Hurricane affecting ALL of North Carolina?

[Stay-Asheville0]

The way Airbnb handles hosts is just getting out of control.   

Has anyone noticed if you call support and just say you're a guest you'll get through to someone in the American cell centers?

The major issue I'm having right now is that I'm in a quiet mountain town called Asheville, which happens to be in the same state that is North Carolina where hurricane FLorence will make landfall in a few days.

So what does Airbnb do?  They're letting guests cancel left and right because the governor declared a state of emergency in North Carolina.  Despite not one time ever having any hurricane damage in the 33 years I've existed in this mountain town that's 400 miles away from the coast and 2500 ft above sea level, Airbnb is letting guests from all over cancel and declaring it part of extenuating circumstances.   We're going to get some rain.  

Not only are they letting guests cancel where the extenuating circumstances policy doesn't apply, they're scaring the rest of the guests who don't realize that we're in a mountain town far from the coast.

I've had 4 cancellations in the 24 hours from people who were traveling here, who aren't even coming from the coast.  One guy was coming from Texas.  But because of the hurricane that's affecting the other side, Airbnb is letting them cancel.

I'm doing my best to hang onto Airbnb, but this may be the last straw for me as a professional in the hospitality business.

[Stay-Asheville0]

There won't be any flooding here.  Those are businesses in Biltmore Village that experience flooding in heavy rains quite often.  This is a very small part of Asheville.  We are in the mountains... doesn't flood here much, and when it does it's in the flood plains.

[Stay-Asheville0]

The entire point of this post is that sometimes, and it's quite often, Airbnb does an absolutley terrible and horrendous job at managing my hospitality business.

I don't need help managing a company that does a million a year in gross revenue.  I don't need someone in the Phillipines with a tenuous grasp of the English language explaining how a hurricane is going to affect travelers in Asheville.  

I don't co manage property.   These are all my houses and I take this business very seriously. I put everything on the line on a daily basis to make sure my guests are taken care of.

At the same time, I would never ever ever ask someone to put their lives or general well being at risk for the sake of honoring a reservation.  I'm here for the long haul.  

We're looking at some rain here in the mountains.  We don't cancel reservations because of rain. Airbnb has made a terrible mistake in telling everyone to worry about a hurricane that is affecting folks in the coastal regions of these states.  The people who are affected by this hurricane should be taken care of in anyway possible and we have a duty to help.

However, issuing a blanket statement that this is affecting all of NC, but not eastern Tennessee for example, is just irresponsible.  

I just hope someone at Airbnb reads this and recognizes these issues are never ending with Airbnb's heavy handed tactics.  Have all of the q and a's you want.  This is mostly caused by you outsourcing case managers and not providing clear and immediate help to hosts when they need it the most.

[Roger103]

Simular thing has happened to me.  Guest was going to be driving in from Charlotte, NC which is roughly 100 miles from Asheville.  The guest called and AirBnB gave them a full refund.  

If it isn't the constant barragement of telling you that you need to lower your price per night it is a much too liberal policy without any feedback from the host.

I know if I'm traveling to protect myself in this situation I'd buy travel insurance.....AirBnB guests don't have to do that at the expense of the hosts.  

I could understand the situation only if there was a mandatory evacuation, but this is in a town that is several hundreds of miles away and at an elevation of close to 3000 feet.   I called this morning, but have yet to hear back from a manager.

Really unfair.