08/28/2024
The less glamorous side of being an Airbnb host!! In 13 months we have only had 2 smoking violations which isn’t bad at all. Have you had to do a smoking claim with Airbnb????
Couple tactical things when asking a guest for reimbursement for damages or smoking
1) never send anything until after the guest leaves a review or the 13 day period passes. This reduces your risk of getting a retaliatory review when navigating all this
2) you must must must have clear evidence of the smoking occurring whether it’s items in the trash, burn marks, ash, or smoking items. This guest may have gotten away with it but we go by the house on Wednesdays to put the trash out to the road for pickup and we were able to snap this picture in case it became an issue in the future
3) always keep an open mind and explain the situation and ask the guest for help clarifying. If something is missing say “hey there! We noticed that the TV seems to be missing, do you know anything about that?” Or for smoking you say “hey there our cleaners reported a smoke smell in the home following your stay, do you know anything about that?”
Sometimes guests will just be honest, sometimes they’ll say “oh there was a smell when we checked in”
4) ALWAYS ALWAYS ALWAYS get a walkthrough video after EVERY SINGLE CLEAN from your cleaner so that if there’s any issue you have a clear proof of what the home looked like dated immediately before their checkin for comparison.
5) No smoking is in our house rules, we have several smoke detectors in the home, and we have mounted to walls by the exterior doors that all say no smoking. So even if a guest who was not on the app to see the house rules then they know there’s no smoking.