I am an owner and we lost electricity in a storm

[Nancy637]

How can I refund the renters money without them still being charged the service fee? 

[Matthew285]

@Nancy637 you can only refund your part of the money.

Whether the guest gets a refund for the service fee is up to Airbnb (since the service fee money is theirs).

[Cormac0]

@Nancy637

I would regard that as an Act of God as the insurance companies are fond of saying, so in my opinion no refund is necessary.

This matter was completely outside of your control.

For example if you circuit breaker kept tripping because of being over loaded or faulty wiring then you should consider a refund.

But not in this case.

[Ana1136]

@Cormac0 and how are they supposed to stay there without electricity and hot watter? Airbnb says that we must provide the basics for a comfortable stay if we want to rent, and if those are not the basics than what is? She should most definitely give them a full refund. @Nancy637 try contacting Airbnb and ask them to cancel the reservation for you because if you cancel yourself you will be penalised.

[Cormac0]

@Ana1136

Where else can they stay, that is not affect similarly, if the whole electricity network is down due to storm damage?

My point is its not the fault of the Host so why should they pick up the tab/bill

[Ana1136]

@Cormac0 she said WE lost, not the whole city. I am sure there are other properties in the city that have power generators, they can stay there. It is unfortunate circumstance but as it is not the owners fault also it isn't the guests fault. It is not like the guests canceled and the host can't get rebooked, she can host anyone, that is why she needs to give a full refund.

[Steve143]

Hello @Nancy637,

If you wish that they get a full refund then tell them that they have to contact Airbnb support and make a claim. As @Matthew285 points out, that's the only way that they can get a refund of everything including the Airbnb fee.

In the confirmation email that guests receive there's a link to contact Airbnb support.

Steve.

[Letti0]

@Nancy637   How long was the power out? Is it still out? My refund would depend on those questions.

[Nancy637]

Thank you, everyone, for all the support.  Airbnb needed proof that we had an outage so I sent an outage map. I am refunding all the money as the renters had not arrived. They were coming in Friday but Consumers Energy said there would be no power until Friday at 11:30 pm and that was not promised. Airbnb will not charge either one of us the service fee.  

All is well.