What to do if a guest breaks something or leaves the flat dirty (Airbnb and Booking)

Sunday, 11:30am. Your cleaner opens the door and sends you three photos: a red wine stain on the sofa, a broken lamp in the bedroom and a kitchen that looks like there’s been a party. The next guest arrives at four.

It doesn’t happen often, but it happens. And what you do in the first hour decides whether you get your money back and whether the next guest notices. Here are the first steps, how to claim on Airbnb and on Booking, what’s covered and what isn’t, and how to stop it happening again.

The first hour: what to do before you touch anything

The temptation is to start cleaning. That’s exactly what not to do yet.

1. Photos and video of everything, before moving anything. Close up and wide, so it’s clear where everything is. With the date and time from your phone.
2. Don’t clean away the evidence. If you remove the stain before photographing it, you can no longer prove it was there.
3. Check the whole property, not just what’s obvious: mattresses, under the bed, inside the oven, the balcony, the kitchenware inventory.
4. Keep what’s broken, if you can. A broken lamp or chair is the best evidence.
5. Decide what gets fixed today and what can wait. The next guest needs a clean, safe flat; a piece of furniture that can be removed doesn’t have to be replaced that same afternoon.
6. Only tell the next guest if it affects them, for example if a bed is missing or an important appliance doesn’t work. An honest explanation beats a surprise.

Once the photos are done, you can clean, fix what’s urgent and get quotes for the rest.

Damage, extra dirt or normal wear and tear?

Before claiming, it’s worth knowing what makes sense to ask for. Not everything that breaks is the guest’s fault.

→ Normal wear and tear. Towels that wear out, a blown bulb, scuffs on the paintwork, a sofa that loses its shape over the years. It’s part of the business and no platform covers it.

→ Damage. A burn on the worktop, broken furniture, a stain that won’t come out of the upholstery, an appliance broken by misuse.

→ Extra dirt. Not the normal check-out clean, but what goes beyond it: a smell of smoke in a non-smoking property, pet hair without permission, stains that need a deep clean of the sofa or mattress.

If in doubt, ask yourself whether a normal guest, using the place reasonably, would have left it like that. If the answer is no, you can probably claim.

How to claim on Airbnb

According to Airbnb’s Help Centre, the process has two steps:

1. Request reimbursement from the guest in the Resolution Centre within 14 days of their check-out. Attach the photos or videos and quotes or receipts for the repair or cleaning.
2. The guest has 24 hours to respond. If they don’t reply, pay only part or refuse, you can request reimbursement through host damage protection, part of AirCover.

That protection covers damage caused by guests up to 3 million US dollars, including extra cleaning for stains, smoke smells or pets, and lost income if you had to cancel bookings because of the damage. It doesn’t cover normal wear and tear or the usual check-out clean. Conditions differ in Japan and Washington State.

The deadline is what people miss most. Fourteen days sounds like a lot, but between getting quotes and waiting for the plumber, it goes fast.

How to claim on Booking.com

Booking.com works differently: it doesn’t offer damage insurance for the property. You have two options.

Your own deposit. You ask the guest for it, set the amount and return it if all is well. It gives you more control, but you have to state it in the listing, explain how it’s returned and stick to it. And a high deposit may lead some guests to choose somewhere else.

Booking’s damage programme. It’s optional and you switch it on in your extranet. If there’s damage, you report it within 14 days of check-out, with photos and invoices, and Booking asks the guest to pay. There’s a maximum amount (industry guides mention €250; check the current figure in your extranet) and one important limitation: if the guest doesn’t pay, you get nothing.

So if you work with Booking, it makes sense to combine a moderate deposit with good insurance.

How to write the claim so it’s accepted

A well-prepared claim gets resolved sooner. What works:

• Before and after photos. The “before” ones come from your last clean or your inventory. Without them, it’s your word against the guest’s.
• Real quotes or invoices, not guesses.
• A calm, specific message to the guest. What you found, what it costs to fix, and the evidence. No accusations, no adjectives.
• Reasonable amounts. Asking for a new designer lamp to replace a €30 one usually ends in a rejected claim.
• Everything through the platform. Agreements on WhatsApp or in person don’t count if you later need to escalate.

How to prevent it (most of the time)

You can’t prevent everything, but you can prevent most of it:

1. Clear house rules in the listing and in the property: parties, smoking, pets, number of guests.
2. Photos at every changeover. If every clean ends with photos of every room, you always have the “before” for the next guest.
3. A simple inventory with photos: kitchenware, bed linen, appliances, décor.
4. A check right after check-out, not the next day. The sooner, the easier it is to claim in time.
5. A deposit, if it suits your type of guest.
6. Insurance that covers tourist use. Many home policies don’t cover damage by paying guests if it hasn’t been declared.
7. Easy-clean textiles: washable sofa covers and mattress protectors. A stain on a cover is a wash; on the sofa, it’s a machine clean.

The review: stay calm

After damage comes the review. What works best:

• Leave yours based on facts, without insults: “The property was left with damage we’ve had to claim for.” It’s a warning for other hosts.
• If the guest replies with a negative review, answer calmly. The next guest reads your reply, not the argument.

What to do next

At Hola Limpio, when we do holiday rental cleaning, every changeover ends with photos of every room, and if we find damage or something left behind we tell you straight away, with photos. It’s exactly what you need to claim in time.

And if we also run your holiday rental management on the Management or Full service plan, we talk to the guest and help you with the claim on the platform, under its rules. If the stain is on the sofa or mattress, we offer sofa and mattress cleaning with hot water extraction machines.

Message us on WhatsApp on +34 604 82 90 44 or ask for a free consultation. We reply within 2 hours during business hours.