Most claims processes are black boxes. You submit documentation, wait, and eventually receive a decision. Approved or denied. Sometimes with a payout amount. Rarely with a detailed explanation of how the decision was reached or what the calculation was based on.
This creates uncertainty for everyone. Hosts don’t know if they’ve submitted enough evidence. They can’t tell whether a borderline claim is worth pursuing. When a settlement comes back lower than expected, they have no way to evaluate whether it’s fair or arbitrary.
We built our claims process to work differently. Why? Because transparency produces better outcomes. When you understand the criteria upfront, you can submit stronger claims. When you see the complete calculation, you can evaluate the settlement offer properly. When decisions are consistent, you can plan around them.
Here’s how our system works and why we made the choices we did.
The Foundation: Clear Criteria, Applied Consistently
The core challenge in any claims process is balancing two competing needs. You need enough flexibility to handle unique situations. But you also need enough consistency that similar claims receive similar treatment.
Traditional approaches solve this with case-by-case review. An agent evaluates each claim subjectively. This provides maximum flexibility but creates inconsistency. The same claim submitted to different agents might receive different outcomes. There’s no way to know what will tip the decision one way or another.
We use a different model. We define clear criteria upfront, score evidence objectively, and automate 80% of decisions based on those rules. This doesn’t eliminate judgment — about 20% of claims still need agent review for unusual circumstances. But it means most claims receive consistent treatment based on documented evidence rather than subjective interpretation.
The system evaluates claims through four stages: evidence review, eligibility verification, settlement calculation, and payment.
Stage 1: Evidence Review
When you submit a claim, we need to verify that damage occurred and understand its scope. This requires documentation. The question is: how much documentation is sufficient?
We evaluate evidence across five categories:
- Photos showing the damage – Multiple clear angles that demonstrate the extent and nature of the damage
- Written description of what happened – Timeline of events and explanation of how the damage occurred
- Repair or replacement cost documentation – Professional quotes or invoices showing the financial impact
- Evidence of guest communication – Documentation showing you attempted to resolve directly with the guest, or confirmation from the guest that they caused the damage
- Supporting materials – House rules, police reports, or other relevant documentation
Strong photo or, better still, video documentation carries the most weight — we need to see the damage clearly from multiple angles. A detailed written explanation helps us understand context. Professional quotes or invoices establish the financial impact. Evidence that you contacted the guest shows a good faith effort to resolve directly, and can even provide evidence that the guest accepts they are at fault. Supporting materials strengthen your case when circumstances are unusual.
Some damage is inherently difficult to document. Missing items can’t be photographed. Emergency repairs requiring immediate action don’t allow time for “before” photos. Small damage often doesn’t show clearly in pictures. We account for these situations when you provide strong alternative documentation for hard-to-photograph claims, such as a report from a professional tradesperson defining the cause as guest-related.
If your evidence is insufficient, we don’t simply reject the claim. You receive specific feedback about which categories need strengthening. You can supplement the submission and resubmit. The goal is to help legitimate claims succeed, not to find reasons to decline them.
Stage 2: Eligibility Verification
Once we’ve verified that damage occurred, we need to confirm the claim qualifies under your protection terms. This is a pass/fail check against specific requirements:
- Your account is active and in good standing
- The booking was properly processed through our system
- The guest passed screening (or was flagged and you accepted the booking anyway)
- The incident occurred during the guest’s stay
- You reported it within 30 days of checkout
- The damage type is protected under your policy
These requirements exist for practical reasons. We need bookings processed through our system because that’s how we verify screening occurred and protection applies. We need timely reporting because evidence grows stale and guests become harder to contact.
If you fail any eligibility requirement, we explain which one and why it matters. For future claims, you’ll understand what needs to be different.
Stage 3: Settlement Calculation
This is where transparency matters most. You need to understand how we arrived at the settlement amount.
Our calculation accounts for several factors:
Depreciation: Items in short-term rentals experience accelerated wear compared to primary residences. A sofa that might last 15 years in a home typically lasts 5-7 years in a rental with constant guest turnover. Our depreciation rates reflect these real-world replacement cycles.
Repair vs. replacement: We pay for the most cost-effective option. If professional repair costs £450 and the depreciated replacement value is £480, we pay for the repair. If those numbers reverse, we pay for replacement.
Like-for-like value: We replace items with those of equivalent value, factoring in depreciation. So a $10k sofa purchased 10 years ago, wouldn’t still be worth $10k.
Third-party recovery: If you’ve already received payment from the guest, their deposit, or another source, we deduct that amount. Otherwise you’d be recovering twice for the same damage.
Stage 4: Payment
When you accept a settlement, we process payment within 5 business days.
Most straightforward claims will receive an offer within 48 hours of submission and, once accepted, will move to payment processing. Complex cases requiring agent review may take up to 30 days from the date we receive all required evidence, but typical processing time is under two days from submission to settlement offer.
Why Transparency Matters
Making our criteria and calculations visible creates several benefits:
Better evidence: When you understand what we’re evaluating, you gather the right documentation from the start. This reduces back-and-forth and speeds processing.
Clearer expectations: You can evaluate whether pursuing a claim makes sense before investing time in documentation. If an item has depreciated significantly and you’ve already recovered part of the cost from the guest, you might decide the remaining settlement isn’t worth the administrative work.
Fair evaluation: Objective criteria applied consistently mean similar claims receive similar treatment. Your settlement doesn’t depend on which agent reviews your case or their subjective judgment about whether the damage seems “reasonable.”
Accountability: When you see our complete calculation, you can evaluate whether it’s fair. If something seems wrong, you can point to specific adjustments and discuss them. This creates accountability on both sides — you need to provide legitimate documentation, we need to apply our rules correctly.
“We built this system because our customers told us they wanted two things: faster decisions and clear explanations for how we reached them,” says Chloe Lorusso, our Director of Claims Management. “The old way — manual review for every claim — was slow and opaque. Now we use technology to handle straightforward cases quickly, which frees our team to focus on the complex situations that genuinely need human judgment.”
Some claims will always require judgment calls. Unusual damage types, ambiguous circumstances, or incomplete evidence might need human review. But by automating the straightforward cases, we free our team to focus on situations that genuinely need careful consideration.
What This Means for Your Properties
A clear claims process provides confidence. You know what to document when damage occurs. You understand what protection applies and what your limits are. You can evaluate settlement offers against transparent criteria rather than accepting or rejecting them based on gut feeling.
This clarity matters because property damage is one of several interconnected risks you manage as a host. Guest screening helps prevent damage before it occurs by identifying higher-risk bookings. Damage protection covers you when incidents happen despite screening. Claims Management ensures you can recover quickly and get properties back online.
These tools work together. Good screening reduces claim frequency. Good documentation practices improve claim outcomes. Quick settlements minimize the time properties sit empty waiting for resolution.
None of this eliminates risk entirely. Some bookings will cause damage despite screening. Some claims won’t meet eligibility requirements or won’t have sufficient evidence. But a clear process helps you manage these situations systematically rather than dealing with each incident as a crisis.
Building Systems That Work
We built our claims process this way because we believe it produces better outcomes for everyone involved. Clear criteria help legitimate claims succeed. Transparent calculations allow proper evaluation of settlements. Consistent decisions make the process predictable.
You know what we’re evaluating and how we’re calculating settlements and you can make informed decisions about whether our approach works for your properties.
That’s what transparency gives you: enough information to evaluate whether this system serves your needs. If it does, you know what to expect and how to work with it effectively. If it doesn’t, you can make that assessment based on clear information rather than uncertainty about how claims might be handled.
Know you’re protected, front to back
Screen guests before they book, get damage protection that’s transparent, and file claims that process fairly. Three layers of protection working together.
