Accidental Damage

Britny1
Level 2
Springdale, AR

Accidental Damage

Hello! I am new to AirBnB and just stayed in my first AirBnB this past week. While the experience was great, our dog accidentally damaged 2 doorknobs by chewing on them. We were unaware of this until our host reached out to us informing us of the damage. We offered to pay and/or replace the doorknobs. I still haven't heard back from the host. He ended up leaving a terrible review on my profile stating that he normally doesn't allow dogs, but in his description he stated the AirBnB was "dog friendly." I am just confused as to what to do. We didn't intentionally damage the doorknobs and we offered to replace them.  The host didn't even try to reconcile with us before he wrote the bad review. Now other hosts will see this and possibly not allow us (without the dog) to stay in their AirBnB. 

8 Replies 8
Cynthia-and-Chris1
Level 10
Vancouver, WA

What a bummer - and hasty of the hosts to write a bad review before giving you time to make it right.  If you still want to make things right, you can send the host the replacement cost through the Resolution Center

 

I read his review and it is negative, but I would also take a moment to respond to his review since other hosts will see it.  Something brief and polite like, "Dear Mr. Host - we are so sorry for the damage our dog caused.  As a show of good faith we have sent you the replacement cost via the Resolution Center.  We can assure you (and other hosts) we are responsible pet owners and it was never our intention to be deceptive."

 

A mature, polite response like that should help future host feel comfortable renting to you.  Let us know how it goes!

Thank you so much! I will definitely take your advice and politely respond and also send money for the damages through the Resolution Center! I will let you know how it goes! Thank you for your help! 

Glad to help 🙂

I responded to his review. I said exactly what you said because it sounded so good! I also used the Resolution Center to send money for the damages. I still haven't heard from him, so hopefully everything is all worked out! Thanks again! 

@Britny1: So the host wrote a negative review and never asked for money but you proactively used the resolution center to send him money? If that is how it happened, that is awesome and I am pretty sure that the world is a better place because you are in it! 🙂 

 

ETA: After reading the review I have to ask: Did you actually weigh your dog? The easiest way is to hold your dog and step on a scale, then weight yourself without the dog and subtract your weight.

Hey Scott! Yes we did send money through the Resolution Center. We wanted to make things right! 

 

The last time we were at the vet our dog weighed around 25 pounds, so that's what I went on. Then we took him to the vet a couple weeks before we were going to travel. We wanted to make sure he was ok to travel. They weighed him there and he was 38 pounds. He is a mini sharpei that is built with muscle, so as soon as I found out, I let the host know. 

 

Thanks for taking king the time to read this and I appreciate all the positive advice/comments! 

Branka-and-Silvia0
Level 10
Zagreb, Croatia

@Britny1 it is very nice of you that you used the resolution center and pay for the damage proactivly, not many would do that after a bad review. 

 

Our place is also dog friendly but in our house rules is writen that it is not allowed to leave the dog in the apartment alone. This is not his familiar place and if left alone he may panic , scratch the door, flip over his water bowl, pee to mark the place or chew the doorknob /sofa / pillow/ chair....and make some other damage.

As a dog owner myself I would not leave my dog alone in an unfamiliar place. 

Unfortunatelly, many dog owners do that anyway, despite our house rules 😞

 

 

 

 

Hello! Thank you responding to my post! I definitely appreciate all the positive advice! 

 

Yes, we were really hesitant about bringing him, but we understand that it was our fault and we wanted to make it right! We will not be bringing him on our next AirBnB experience lol 🙂