Homeowner claims Airbnb guest caused $18K in damage

A homeowner from Texas who rented her property through Airbnb to a young man for one night in early February says her guest hosted a massive party that left her residence in shambles and reeking of urine and marijuana.

More than a month later, Chelsea McGovern and her husband, Tim, are still trying to get the popular short-term rental service to reimburse them for the damage to their San Antonio property, which they estimated at more than $18,000.

For the McGoverns, who operate a cabinetmaking business and own two houses across the street from one another along West Wildwood Drive in San Antonio, the situation began unfolding on February 2 when they were approached through Airbnb by a young man asking for lodgings for a single night.

 

Trashed: Chelsea McGovern says her home in San Antonio, Texas (pictured) was left in shambles in February after her Airbnb guest threw a massive party there   

Aftermath: Blue Solo cups are seen littering McGovern’s newly renovated kitchen, left. Pictured right: a sofa with discarded drink cups  

Mrs McGovern has been waiting for over a month now to get reimbursed for the damage to her property by the rental company 

Mrs McGovern has been waiting for over a month now to get reimbursed for the damage to her property by the rental company 

Despite the ‘red flags’ that Chelsea McGovern told KSAT she noticed right away, she decided to rent her home to the stranger, only to learn that he was throwing a huge gathering with hundreds of guests.

Before the night was out, Chelsea said some 300 people had passed through her property, leaving a path of destruction in their wake.

The woman and her husband called police and Airbnb for help several times, but there was nothing they could do to put a stop the calamity unfolding in their home.

The next morning, the owner entered her tidy two-bedroom, one-bath home to find its walls damaged and splattered with Jello shots. There was shattered glass everywhere from smashed beer bottles, windows and a glass dining table, and the cabinets in the kitchen were defaced.

Chelsea said her house was permeated with the stench of marijuana and there were cigarette butts that had been put out against the walls.

When McGovern entered one of the bedrooms, she had a vile surprise in store for her: someone had urinated on her bed, reported ABC News.

After contacting Airbnb, the homeowner was instructed to document the damage to her property, which she did.

The homeowner recorded video during the party, which she says shows throngs of people coming in and out of the house 

The homeowner recorded video during the party, which she says shows throngs of people coming in and out of the house 

The guests left in their wake overturned furniture and shards of shattered glass everywhere

The guests left in their wake overturned furniture and shards of shattered glass everywhere 

Tim and Chelsea McGovern sent photos and video footage in support of their claim, but they say more than a month later, Airbnb has not reimbursed them for the damage, which they say has amounted to $18,868.

That sum factors in the time and effort the pair had spent cleaning up the mess and making repairs to the home, as well as loss of revenue.

They have homeowner’s insurance on the house, but they say it does not cover short-term rentals. 

Airbnb offers homeowners The Million Dollar Host Guarantee, which covers up to $1million in damage to properties listed on the service’s site.

But the San Antonio couple are not convinced that they would be fully compensated. 

After Chelsea’s repeated calls to Airbnb, the company responded to her this week with a written apology, which DailyMail.com obtained on Thursday.

‘Our original handling of this case did not meet the high standards we set for ourselves. We apologize to our host for the delay,’ the statement read. ‘We have zero tolerance for disruptive behavior like this, we permanently banned this guest from our platform, we are fully supporting our host under the $1 Million Host Guarantee program, and we reached out to law enforcement to offer our assistance.’

Blacklisted: An Airbnb spokesman says the guest has been banned from the service 

Blacklisted: An Airbnb spokesman says the guest has been banned from the service 

According to Airbnb, in 2017, there were more than 49million arrivals at Airbnb listings worldwide. Property damage of more than $1,000 was reported to the company 0.004 per cent of the time.

‘There have been over 300 million guest arrivals in Airbnb listings to date and negative incidents are extremely rare, but when they happen, we work to make things right,’ Airbnb’s statement read.

To add insult to injury, Mrs McGovern said her guest from hell later left her a low three-star rating, claiming he was having a hard time reaching her during his stay.

An Airbnb spokesman told DailyMail.com on Thursday that following an investigation into the incident, the guest has been banned from the service and his rating has been removed.

Chelsea McGovern said the entire experience has put her off renting her property through Airbnb in the future.

 



Read more at DailyMail.co.uk