Woke up with a bat in our Airbnb cabin, got treated for rabies, >$18k in medical bills from ER...
Last month we stayed at a cute little Airbnb cabin. On our drive there (~8 hours) we were about half way there and get a call from the host letting us know there is a bat in the cabin. I'm like "ok well we are still 3-4 hours away so as long as you get it out by the time we get there, it shouldn't be a problem".
A couple hours later we get a text from the host letting us know the bat had been removed. We eventually arrive and while I'm using the bathroom a bat flies into the bathroom from the living area. I call the host to let them know that a bat is still in the cabin. The host tells me they are sorry and they are on their way to remove it. I use a pool net the host told me about and shoo it out of the cabin then spend the next 30 minutes making sure there are no more bats, cabin. Looks clear so we call the host and tell them its not in there any more. Stay our first night no problem. Second night we wake up in the morning to another bat flying around in the cabin... (at the time I did not realize that this means we need to go to the ER) I shoo it out of the cabin, let the host know that we are not happy about that and we go about our day.
That night after doing some research we realize we need to go to the ER to get treated for rabies, so we do (first vaccine has to be administered within 72 hours so we are good). Turns out the cabin had a whole family of bats living in the roof. (we tell the host we are not having it and check out early, they tell me they will refund our stay, and do)
My wife and I go to the hospital that has rabies stuff and both get our rabies shot and all the stuff that goes with it. Followed by 3 more shots each over the next 2 weeks. During all of this, we get a notification from our health insurance that we have just racked up more than $18k in medical expenses and that our deductible ($7k each) has been maxed.
Also had to take our dog to the vet to get a booster.
Holy shit, I had no idea this would be that expensive and have no idea how we are going to pay for this. Does Airbnb have some sort of insurance to reimburse us for this type of thing?
We haven't filed a claim or anything yet, we rarely use Airbnb and am not familiar with how to even do that.
Do I need to get a lawyer?