Death in the family

[Stephenie16]

My family and I made a reservation to an Airbnb location, and my mom was the one who booked it a few months ago. It has already been paid for. 

anyways, my mom unfortunately passed away suddenly  in the past 3 weeks; but my dad, sister and myself are still going because it’s what my mom would want. Will we still be able to use it? I tried searching but couldn’t find anything. 

[Emiel1]

@Stephenie16 

Officially the person who booked must also stay in the accommodation. As this is an exceptional situation, IMO it needs a special aproach. I suggest to contact the host and explain (or contact Airbnb if host is unresponsive). Airbnb only needs to make a statement they will support the booking.

[Anonymous]

@Stephenie16 Very sorry for the loss of your mom.

If you are able to access the account that was used to book, there is a fairly straightforward approach available: write directly to the host in the message thread to explain the situation and ask if they are still willing to honor the booking. They most likely will be, but technically they have the right to cancel without penalty if they prefer not to accept what is now effectively a third party stay. 

If you don't have access to the user account, you're better off asking customer support to contact them on your behalf and perhaps creating a new booking linked to your user account.