# Stay checks: before-and-after photos for every stay

> Photograph your rental before each guest arrives and after they leave, with timestamps, so any damage claim is backed by evidence.

- Source: https://www.claimfrog.com/help/stay-checks
- Product: Claimfrog, the home inventory app for insurance claims
- Topic: Short-term rental hosts
- Plan: Included on the Premium and Business plans.
- Updated: 2026-10-24

Platforms ask for proof that damage happened during a specific stay. A **stay check** gives you exactly that: photos of each room before the guest checked in and after they checked out, with timestamps Claimfrog keeps for you.

## Before the guest arrives

1. Open **Host** and click **New stay check**. If your calendars are connected, click **Start stay check** on the stay under **From your calendars** instead: the guest, reservation code and dates fill in for you.
2. Enter or check the reservation details.
3. Under **Before photos**, take or choose photos: a wide shot of each room, plus close-ups of valuable or fragile items. Label each photo with its room.
4. Click **Save stay check**.

Need to add more later? Click **Before photos** on the stay check.

## After check-out (before cleaning)

1. On the stay check, click **Record check-out**.
2. Photograph each room **from the same angles** as the before photos.
3. Add **Notes**, for example "Red wine stain on living room rug; cracked lamp base in Bedroom A".
4. If something is damaged, turn on **Damage found**. The reporting deadline appears and you can start a claim. See [Guest damage claims](https://www.claimfrog.com/help/guest-damage-claims).
5. Save, then click **Mark completed** when the stay is done. **Reopen** brings it back if you need it.

Click **Show before / after** to compare the photos side by side.

## Tips

- Take after photos **before** the cleaners arrive. Once it's cleaned, the evidence is gone.
- Same angles, same light: matching shots make damage obvious.
- Cleaners and co-hosts can do stay checks too. Invite them as Editors on the property. See [Invite people to a property](https://www.claimfrog.com/help/invite-people-to-a-property).
- Photos must be images under 10 MB. Larger files are skipped and you're told how many.