Airbnb - damage we caused

[CharlotteBog]

My son scratched the glass top stove in our rental. One ring of 4.
I told the host, including a photo.
I've just received a request for £550 to replace the whole top.
Says that's the only fix they can do.
I had 22 hrs to pay.

I've declined it, asking for more time.

We are away in Canada (from the Uk) and not back for another week.

I want to look into our options more; should I ask for quotes, look into how much a repair should be etc. I cannot so this when I only have my phone in a different country.

I've used Airbnb a lot, never had a situation like this.

I've cried about it this morning; I want to put it out of my mind so we can enjoy our last week.

I am accepting responsibility, and am not disputing I need to pay for repair, but this seems ALOT and I don't want to just pay it.

Any advice?

The scratch was caused by my adult son being over zealous with his cooking, not being reckless - just not experienced with these stove tops.

Thank you to those who kindly offered advice.

I'm leaving this thread now. I think my posts explain clearly what happened.
I find it upsetting to read what some people are saying about my son.

I love cooking on holiday myself, and like a well-provisioned kitchen, but it’s now possible to buy really decent-looking stuff that isn’t actually hugely expensive. You don’t need to spend a lot to get something effective that people will only use for a few days. Anything that is easily damaged isn’t a particularly sensible thing to have in a rental kitchen.

This wasn’t a rental

and you equip and furnish your flat in accordance with the price point you wish to charge.

It’s an Air B&B. How is that not a rental?

You buy cheap you pay twice. Cheap rubbish breaks.

This is caused all the time, especially with the bottom of pans. It's normal wear and tear and you should not be having to replace the whole hob.

Are we looking at the same picture? “Normal wear and tear”? 😐

To all the Airbnb hosts who have posted on this thread:

Is it really the case that Airbnb will cover any alleged damage if the guests have refused to pay? I am currently in dispute with them regarding a claim for £1,600 for marks on walls and a scratch on the floor. None of which I believe I am responsible for. I have asked for proof and a number of documents to verify that the owner was permitted to rent the apartment in Spain.

Airbnb have just informed me that because they can’t prove I didn’t damage the property, I will have to pay. This seems ludicrous because on this basis any guest can be charged for anything the host says they have done and they do not have to prove their case!

But, if the guest refuses, it sounds like Airbnb insurance will pay them anyway. Is this my correct understanding?

The process is that the host submits a claim to the guest. You have to produce evidence and proper quotes to rectify the damage.

If the guest refuses to pay then the host can escalate it to an Air Cover claim. Air bnb then decide whether to/ how much to pay.

What I didn't realise is that Air bnb then try to claim this money from the guest. I've learnt that from this thread.

Something else that’s worth holiday property owners noting is that if you market your property via an agent (Agent A), they have relationships with other companies, such as Airbnb, booking.com etc. where your property appears on their websites. So your property will be on Airbnb despite you not having a contract with Airbnb. Your contract is with Agent A.

Where this will become an issue is when an Airbnb guest causes damage to your property which exceeds their deposit. Airbnb will refuse to provide the customer’s contact details to Agent A, which means the property owner has no recourse to either Agent A or Airbnb to get their money back.

Personally, I will no longer touch Airbnb with a bargepole.

You can't take a deposit on Air BnB unless you use a channel manager.

Presumably you have specialist holiday let insurance? Claim on that for damage.

Rather than try and nitpick my post then tell me I should just claim on insurance, why not accept my post in the manner it was intended, I.e a warning to other holiday let managers that Airbnb operates in this manner? I guarantee a lot of property owners won’t have realised and might get caught out.

I realise that this thread on MN is unlikely to reach a large audience (just getting in there before you post to tell me that) but I’m not keen to post any more outing details and I thought a general warning might help people to be aware of the issue.

Also, I’m sure you’re probably aware of this, but it’s possible to cause enough damage and cleaning costs for it to be uneconomical to make an insurance claim while at the same time meaning you’re out of pocket by a decent amount.

I am a host and I'm well aware of all you say. I answered your question which is that Air BnB don't allow deposits. I also said that you can claim from the guest and Air BnB. I've had a situation last week where a guest flooded the bathroom by leaving the shower running with shower doors open. The vanity unit was soaked and warped. So I know about damage. If Air allowed deposits to be taken I think people would look after things more.

I wasn't nit picking but I must say that if you leap down people's throats as easily in real life maybe Air BnB is not for you.

I think you’ve misunderstood my post which is not surprising considering it’s a rather unusual situation but I don’t want to start getting into long explanations of it because it’s a) potentially outing and b) will just provoke posters into trying to tell me what I should have done which is now irrelevant so I’ll leave it there.

I initially thought you were nitpicking but if that wasn’t the case then I apologise.