Checkout minus 30 minutes. The cleaning crew enters. In the primary bedroom: a cracked headboard, a stained mattress, and a bedside lamp missing entirely. The guest has already left and their phone is off.
What you do in the next two hours determines whether you recover anything.
The Documentation Sequence
The sequence is not intuitive. The natural instinct is to contact the guest first, then Airbnb, then document. The correct order is the reverse:
- Document first, before anything is touched. Every item in the affected area gets photographed in its damaged state, before cleaning, before assessment, before anyone moves anything. Photos must be timestamped — enable location metadata on your device. Wide shot showing the room context, medium shot showing the item in place, close shot showing the specific damage.
- Pull the pre-stay baseline. The most recent pre-booking photos of the same area. If you don't have them, the claim is compromised before you file. This is the reason systematic pre-stay documentation exists.
- File in AirCover within 72 hours. Do not contact the guest first. Contacting the guest creates an opportunity for them to dispute the claim directly with Airbnb before your evidence package is filed. File the AirCover claim. Then contact the guest.
- Get cost estimates immediately. Same-day estimates from a contractor or retailer. Screenshots of replacement cost from a current retail source. Claims filed with estimates attached are resolved faster and at higher rates than claims where estimates are submitted after the fact.
What Counts as Admissible Documentation
AirCover's resolution process treats evidence the way an insurance adjuster would — not the way a reasonable person would. What matters:
- Photos with EXIF timestamp data showing they were taken within the booking window
- Pre-stay photos from a named, dated prior service establishing baseline condition
- Third-party cost documentation — not a host-estimated value
- Communication records if the guest acknowledged the damage
What does not count: your word that the item was undamaged. Your memory of prior condition. A verbal acknowledgment from the guest that was not captured in writing.
Damage Types That Don't Route Through AirCover
Not every discovery at checkout is an AirCover event. AirCover covers guest-caused damage during a confirmed stay. Appliance failure during the stay, weather incidents, and normal wear accumulation are not AirCover events — they route to your STR insurance policy or homeowner endorsement.
Misrouting a claim — filing an appliance failure as guest damage — results in a denial that goes on your account. File through the correct channel the first time.
The 72-Hour Cutoff Is Absolute
72 hours from checkout. Or before the next guest checks in. Whichever is earlier. AirCover does not grant extensions. If you discover damage at hour 71, you file at hour 71 with whatever documentation you have and supplement with additional evidence during the review process.
Late discovery — damage found after the cutoff — has one recovery path: a dispute initiated through the Resolution Center with documentation of when the damage was first discoverable. The success rate is substantially lower than a timely claim.
The Role of Pre-Stay Documentation
Every step in this protocol depends on having pre-stay documentation already in place. The documentation you take before the next guest checks in is the evidence package for the claim that follows the booking after that.
For the complete filing protocol — how to structure the evidence package, what to write in the claim description, and how to submit for maximum recovery — see the AirCover claim documentation guide.