We entered this short term rental agreement in GOOD FAITH, fully aware of your obligation as a guest to report any damage which might accidentally happen during our stay, but also TRUSTING that the host would not attempt to OBTAIN MONEY to cover damages that we didn’t cause. WE WERE WRONG.
Our first impression of Silvia’s place was great. The house is spacious, comfortable, and very nicely decorated. It did not take long for us to notice a few things were a miss, though. But we are not the type of guests that complain about every little thing. There was ANIMAL POOP in the backyard, so we were careful not to step on it. There was NO SOAP in the bathroom (the only bathroom, in the middle of a pandemic!), so we just used the kitchen sink instead. The kitchen table was wobbly to the point that it was NOT SAFE to use it, so we had our meals in the dining room. Sure, we were bummed that this was not quite the AirBnb Plus level of service we expected, but we were determined to have a good time.
When we noticed a large FADED OLD STAIN on the dining room’s rug it did not even cross our minds to notify the host. Not only because (unlike many of the other issues) this did not directly impact the quality of our stay, but also because someone had clearly tried scrubbing it off (albeit not very successfully), so it seemed very unkind on our part to point it out. BIG MISTAKE!
A couple of hours after we checked out, we received a message from the host asking: “WHAT DID YOU SPILL ON THE RUG”. We were really upset by this message, first because we were blamed for damage that we did not cause, secondly because the host did not even think of asking us. It is now very clear to us why she did not bother to ask.
We replied to the host and clarified that while we did see the stain on the rug, it was there before we arrived, and we thought she was aware of it. She thanked us and said she was just asking in case we knew what it was so she could clean it. We thought that was the end of it. But we were mistaken.
Next day at 4am we receive a request for $300 from the host to cover property damages. So many things were wrong with this request… (1) The photo, which clearly showed a faded old stain that couldn’t possibly have happened in the last 48h (2) The estimate which was for professional CARPET CLEANING, and not just a simple DRY CLEANING service for a rug (3) The fact that the host just decided to request almost TWICE the amount shown in the estimate (4) The absence of a receipt to accurately assess the market value of the used rug or the host’s claim that the rug was less than one year old.
But most importantly the fact that this host, that so CLEARLY DOESN’T INSPECT HER PROPERTY in between guest, to the point that she overlooked animal poop, hazardous kitchen table, missing soap dispenser (among other things), thinks she has any basis to claim that we (her last guests) must take the blame for what is clearly an old faded stain on her dining room rug.