What do you do when there's a power outtage?

[Lisa1980]

Our rental cabin recently had a power outtage. A tree had fallen on the line and many of the homes on our road were impacted for 5 hours, from 5:30 to 10:30 pm. We have no landline.

Unfortunately, rather than drive 2 miles down the road to town where they could have gotten cell service, bought water and ice, our guests went to a neighbor's house and called demanding that I come over immediately with water, ice and coolers. I would have except I was on a plane at the time and did not get their messages for 2 hours. 

As soon as I did get the message, I called the utility, found out the power would be on in 2 hours and relayed that information to my neighbor and also sent the guests text messages. I later wrote a long note to the guests explaining the situation. The next day I drove 2 hours to drop off a basket with wine, flowers and gifts for their young children. 

The guests are now insisting I give them a free night and threatening to write a bad review. I told them I would be part of me feels like this is extortion. What would you do? 

Thank you, L

[Branka-and-Silvia0]

what's wrong with people today?

I surely would not drive 2 hours to bring them anything they could buy themselves nearby.

Any threat with a revenge review is extortion and if you have it in writing on ABB platform  it will help you to get the review removed

If they were without electricity for 5 hours, it is 1/5th of the day so 20-25% of the nightly fee would be the max I would refund them...but only if they would ask politely

[Debra300 · Accepted solution]

@Lisa1980,

You have some very nice rental spaces.  I know you want to provide good guest relations and maintain your high rating, but I think that you went above and beyond what was necessary when you provided the treats.  I'd follow up to them via the Airbnb message service and ask them for clarification for their refund request, and to confirm if you correctly understand what they said about the bad review.  I wouldn't reference that their comments are against the terms of service.  After the guest responds, I would contact ABB to report the attempted extortion by the guest, and request early termination of the booking regardless of the number of remaining nights. 

Our listings are in different countries, but both locations regularly have powerful storms or work performed by the utility company that results in service interruption.  As a result, we have inverter dual fuel generators, and have set them up with a quick connect socket that is wired to specific breakers in the electrical panel.  We created a simple guide with pictures so that our neighbor/property manager can easily restore to key amenities.  We also store bottled water for consumption, potable water for other uses, and a crank-arm radio so that guests can listen to weather notifications in the event there's no internet or mobile service.

We have the following written in our house rules for all listings:

- In the event of an interruption to utility service: electricity, water, Internet), guests are required to conserve energy and resources during periods when backup resources are in use. During a utility service disruption, the host will take reasonable steps to provide the utilities or resources to make the space habitable for up to 24 hours (dependent upon guest's use of resources) or until the utility service is restored, whichever comes first. This can include turning on generators to provide power to key fixtures: refrigerator, lights and electrical sockets in the living area, a portable electric cooktop, portable heaters, and drinking water and potable water if water service is disrupted. Appliances that run on 240v: AC/heat pump, stove/range, and water heater, will not be available, but a two burner cooktop and space heaters will be provided, while the generator is providing electrical power.

There is an additional item for our Caribbean guesthouse:

- St. Lucia is a developing country with old and fragile infrastructure, and there are scheduled and unplanned interruptions to utility services, e.g., electricity, internet and water. It is a small island, so responses to issues regarding utilities or other services are not available 24 hours a day, and may take more than a day to resolve.

[Lisa1980]

Thank you so much Debra! That is very helpful, useful advice. I appreciate it!

[Emilia42]

@Lisa1980 

Wow, this same thing just happened to me last week. Maybe the same rain storm passing through Maine? We lost power from 3:45 pm until 7:45 pm. I had a full house (all three of my apartments were booked.) I knew it wasn't going to be too long because crews were actively working on the fallen tree/power lines. One guest wasn't around (probably out sightseeing) so I didn't even bother telling them. Another guest stuck it out at a relative's house and we updated each other by text. The third guest was totally flexible and appreciated me dropping off some candles just in case. 

There was absolutely no need for water, ice, or coolers during the 4-hour outage, let alone a refund! I'm sorry you had these types of guests. I really hate people with attitudes like this .. that is, people who think the world is over when a utility goes out for a short time.

[Ted307]

@Lisa1980 

That was a good suggestion by @Debra300 . It sounds to me like you have already agreed to give a free night to these guests. If you get a bad review from them any way, definitely try to get it removed. If they did not ask for this through the app, re-state it like @Debra300  has suggested! You could re-state what was agreed verbally.

We are in the mountains in Arizona, and just had a brief outage today due to a lightening strike near by. This can fry some electronics. We provide surge protected outlets and power strips, but sh*t happens. I think I need to update our info too!

We do provide flashlights and a battery-powered lantern, have a propane stove and heater, and since we live on site we would give our guests a cooler to use in a pinch. We have board games and battery powered old fashioned boom-box. Since we live on a main road with power lines which service a large area we get our power back pretty fast when it does go out. Five hours sounds like not too long of an outage for a rural area to me!

[Sudsrung0]

I think anybody who lives on an island gets used to it, like we do,

Right now is monsoon season but I will admit here the government has done a great job, it's got a lot better now not as often and not as long,

The worst I can remember was 17 hours a coconut tree came down and pulled all the cables down with it, the villa that was effected the most was full with a family and they were great about it, they fully understood it can happen,

They had rented a car so could go out and down to the beach, I told them if the needed water to flush the toilets use a bucket and take water out of the pool, Job done.

No bad reviews, no moaning and no refunds.

[Lorna170]

@Lisa1980   Our properties are in the mountains of North Carolina where trees will often fall during storms and we have even taken a lightening strike to our well.  When our mountain is "out" everyone on our road is inconvenienced.  We have no control over the time that is needed to repair services but have rarely been out for more than 5-6 hours.  

I honestly wonder what guests like the ones you had would do if they were sitting in their own home without electricity?  Sue their utility company?  Cry in their warm beer?

[Mark116]

@Lisa1980  Give them the review they deserve.  Such people belong at properties that provide 24/7 service and staff, not cabins in Vermont.  I'm glad you were on a plane, because  you should never have driven over coolers and ice for something that is Out Of Your Control, especially if there is a town 2 miles away.  It would be different if the power in the cabin had failed because of faulty wiring or something, which would be your responsibilty.  Storm power outage is not your responsibility.  These people are entitled jerks and will probably give you a bad review anyway, but if you already told them you would give them a free night then you should.  But, you shouldn't have offered this for 5 hours of inconvenience, and inconveniencing yourself with an hours long drive to give these jerks a gift basket was also, as you found out, a gesture that was repaid by more demands.