Airbnb owner inspects property after family visit. He can’t believe what the children did to cause this water damage

Running an Airbnb should theoretically be a pretty sweet gig. A person nabs a nice property, brings in some nice guests, and rakes in a nice pile of cash. Right? Not necessarily.

Every so often, Airbnb hosts walk into their properties after guests leave, only to discover carnage. And sometimes, it isn't even clear what happened.

‘Let me show you what they did'

Jerry Skeens, the owner of Skeens Family Rentals (@skeensfamilyrentals), shared a strange discovery. After a family stayed at one of his properties, he walked into an unwelcome surprise. His video has since accumulated more than 15,000 views.

“Let me show y'all something,” Skeens began, filming a walk-through of the property in question. “This guest checked out; our cleaner already turned it over. But let me show you what they did.”

Skeens then pointed his camera toward the ground floor ceiling. The ceiling had visible water damage, and Skeens said the bed directly below it had been soaking wet when his cleaner arrived. But strangely, he said “there's no bathroom” or anything else above that room that would be an obvious cause of such damage.

A theory regarding the damage

But Skeens had a hunch. He said he believes the children staying upstairs opened a window in 95-degree heat while running the mini-split air conditioning unit at full blast.

“Water poured out of the mini-split,” he said. “I've checked it; I don't know why water is pouring out. I've sucked out the drain lines. My guess is it was overworking and had a window wide open.”

Skeens expressed confusion as to how the guests did not notice a “flood” of water coming from the air conditioner.

“For two and a half days, how did they not see that the floor was flooded?” he asked. “I mean, the floor was absolutely flooded from the mini-split so bad that it leaked downstairs, and it caused water damage.”

Ultimately, Skeens did clarify that he wasn't 100% sure this water damage was the guests' doing.

“It may not have been their fault, so I have an HVAC guy coming,” he finished. “But the fact that this has never happened, and the window is wide open. This has been open for a year and a half, and I've never had this problem until today.”

@skeensfamilyrentals This check out did not go as planned #airbnb #hvac ♬ original sound – Skeens Family Rentals

What can Airbnb hosts actually do when guests damage their property?

According to Airbnb's own Help Center, hosts are covered under Host damage protection. As part of the broader AirCover for Hosts program, this protection “reimburses Hosts up to $3 million in the rare event [their] place or belongings are damaged by a guest during an Airbnb stay.”

“You're reimbursed for certain damage caused by guests to your home and belongings if the guest does not pay for the damage,” Airbnb writes. It also reimburses for extra cleaning services in certain cases, such as removing stains left by guests (or their invitees) or pet accidents and smoke odor removal.

The process starts with the host, not Airbnb directly. As per Airbnb's official reimbursement guidance, a host must “document the issue by taking photos or videos, getting repair or cleaning estimates and/or receipt.” Then, they need to file a reimbursement request through Airbnb's Resolution Center within 14 days of the guest's checkout.

The guest then has 24 hours to accept, decline, or ignore the request. Only if the guest refuses to pay does the claim escalate to Airbnb's Host damage protection program for “review.”

According to Hostfully, this Airbnb Host damage protection has limits. Hostfully emphasizes that “the program is not an insurance contract,” and as such does not include “normal wear and tear” in its coverage. This puts the burden of proof on the host to “[distinguish] the damage from gradual aging.”

GleamSync also warns hosts that pursuing this route might result in guests leaving a “retaliatory review,” since they get notified during the process.

“The time and emotional energy of pursuing a $30 claim through the Resolution Center, potentially getting a retaliatory review, and going back and forth with Airbnb Support is almost never worth it for small amounts,” GleamSync writes. “Factor in your hourly rate as a business owner and the math becomes clear.”

Buzz News has reached out to Skeens and Airbnb via email.