Background
We hosted a fairly well-reviewed guest from Canada to checked in ridiculously late for our entire home. We had barely started hosting and were excited as every guest experience was extremely positive and rewarding (as airbnb advertises).
A few days into their reservation, we ask if they need anything, to which they say, “oh we’re stepping out for a bit - do what you need”. When we entered our house. We discovered the so-called “guest” had caused extensive damage in every room, and physically forced their way into our locked storage room and our garage.
We lost valuables, collectibles, cash, personal documents, travel documents. Imagine getting a home ready for airbnb, and securing all of your valuables into a storage room and hiding in the garage. That’s what we lost. (we were very naive…)
A police report was filed listing the larger, more valuable possessions (handbags, briefcases, DSLRs, lenses, documents, etc), so police could start an investigation while we continued inventorying losses.
A few weeks later, a local claims adjuster company came out after we had fixed the majority of the damages to initiate their claim process. They let us know that criminals had permeated throughout airbnb and so business was very good for them.
During the claims process, airbnb and the claims specialist requested receipts of our lost possessions. We requested as long of an extension as possible (I think they normally give you a few days), since we had loss items that were purchased nearly two decades ago, and receipts may have been lost or stored away between homes in Asia, Pacific Northwest, South California, as well as storage units abroad, and businesses we own!
While sending updates to the claims adjuster, we receive an e-mail from airbnb stating that they were covering 4k of over 60k in damages and losses, and that we would have to accept the offer within 48 hours or get nothing. We assured them that we were will compiling receipts for stolen items and that we would need more time.
The next e-mail came after the 48 hours, which re-iterated the fact that their decision was final, and because we did not agree to the reimbursement amount, we were getting $0.00, and that their decision was final!
We tried re-opening a claim. Claim gets forwarded to same overseas agent.
Our question
What do we do? This has been an absolute disaster for us personally. We do not enjoy visiting our home. It feels like we’ve been violated. We had to change our mailbox locks because the “guests” had stolen our mail, and started filing credit card applications with our information!