Have you ever tried to collect a claim against insurance? They will find any loophole possible to avoid a payout. Have fun trying to turn that $50,000 guarantee into something real.
Effectively, what we will see in the future is that Airbnb will make quick assessments and zoom in to shut victims who have the potential to attract publicity, while the less savvy will be swamped in insurance red tape until they give up and quietly slink off.
The $50,000 means nothing - after the incredible amount knocked off their value this week, Airbnb was obviously going to have learnt the financial wisdom of paying off some people, that is the only real change.
Corporations have learned that, with the vast majority of people, you just have to fob them off until inertia kicks in.
The irony is that the victim in this case probably wouldn't have been a problem if they hand handled here a little more professionally in the first 24hrs. Given all that was at stake as they entered a funding round that valued them at $1.3bn, Chesky should have gone to see her in person the minute he became aware of the situation and put her straight into a five star hotel while he organized and paid for a complete deep clean, fumigation, redecoration, refurnishing and whatever else it took to soften her. Then he should have tactfully proposed that he give her a reasonable sum, perhaps ten grand, in return for her signing an NDA.
In three or four days he would have saved his company from $100m in longterm damage, possibly much more if this starts a meme of wariness about Airbnb that derails their IPO plans.