breaking or damaging anything and that is that, I got nothing.

One time airbnb told me that because I was asking for more than the damage deposit indicated in my advert that I wasn't entitled to get anything. I got nothing.

In my adverts I now have to state that there is a contract to sign beforehand, in the rental agreement contract it states that I will ask for an actual check to be left as a deposit (in France I can legally hold onto it for upto 30 days after their departure) and so that makes the traveller think twice about damaging anything... Of course that means that on arrival the traveller has to sign the list of items included in the rental and on their departure you go through the place to check everything and they sign again on departure. I also have them sign whether there is anything to report, so that they can't decide days later that they are unhappy and complain to airbnb. Because once a traveller complained about supposed dirt in the corner behind the kitchen cabinets and I was made to refund him 100%... Travellers are learning how to take advantage of hosts so we have to protect ourselves since airbnb doesn't protect the host...