Handling Property Damage in Your Rental

One of the biggest concerns for property owners thinking about renting out their property to vacationers at the Lake is property damage. Fortunately, most damages that happen in Lake of the Ozarks vacation rentals are accidental. Someone still must pay for those damages though, and that’s where having a Damage Protection Plan can help!

Damage Protection Plan

Upon booking their reservation, guests pay a nominal fee for our Damage Protection Plan. That money goes into a separate pot that can later be used to cover any accidental damages that might occur during their stay. The plan covers up to $3,000 in reported, accidental damage. We offer this plan in lieu of holding a large security deposit. Most guests prefer this, as they don’t have to shell out a large security deposit and then wait for it to be refunded. They also have the piece of mind that if something does accidentally happen during their stay, they won’t be charged for the damages. Intentional or negligent damage is not covered by this plan and would be charged to the guest’s credit card upon discovery.

Damage Protection vs Security Deposit

In the past, when we used to collect security deposits from guests, we experienced a variety of issues. Most notably, we had guests that would try to fix things themselves or hide the damages rather than report them. They wanted to make sure they got their full security deposit back. We found things glued back together incorrectly, broken items hidden in closets and drawers or under beds, etc. Guests would often claim, “that was already broken when we arrived.” Most of the time, it was difficult to determine which guest it was that actually did the damage.

Paying for Damages

Whether it was an accident that the guest admitted to or damages that they denied where caused by them, the guest felt they shouldn’t have to pay for it out of their deposit. However, it wasn’t our fault, and it wasn’t the owners fault, so where is that money coming from?

In addition to determining who was responsible, we were having to refund those security deposits to the guests that did not cause any damage. Not only did that take time, but it also involved costs for credit card fees. We realized we were spending around $5,000 a year processing credit cards for those deposits, and that was an expense that just didn’t make sense!

We have now been offering the Damage Protection Plan for over 15 years. Our guests are happy and, we’ve noticed, are more likely to report damages and maintenance issues when they know they won’t be responsible for the costs associated with fixing it. Our owners are happy because they’re not going to get slapped with a bill to fix something that they had nothing to do with. And we are happy because it saves us money in credit cards fees, produces a little income for us and allows us to cover those accidents that tend to happen to even the best of renters.