Power Outage nightmare

[Cherish0]

 I just want to share what happens to me just a few days ago. Maybe it can help other hosts.

A guest booked for four night maybe 3 months in advance. 

 They checked in around 6 pm, but just few minutes after there was power outage.

The power outage was due to a car accident and 3 electric poles fell down.

The whole city was total black out (even our house located 1 hour away, and our other listing at the other side of the city were affected).

 The guest called me, just few minutes after check in, and we explained the situation, assuring them that usually it will not take too long.

 We called the electric company and they said that they are on going to fix it.

 So we informed the guest about it.

 About 15 minutes later the guest message me saying that they want to cancel their reservation and get a full refund, as they cant stay without electricity for 4 days!

 We refuse, and explain them that the problem is temporary, and that there is no place to stay currently because the whole city is affected (unless a hotel with generator).

Then 2 hours later they message me saying that they found a place (at the other side of the city) with electricity.

 We told them that if they have electricity its surely because they have generator.

 The electricity finally came back around 10 pm, then I message them to inform them and  to apologies for the problem, and that I hope they will have a great stay even though I understand that having no electricity was really an inconvenient.

 Since then, no reply, so I thought everything was fine...

3 days later, I received a message from a case manager, saying that the guest might have full refund because our place doesn't have electricity.!

 We submit all the documents we had in our hand, like the screenshot of our conversation by sms, and also the proof that there was emergency light in the house. But the case manager was a bit rude, and the next day without even informing us, deducted the full amount to our payout, and refunded the guest!

 The case manager, was close minded, and close our case very quickly.

 We were hopeless,

 We finally called airbnb, let a message to them in the app, in messenger, and in twitter.

 We explain them that the guest never let us know clearly that they checked out that day. Saying that they found a place with electricity, doesn't  mean that they check out, it might also mean "You are a liar, the whole city is not affected", or eventually even they left that night, they might come back for the rest of their stay.

 The booking was cancel only 4 days after, the day of their check out.

Airbnb finally reopened the case! They understand our side,  and adjusted our payout, we received 3 nights payout instead of 4 nights.

The guest was still refunded 100%, and left a review (highly negative) but at least we have our payout!

[Susan1028]

@Cherish0 

Sorry that happened.  There are many threads about difficulties in dealing with “support” in the host forum.

I can only imagine what hosts in the fire areas in California are going through with the power companies intentional blackouts for many days at a time.

No host has any control over these situations and one would hope that a temporary outage would be handled gracefully by everyone effected.

Glad you persisted and got refunded.

[Branka-and-Silvia0]

@Cherish0 

I am glad you are paid at least for 3 nights... but... in such a situation when the guest said he found another place and didn't answer my messages after that I would go and check my property. I would like to know 1) did the guest really checked out, 2) Are all electrical appliances and lights turned off 3) did he locked the door, closed all windows and left the keys.

I wouldn't wait for 4 days.

[Cherish0]

 The problem was the way the situation was handled by the guest or by airbnb.

 Far as I remember, when I got a problem in a airbnb as a guest, I call airbnb then they contact the host right away, then the host fix the problem, or the reservation is cancel, or alterate. 

 But in this situation, or the guest didnt contact airbnb right away, or airbnb did not reacted immediatly... And I think its one of the reason why the case was reopen. 

[Anonymous]

@Cherish0  You're right - the guest would have been entitled to a refund under the Guest Refund Policy if they reported the power outage on the first day, but the fact that the booking was cancelled several days late meant that it wasn't possible for you to seek a replacement booking. The case manager should have recognized this in the course of making their decision; fortunately, in the end this was decided in your favor.

In general, if guests express a strong desire to cancel their booking due to circumstances that are covered by the Guest Refund Policy, your best bet is going to be to go ahead and issue the refund, under the condition that they complete the cancellation online and depart the property immediately. Even though the power outage was beyond your control, the fact remains that the guests were not able to have the experienced promised in the listing, so they're contractually entitled to a cancellation with full refund.

Some guests will be receptive to an offer for a partial refund covering the time they went without power, so it can help to offer that before beginning the cancellation process.

[Cherish0]

 An update about this case. We contacted airbnb again concerning the review (1 star everywhere and negative comment). As we received last december the updated review policy we were confident that they will remove the review that is talking exclusively about a circumstance out of our control. The case manager studied the review for about 15 days, and finally gave her verdict : The review didnt violate the content policy. Even I insisted, impossible to remove this review... She even closed the case before answering all my question.

 So I posted respectfully my disappointment on the social media, they quickly message me in private. Another case manager handled the case, then a weel later, a big suprise : The new case manager call me personnally to explain me that the review has been remove from my listing because it did violate their content policy! The removed the nwgative evaluation also !

 In four years that we are host in airbnb, this is the first time we were able to remove a review.