Damage: the evidence to keep before you need it

What Airbnb's process looks like

Airbnb's page on host damage protection sets out the steps (help 279). In short, as the page described it when I checked:

1. Document the issue. Airbnb asks for photos or videos, plus repair or cleaning estimates and/or receipts.
2. File a reimbursement request in the Resolution Centre. The guest sees it first.
3. Give the guest time to respond. The page says the guest has 24 hours.
4. Take it to host damage protection if the guest doesn't respond, pays only part or declines. The page says you can then submit a reimbursement request under host damage protection.

The deadline is the part that catches hosts out. The page says to file "Within 14 days of the responsible guest's checkout" (help 279). Not 14 days from when you noticed. From checkout.

The page adds a second clock. If you want to involve Airbnb Support, it says you need to do so, with the supporting documents, within 14 days of the damage or loss. Either way, speed matters.

The same page lists things that aren't covered, including "Damage from normal wear and tear". So a worn sofa is not a claim. A burn in the sofa might be.

Why the evidence has to exist before the stay

A photo of a stain proves there is a stain. It doesn't prove the stain is new. What makes your evidence useful is the "before": a dated photo of the same spot, clean, from the last turnover.

That is the whole idea of this guide. You can't go back and take before photos once something is damaged. You can only take them every time, as a habit, so they are there on the rare day you need them.

Most stays end with nothing wrong. That is the point. The routine costs a few minutes per turnover, and you hope never to open the folder.

Before-stay photos: same shots, same spots

The best before photos are boring. Same rooms, same angles, same order, every turnover. If every set looks alike, a change jumps out.

A practical routine:

• Use a fixed photo list. Pick the same shots each time: each room from the doorway, each bed made, the sofa, the kitchen worktops, the inside of the oven and fridge, the bathroom from the door, and anything valuable or fragile.
• Stand in the same place. Put a small mark on your list for where to stand: "bedroom 1, from the door, wardrobe in shot".
• Shoot after the clean, before the guest. The photo should show the home as the guest found it.
• Keep the originals. Don't edit or crop them. The file's date and time help show when it was taken.
• Add close-ups of what's already marked. An existing scratch, photographed and logged, can't be blamed on the next guest.

If your cleaner takes the photos, keep the list short enough that it actually gets done. A long list gets skipped. The free turnover checklist lets you pick your rooms and amenities and prints a checklist with a fixed photo list, so your cleaner takes the same shots each time.

The incident log

When something does happen, write it down the same day, while the details are fresh. A simple log, kept in a notebook or a spreadsheet, is enough.

Write facts, not feelings. "Burn mark on sofa arm" is evidence. "Guests clearly trashed the place" is not.

If your cleaner found it, ask them for a short written note in their own words, with the date. That is worth more than your memory of what they told you on the phone.

Receipts and estimates

Airbnb's page asks for estimates and/or receipts (help 279). Two habits make that easy:

• Keep purchase receipts for anything you might need to replace. A photo of the receipt for the sofa, the TV or the good pans, saved in one folder, takes seconds when you buy them and saves hours later.
• Get a written estimate quickly. If something needs repair, ask the repairer for a written quote that describes the damage, not just a total. A photo of a handwritten quote is better than nothing.

If you replace an item yourself, keep the receipt for the new one and a photo of the old one.

A communication timeline

Keep every message with the guest in Airbnb's messages. That gives you one dated record of what was said and when, in the same place Airbnb will look.

Your timeline is a short list of dates and events:

• checkout date and time;
• when the damage was found;
• when you messaged the guest, and what you said;
• when they replied, and what they said;
• when you filed the request in the Resolution Centre;
• when you took it to host damage protection, if you did.

Airbnb's ground rules for guests say "we expect guests to inform hosts of the damage as soon as possible" (help 2894). If a guest did tell you, note that too. A guest who reports a breakage honestly deserves a calm, fair reply.

Folder naming that you'll understand later

On the day you need it, you want to find everything in one place in a minute. A naming system does that.

One folder per booking, named so it sorts by date:

• Folder: checkout date, listing short name, reservation code. For example: 2026-10-12 SeaView HMABC123.
• Inside it: a "before" folder, an "after" folder, a "receipts and estimates" folder and a "messages" folder.
• File names: date, room, what it shows. For example: 2026-10-12 bedroom1 wardrobe door.

Keep the before photos for every booking, even quiet ones, until the 14-day window has passed. After that, you can thin them out if storage is tight.

Calm, factual messages

The first message to a guest about damage sets the tone. Keep it short, factual and polite. No threats, no accusations beyond what you saw.

Something like:

Hi, thanks for staying with us. When we cleaned after your checkout, we found a burn mark on the arm of the grey sofa that wasn't there before your stay. I've attached photos from before and after. Do you know how it happened? I'll be getting a repair estimate and will file a request through Airbnb's Resolution Centre so we can sort it out properly.

Never link a damage request to a review in either direction. Airbnb's Reviews Policy says hosts and guests "may not threaten a negative review" to obtain unwarranted compensation (help 2673). Keep the two completely separate.

Make the 14-day deadline a habit

The simplest way not to miss the window is to work it out at checkout, not when you find something. Add 14 days to the checkout date and write it in your log for every booking, or put it in your calendar.

If you find damage on day 10, you then know you have a few days left, not a vague "about two weeks".

Things that won't help

• Taking photos only after something goes wrong. Without a before, an after proves little.
• Angry messages. They make a fair request look like a grudge.
• Sorting it out off the platform. Keep the request and the messages in Airbnb, where the record is.