Damage at an AirBnB

[ItalianLemon]

I don’t usually post on MN so hopefully I do this correctly, but I could do with some collective advice!

I stayed at an AirBnB property with a group of friends at the weekend - gorgeous house with an open plan living space and beautiful kitchen.

The owners were understandably clear before hand that it is their family home and they didn't want to let it out to rowdy groups. We were respectful of this and mindful of the space we were in. We weren't drunk, silly or reckless.

Unfortunately, as I was drying some water from the bottom of a bowl, it slipped from my hand and hit the edge of the induction hob. It wasn't from a height at all so I must have just got incredibly unlucky with how it fell, but nonetheless it chipped the edge of the glass hob 😢

I was a genuine accident and not caused by carelessness but I was mortified and spent the rest of the weekend fretting about it.

We obviously let them know what had happened, but have now had contact from the management agent with a request that we pay (within 24 hours) £1000 for a replacement induction. I'm gutted.

The friend who made the booking has gone back to them saying we wouldn’t expect to pay the full cost and asked about their insurance. They have now referred us back to AirBnB.

Does anyone know what the usual damage process is? Are the owners likely to have cover through AirBnB? Would there be an excess to pay?
I genuinely don’t know what’s normal or a reasonable expectation in this situation.

I completely appreciate how upsetting it must be for the owners to come back to damage, particularly when it’s their home rather than a buy-to-let, but things are a real struggle financially at the moment and I don’t know how I’ll even begin to find the cash to sort it if we’re expected to pay £1k.

I'd really appreciate any thoughts or advice, particularly from anyone who hosts AirBnB and knows how it works from that side.

Oh wow I didn’t know that was an option.

We have a really expensive Bosch induction hob. DH did exactly the same, Bosch quoted £370 to repair. I think they’ve overblown the price. Ask they to provide quotes for repair/replacement before you pay.

Call air BnB, they are really helpful and will step in to resolve it if they think the hosts are being unreasonable. I found them to give great customer service.

Yes, this sounds similar to the one in the property.

I was coveting it when we arrived but I think this experience has put me off induction hobs for life. Beautiful but, as another poster said, clearly so fragile.

We've asked about their insurance and I could understand being asked to pay an excess for that. It's just the full cost is so high that it's caused me total panic.

Some good thoughts about asking about potential repair costs and the stuff about AirCover is interesting too. Perhaps there are other avenues for the hosts to explore as well.

I don't want to leave anyone out of pocket, but I also can't afford £1k so hopefully there's a more reasonable solution.

Oh no OP, I'm sorry. I cracked our induction hob glass, a manufacturer replacement was about £300 a few years back. We replaced it ourselves. It might be worth contacting a local electrician or kitchen fitter to see if they would replace it. I think that it will still cost a fair bit but less than £1000.

I’ve just booked a repair for my hob, new hob is £1300 atm, have claimed on my insurance but hadn’t yet ordered one. Thanks for the thread OP. I can’t believe the insurers didn’t suggest that - I was totally upfront re the extent of the damage.

You know what I’m just appreciating your absolute honesty! I run a B&B and it’s ridiculous trying to get any damage money out of anyone! I don’t use Airbnb I’m with Booking. com who definitely seem to favour the customer! Someone left an iron switched on facing down in the middle of the carpet, huge burn….also pulled curtain rail out the wall and ripped bracket off wardrobe door- didn’t manage to claim a single penny. Yes I could have claimed through my own insurance but knew it would affect future premiums 🙁

Ive just returned from an overnight air bnb where I spilled my foundation on a bottom sheet of a sofa bed. My fault - the tube just slipped from my hand

I advised the host immediately, removed the sheet, soaked it but it didn't appear to come out entirely. I also emailed air bnb for advice on next steps

I was surprised to be told that it was just down to me to sort with the host. Now this was just a bottom sheet so I googled the cost of these and offered the top end price for a like for like replacement - only £15 which was accepted

Happy to do this of course but it did get me thinking that you are really in the firing line potentially here with bigger damages - and accidents do happen!

I think I'd stand firm and say absolutely no to paying a grand. I'd contact a couple of repair companies and get a ballpark repair figure and consider offering that. But definitely push back for now - I can't imagine renting out my family home and not being properly insured for this sort of thing happening

I mean, what if you'd have flooded the entire house for example? Are you just to stock your hand in your pocket and pay up? What's the actual cut off here?

This definitely puts me off air b and bs - in a hotel, if (to take a pp's example) you got foundation on a sheet you wouldn't expect to pay - at least I wouldn't!

Accidents DO happen and it seems you'd be better off denying you caused them.

I don’t get why your friend would think you wouldn’t pay new like for like. It’s not a sofa it doesn’t go down in price and you cannot just replace them.

I think if you were at a friends house and you accidentally broke something costing 1000 you would expect to pay - so why wouldn’t you expect to pay here? An accident yes, but it’s your accident

Its whatevers in the contract, which someone linked above. Best not stay somewhere so swish.

Don't bother - block and move on.
Nice try owner - get insurance next time.

Absolutely my accident, I'm not disputing that for a second. Honesty and integrity are important and I've held my hands up.

But damage to big-ticket items like this is surely what insurance is for?
If I was at a friends house and smashed a £30 vase from John Lewis, I'd be ordering a replacement before we'd even swept up the glass. But if I damaged an expensive, high-tech TV that I couldn't afford to replace then I'd be offering to cover any costs the incurred from claiming on the insurance.

I've only ever had really positive experiences with airbnb regarding stuff like this...
I once (very stupidly) sat on a white sofa in an airbnb after having given birth a few days before.. amd leaked blood all over it. And the owner was so nice about it.
Another time an owner was horrible but airbnb stepped in and refunded me AND gave me £100 voucher to stay elsewhere!!

I think airbnb works on mutual reviews. So what you should do here is threaten to leave a review stating exactly what happened and how much you were charged for it.
This will cost the host far more than 1k in loss of business as I know many people will then not want to stay in that airbnb
I always read reviews and if there are any stating the host was odd or unfair in any way, or there were hidden charges.. I would never use that host.
They will soon stop pestering you for money if you threaten to go public.

They absolutely should either have insurance or an amount of savings to cover incidents like this.
And no hosts should be renting properties with items that delicate that they care so much about damage to.
Because if your property is constantly being let of course there's going to be wear and tear of that nature.

It's very kind of you to have owned up and tried to do the right thing.. but I think you need to be a bit more assertive about this because they are being ridiculous.
You can't just charge people 1k for quite normal wear and tear.. even if it's going to cost you that to repair the item.. you should either have insurance or not have things that expensive and delicate there in the first place!

@ItalianLemon do you know the brand? Some can be repaired or just a glass top
purchased from the manufacturer. Near us there is someone who posts regularly about fixing dents in various surfaces?

I think the host has to try to get you to agree to pay within 24 hours and once you decline they can claim on Airbnb cover. I would decline to pay on account that it could be repaired for less

This is my understanding as well, a family member rents through air bnb, so I’d just say no you don’t have £1000 to give them and suggest they contact their insurer, which is the air bnb host policy I’m sure.

@ItalianLemon bet a windscreen repairer could fix it. If it were mine I’d be checking repair options as would any insurance assessor worth their salt.

It could be possible they don't even expect you to pay the 1k but the airbnb process is such that they have to ask you for it and you have to decline before they can claim on airbnb insurance

We replaced the glass after cracking our induction hob- cost less than £100…

This. Just decline.

They claim on their insurance, and pay the excess. It's a business cost. you've apologised, think no more of it. cheeky sods.

Yes, I'm wondering (hoping?!) that this is the case and that the request for £1k was the obligatory first step in the process and that they were expecting us to refuse it anyway.

I don't know many people who could just come up with £1000 in 24 hours!

Off topic slightly but OP - please don't be afraid of owning an induction hob! Mine is 18 years old (we were early adopters of the technology), has a few scratches on the glass, all 5 zones still work perfectly, I've never smashed or chipped it and it's been in use pretty much every day for those 18 years. (It's a Neff.)