It is of great relevance for all hosts to have so-called "good guests" for all their stays but unfortunately, sometimes people is not going to a short-term property to be good and do the right thing. Indeed, our experience has tought us that there are different aspects that must be considered when you decide to click on the pre-approve banner, butn we already talked about that in a previous post so now, let's talk about claims.
Our company has been operating for around 5 years and every now and then we have had to submit claims for damaged property, every claim is different but it is key that you think and see the problem from the "judge" perspective (in this case the case manager). First, it is crucial to check up the property once you get into it after every booking, it does not mean that you, or your cleaner or manager, have to spend a lot of time looking for what is wrong because the longer this task takes the more money it will cost you. Then, first thing to check is the smelling, if your property has any non-typical smell you need to start looking for the source of it, even if you find a nice smelling it would means that another smell is being covered on purpose so this is the first sign of alert. Second, good guest left properties tidy up (they do not clean up, which is ok and expected, but they left the property in good conditions), so if you find scrambled linen and towels spread over the floor you can create a preliminary profile of your guests.Third, when the cleaning session is being carried out we recommend our cleaners to pay attention to items left at a different usual place (by the way, we usually asign the same property for every cleaner every time it needs to be cleaned up), this is because we need the cleaner to miss any item lost or damaged in order to keep the property as it should be. Finally, as we are aware that screening every single item in the property would take a lot of time (once again money), we keep an eye on high-cost items and items that could be more susceptible of being damaged (replacing a broken mug is not a problem but replacing a broken TV could be an issue that needs to be addressed at the right time). Then basically, the latter aspects are our recommendation to notice if something is wrong with the state in which the property weas left.
Then, if you notice that something is missing or broken you need to check your photography record (every cleaning session has as final outcome a set of photos to record the state of the property). Later, for instance, if something is damaged you have to take photos of it from every possible angle (this is to help the case manager to understand the whole situation).
The information that you need to know when the time of submiting a claim has come is: previous state of the item (photo register of previous cleaning session), current state of the item (photo register of the current condition of the item) and of course, having reading the Airbnb host guarantee in order to know if the claim can be submitted. Then, you can also upload and add additional information like invoices, quotes, links, etc. to support your claim.
Informing your guest through the formal channel (messages send through the platform) is probably the most important part that cannot be neglected when submitting a claim. Actually, it is important to highlight that you need to ask your guest for the damage found and kindly ask for immediate retribuition (it must be immediate as the claim can be submited only for a certain time otherwise it will expire).
As previously mentioned, every claim we have submited was different but we want to bring you a rough idea of what we usually do in order to increase the chances of being paid for guests damages. Here at A Better Place Property Management, could help you manage or only clean up your property every time you need it, just let us know what your need is in order to provide the best service we can offer.