A guest damaged your short-let: what to do now
What to do in the first hours and how to claim the damage on Airbnb in time.
Photograph the damage before you clean or repair, and get a cost estimate. On Airbnb you ask the guest for the money through the Resolution Center within 14 days of checkout.
What do you do first?
The order matters: record first, then clean and repair.
- 1
Change nothing
Photograph the damage before cleaning, repairing or moving things.
- 2
Cost estimate
Get a quote or a cost estimate for the repair.
- 3
Ask the guest
On Airbnb, request the money through the Resolution Center within 14 days of checkout.
- 4
Involve Airbnb
If the guest does not pay, file your request to Airbnb within 30 days of checkout.
- 5
Before-state
Show that the damage was not there before the stay.
- 6
Other platforms
Booking.com and Vrbo have their own rules and deadlines.
Already have damage?
Guest damaged something?
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Which rules apply
Under Airbnb's Host Damage Protection Terms (version of 1 August 2026) you ask the guest for the money within 14 days of checkout and file your request to Airbnb within 30 days if they do not pay. Against the guest directly, § 280 BGB applies: whoever breaches a duty owes damages.
General information, not legal advice.
Frequently asked questions
What do I do first when a guest has damaged something?
Photograph the damage before you change anything, so before cleaning, repairing or moving things. Only then deal with cleaning and repair.
The guest says the damage was already there, now what?
You can only answer that with proof of the condition before the stay. Without it, it is your word against the guest's.
Which deadlines apply on Airbnb?
Within 14 days of checkout you ask the guest for the money through the Resolution Center, and the guest then has 24 hours to respond. If they do not pay, you file your request to Airbnb within 30 days of checkout, with evidence.
Also in this topic: Guest will not pay for damage: demand, court order, claimHouse rules for a holiday flat: what is actually enforceablePet damage in a holiday flat: what you can recoverInventory missing after a stay: what you can recover
Next guest arriving soon?
Scan the place before check-in and after check-out. Then your claim rests on a comparison when the guest says it was already like that.
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