Power outages

[Jodell0]

 PG&E is no randomly shutting off our power with only two days notice in Murphys California. I’m wondering what the rest of the hosts in my area are doing about this. I’m a widow and I used my Airbnb as my main income. Investing in a generator seems counterproductive to me   

[Greg89]

This is a great question- I'm on the horn with Airbnb right now because my guests are requesting a full refund. Airbnb told me that I have an hour to resolve "the situation". I asked what situation that was, since I offered half off. They said "since there is no power, would you be able to provide an alternative source of power, since it is a very essential part of the listing as a lot of your amenities would depend on having power in the listing. If there would be no alternative source of power to be provided, then we would have to cancel the reservation".

I think that's kind of crappy given this happened last minute and I offered half off and my heat, running water are all working.

[Pete69]

A room with no power is worth something if they're staying.  I don't know how much. Maybe 50% off.  I would also offer them the right to cancel the remainder of their stay if it's such an inconvenience. 

Recently there were nearby fires and before my guests were scheduled to arrive it became rather smokey in my area. I had left the windows open earlier and so some smoke had gotten into the room. I wasn't sure if the air quality might get worse. Maybe their whole vacation to the beach area would be ruined. I emailed them to offer a full cancellation of their 2 day stay. Even if they did cancel, my weekends get snapped up anyway. I would have found another guest to take their place, especially with some people becoming displaced by evacuations. Fortunately the air quality improved by the time they arrived late in the night.