Paying for damages, air bnb, what's fair?

PinkFridge ↓

Fri, Aug 30 2024, 9:36 am

notshanarishona wrote:

I would have her file it officially through air bnb and go with their policy. I don’t think you need to full price for a new table but definitely need to cover whatever cost it is to wash everything and pay the cost of whatever you broke. They likely have a damages policy . How did you manage to break so many things in such a short time? Was it old and junky or were you guys a really big crowd and not careful?

This.
I don't want to spend your money but have in mind that doing whatever they tell you to, graciously, will be a big kiddush Hashem.

amother

↑ OP ↓

Fri, Aug 30 2024, 9:40 am

PinkFridge wrote:

This.
I don't want to spend your money but have in mind that doing whatever they tell you to, graciously, will be a big kiddush Hashem.

Yes of course. My Dh is very polite and always pays for what is asked..I was just wondering what is right/wrong of her to ask.

I thought the chalk thing was going a bit too far but now that some are telling me that we should've washed it, then I guess we should've at least tried, and told her about everything. We didn't know about the missing items in advance of leaving obviously.

↑ PinkFridge

Fri, Aug 30 2024, 9:41 am

amother OP wrote:

That was a sincere hug from me. Hope it all works well, for the obvious good.

Cheiny

Fri, Aug 30 2024, 9:41 am

amother OP wrote:

Why should we pay for an already broken rack?

I'm not sure what you're referring to, I wanted to know if we'll need to offer to pay for a new table or not. No need to be nasty.

And to the poster above, yes it's an old house.

The BBQ thing was a mistake that can happen to anyone.

The chalk... The kids actually did it without even asking. I was still in bed. They found chalk, they played outside with it!

Really a bit of both though, we were a large crowd, see above. 4 adults , 10 kids age 1-16.
It was a large house made for so many people.

Mistakes and accidents don’t absolve you of being responsible to pay for them.

amother

Ghostwhite ↓

Fri, Aug 30 2024, 9:44 am

amother Poppy wrote:

Chalk is generally made to be used on the sidewalk or driveway & not on decorative rocks around the house.

Flagstone is not decorative rocks. They're flat rocks used to make a walkway/sidewalk.

amother

↑ Ghostwhite

Fri, Aug 30 2024, 9:49 am

I think all of the damages mentioned would be things you're responsible for. I agree with going through Air BnB's policy. The table, I would think you're responsible for the price of painting it, if that's a viable option. If that can't he done, yeah, you might have to replace it. You did leave burn marks on it.

↑ Amarante

Fri, Aug 30 2024, 9:57 am

I will add that I "lurk" on a sub/redditt which is for Air BnB owners and based on their responses asking whether to "charge", the Air BnB person is being a bit unreasonable for some of the items.

Many of the Air BnB have a policy of expecting some amount of "wear and tear" especially if it is a smaller type of item.

For example, a toilet brush is cheap - so it broke. They would replace it.

Some of them factor in normal loss of towels; stains on sheets or towels as just of cost of doing business. Some interesting discussions on how they deliberately buy black face cloths because so many women seem to stain their washcloths or towels with makeup :-).

amother

↑ OP ↓

Fri, Aug 30 2024, 10:16 am

I just realised that you all think I'm talking about a dish rack. To be clear, I'm talking about a clothes rack, to hang wet laundry up. I'm British Wink

Hopefully she'll do it through the website, as of now we've been liasing via WhatsApp, and we paid her to stay an extra night via bank transfer that she sent details via WhatsApp.

amother

↑ Orange

Fri, Aug 30 2024, 10:50 am

We just stayed away in the UK, not air b&b but similar setup.
I took photos of everything before I kashered the kitchen and factored in 30 mins of clean up time before leaving to put it all back together. We left additional cleaning equipment eg bleach and tissues that we didn't use.
We took off all bed linen and towels, as per request, and put some aside we hadn't used. We took out all the garbage and washed the floor/vacuumed. We left a note to explain why we didn't eat their cake (normal for hosts to leave this and we didn't want them to feel offended).
We were super careful not to break anything including their slightly broken chair which we put away and didn't use, and other things.
It is important as frum Jews to be better than the standard esp as we live is such a hostile land, we have to make sure we show a kiddush Hashem everywhere we go.
Just FYI,I haven't ever broken anything or gone home with towels or any property belonging to the owner. Maybe that is unusual

amother

↑ Poppy

Fri, Aug 30 2024, 10:51 am

amother Ghostwhite wrote:

Flagstone is not decorative rocks. They're flat rocks used to make a walkway/sidewalk.

And not meant for sidewalk chalk to be used on!

amother

Midnight

Fri, Aug 30 2024, 10:52 am

amother OP wrote:

I just realised that you all think I'm talking about a dish rack. To be clear, I'm talking about a clothes rack, to hang wet laundry up. I'm British Wink

Hopefully she'll do it through the website, as of now we've been liasing via WhatsApp, and we paid her to stay an extra night via bank transfer that she sent details via WhatsApp.

From now on all communications and payment should be through the app even if it costs you a bit extra.

amother

↑ Lightpink

Fri, Aug 30 2024, 10:55 am

amother Holly wrote:

If she finds you to be difficult to deal with she can write a review anyway which could affect future rentals. As an aside, I make sure to leave myself enough time on checkout day to leave the house pristine before I leave. This includes sweeping, vacuuming, leaving everything as I found it. I also make sure to tell of any issues as I found them. (We just stayed somewhere and there were a bunch of ants in one cabinet. I emailed him a pic saying there was an infestation and he may wanna bring an exterminator down, that way he knew it wasn’t from us.)

That’s very nice of you, but over the top. Do you make the beds too?

ittsamother

Fri, Aug 30 2024, 11:27 am

amother Lightpink wrote:

That’s very nice of you, but over the top. Do you make the beds too?

Exactly. We just stayed somewhere for 2 nights and there was a $300 cleaning fee. So no, I didn't sweep, mop, make the beds, wash the towels .. I left everything visually clean, empty fridge and counters, everything back the way we found it, but needing a cleaning lady to do a basic cleaning. We didn't pay $300 so we could do the cleaning for them.

amother

DarkRed

Fri, Aug 30 2024, 1:32 pm

We also made burn marks on a deck many years ago when we stayed at a place.
We emailed them a picture and we paid to have those pieces of deck replaced.
That’s a common mistake to make I think.

Op, I don’t think you’re shirking responsibility at all.

amother

↑ OP ↓

Sat, Aug 31 2024, 2:46 pm

amother Lightpink wrote:

That’s very nice of you, but over the top. Do you make the beds too?

We also hoovered everywhere, and put everything back where it belonged. I do the same thing with taking photos etc. Although I don't go so far as to kasher their kitchens, we just cover the surfaces and don't put anything in the sink.

We only strip the beds if it's asked of us. This time we didn't. We did pay an extra fee for cleaning when booking it through air BnB.

↑ B'Syata D'Shmya

Sat, Aug 31 2024, 8:14 pm

amother OP wrote:

If you are paying a cleaning fee, why hoover?

amother

Azure

Sun, Sep 01 2024, 12:18 am

We stayed in Lancaster airbnb with Amish family. They kept all the dishes on a open low shelf in kitchen. My baby broke 2 dishes that were there. They were super kind and nice about it and told us its ok.
I wouldve totally paid for it had they demanded. ( Even though its dumb to keep dishes so low and within reach, but nobody asked me and I booked this house so its my responsiblity.)

Another time we did a short trip from Friday to Sunday and the porch chairs were on the verge of breaking. We couldnt message host or take pics as it was Shabbes. We simply hid the chairs away so we wouldnt be breaking something almost broken. ( I feel like some hosts will take advntage and let things wear and tear and eventually one guest breaks and has to pay a new one)

DrMom

Sun, Sep 01 2024, 12:44 am

The complaints about the chalk make no sense.

As for the rest: It sounds like your group did quite a lot of damage during your stay, and you need to compensate the owner.