Airbnb "Million dollar liability policy" is BS

[Genevieve37]

I had a theft in my home over a week ago and contacted Airbnb and the police immediately. Over $3000 worth of electronics were stolen from my house while I was sleeping! Airbnb said a case manager would be assigned and call me in the next 24-48 hours. Well 72 hours passed and I started calling every morning with them saying it's high priority blah blah, when obviously it's not because now it has been over a week and I still have heard nothing.

I have been doing Airbnb for over 2 years now and used to love and brag about how awesome it was. Now I HATE Airbnb and can see they don't give 2 flips about host protection. I even had problems getting $10 for a ruined hand towel so it's stupid of me to expect they would come through on $3000 for my loss. They literally have done nothing to help and don't respond to my emails.

Without hosts they would not have a business, so they should really try and pay more attention to their customers. If you are a host and are considering or doing Airbnb thinking you are protected with their liability policy think again. They don't care about anything but themselves and $$$

[David126]

@Genevieve37

I assume you mean the Host Guarantee and not the Liability Insurance.

You did not say how these items were stolen, a guest debunked in the middle of the night with them?

[Genevieve37]

Yes host guarantee. Yes literally this guest had a sob story about how his family member died and was driving through so would be checking in late. He came in at 4am, stole anything of value, and left, then canceled his reservation and deleted his account. Airbnb has not done one thing about it including just contacting me. If they would just contact me like they said then I wouldn't be as mad even if they were pretedning to care, but they just dont care at all.

[Branka-and-Silvia0]

@Genevieve37

I am very sory for what happed to you. Did your guests have verified ID by Airbnb? or they were verified with just facebook /email/ phone?

Did Airbnb give you guests name and other data? 

Did you called police?

I have to admit that I really don't understand hosts who are letting complete strangers in their properties without asking them to show their ID card or passport. It is obligated in Croatia so we have to do it and write down all their data but, I would do it even if it was not obligated.

I asked different insurance agencies for short term rent home insurance and they didn't want to cover theft done by my guests.  They said: You give them keys so we can not cover theft.

They would cover it if the lock or door is broken and if it is obvious that a thief came from outside by force.

[Genevieve37]

The sad thing is this guest had 6 verifications including his ID. I don't think Airbnb has very good mesaures for verification and honestly I was thinking about my safety if this guy had the guts to steal while someone is sleeping in the house then he could have stabbed me in my sleep.

Airbnb won't even give me the guests name or any other data, they keep telling me my case manager will go over everything, but I have never talked to a case manager and they have never called or emailed me. 

Airbnb has literally done nothing except make me wait on hold for hours everyday only to tell me sorry to hear this blah blah i assure you high priority your case manager will contact you soon. I wish Airbnb would actually read these forums because I read other hosts who had similar problems and I feel bad for all of us who trusted in Airbnb and Airbnb broke our trust. Very dissapointing typical company mentality that they don't really care in the end. 

[Jann3]

I am just wondering ... you say AirBnB wont give you his name or anything... Didn't you get that the minute they purchased?

[David126]

Make sure you follow the procedure exactly, there seems to be a lot of problems with the Host Guarantee, AirBnb will not withstanding you calling them refuse claims for seemingly any reason.

[Genevieve37]

Unfortunately I have followed all the procedures they told me and they haven't done anything.

[David126]

How long has this being going on?

[Genevieve37]

I filed a police report and a called Airbnb on March 4th and have not heard back anything at all from my "case manager" I called them the 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th, 8th, and 9th only to hear your case manager will give you details, once again this is high priority. It's been 10 days now and no word, I even emailed them multiple times with no response. It really shows how much they don't care they should change their heart looking logo to having a slash through it.

[Branka-and-Silvia0]

@Genevieve37 maybe ABB would give ID info to the police if police contact them.. but somehow I doubt it 😞

In future, my advice is, ask your guests to show you their ID. Look at the photo, look at their faces if it is the same person.

Make a photo of their ID or print a form at home and fill it infront of them:

Date when they checked in and when they should check out

Name and surname

Gender

Number of ID card /passport/driving license

Citizenship

Town of residence

Country of birth

Date of birth

At the bottom writte how many keys you gave them and that they should return them on check out.

When you are finished with filling the form  let them sign it.

In case of any problems you will be able to tell police their names and other data.

[Robyn13]

I change the locks and alarm after each visit. It takes 20 minutes tops. I also emptied the house of valuables as I was the victim of a theft (picture hanging on the wall)

Just keep on cheap tv incase theu take it. Put your nice furniture and articlea 8n storage. But cheap silverware etc at walmart if you plan to do hosting often. Then no worries. Also post a high damage deposit incase things go missing.

[Rachael26]

@Genevieve37

Get onto twitter and Facebook - Airbnb respond quickly to these two systems - keep telling your story and highlight the police report as well as how this guy scammed you - it may help someone else prevent the awful thing that happened to you.

And just a quick thought - a lot of your reviews mention that you are not present during their stay - this may have been a factor when the bad guy chose your listing to target?

[Helen3]

Hi @Genevieve37

Sorry to hear about your experience.

I agree Twitter is the way to go and that you should be able to rely on Airbnb for a prompt response.

However I would never rely on the host guarantee. Why don't you claim on your house insurance - assuming that as a host you have home insurance to cover short term lets.

[Dee9]

i agree with @Rachael26 that you may have been targeted because of past reviews indicating youre not home

Also agree with using twitter or facebook to contact

Not sure why you ever put in a claim for a ten dollar handtowel thats just petty..... but the larger crime needs to be addressed, i hope!

good luck