Hotel guests negligence caused flood damage
Hi all. Had a company director book two rooms for his staff. We have just reopened after spring cleaning and winter break. The two guests were lovely, until thus evening. One of them came down and said i am worried i have flooded your rooms as i have been on the phone and forgot the shower was running on full power for twenty minutes or more.
he said when he came in the water wasnt draining as quick as it should he put his hand over drain and released and the water went quicker, so obviously not blocked fully. When i checked it the water ran freely down drain.
i said politely and calmy that it has gone through three floors, wet carpets, wet beds, holes in ceilings etc, and that he had been negligent in my opinion. He was fine and so apologetic , he was quite genuine. I have been calm and polite
i told the guest i must call the boss and tell him, which i did. The boss told me i was at fault as my drain didnt work and his employee had a right to go out and make a phone call with the shower left on. He said i should put up signs saying dont leave room with water running as drains dont work, what a pleasant individual he was.
i told him he was responsible for the issue as he had booked under the terms and conditions etc, he said i need to check the legal position as i was to blame. I advised him to find other accommodation now as i needed to try and assess the damage to the rooms and would take legal action against him accordingly.
So first question is this, i am right about the guests negligence?. He has no right to leave a shower running unattended for that time?.
and the thing that sickens me after 15 years of working with booking com and having a top guest house with a 9.6 review score is that on calling them i received no support whatsoever, they told me if the guy puts a review of 0 out of 10 the review would stay! I feel like giving up and selling because of their response and this whole issue!,, we work so hard and earn every review with sweat blood and tears, and i expected support on this in so far as this guy will put a bad review out of spite and they will allow after the damage caused by his employees
any thoughts feedback welcome
Oh-my-dear!
Do you have insurance for the rental rooms?
After each check-out our maids open and clean the drainage in the shower. If this is done on a regular basis it's practicly impossible for the drainage to be "blocked". So it was either not cleaned well enough for some time, or the water pressure is too strong as it should be, or the drainage system is not well "constructed" or a mix of everything adding also a guest negligence ofcourse.
The only thing you can do is colecting damage deposits, that's basicly all what you could get from that.
And yes if we will put guest in a bad position and pressure them in some way so that they will feel uncomfortable, there is a bigger chance for us to receive a lower score.
Because of "one" negative score the world will not end.. It happens.. it's a part of this industry we are in. Just continue to keep up the good work.
Very...very bad situation...
When faced with such difficult issues calmness is the word to remember...but how easy is it???
When guests are not responsible we hosts are in trouble and have to find ways to defend and protect ourselves...
You can report your guest as a misconduct but I don’t think BDC can do much about Review....
Wish you well.
Basic plumbing is that water should always drain out faster than it flows in, so it can never flood like this. So yes, it is partly your fault for either the drain to be too small or the shower to flow too fast.
And yes, to a small extent, the guest is at fault for leaving the shower running, just the same as if they had left a tap running into a bath or sink. But what if the guest had chosen to stay in the shower for 30 minutes?
This is one of those things where you have to claim on your property insurance. However, the insurance company might say it's your fault because the drain isn't big enough.
If you have taken a damage deposit from the guest, you could claim on it / keep it, but that won't cover all the costs. You should think of damage deposits as a way for encouraging guests to look after your property because they want their money back. Your insurance is there for bigger problems.
And as you are finding out now, if you upset a guest, they can post a retaliatory review, which costs you more in bookings than you would get from their damage deposit. The AirBnB hosts community is full of hosts complaining about retaliatory reviews because of claims on damage deposits ......
If you were in the United States, you could take the boss' company to Small Claims Court. The court will grant up to $10,000 in damages, if you win the case.
I assume you are in the UK. Does Britain also have Small Claims Courts?
Thanks Don, for sharing with us about Small Claims Court.
Wish we had a similar one also in Greece....
Hello,
I am so sorry to read your story. In my opinion was the guest negligent.
tell me how did it all ended up? How did booking reacted to the fact that you needed to block the other rooms in order to manage the water damage?
Stay strong