Force majeure, political and economic unrest in country of destination

[Michael29]

Hi AirBnB + fellow hosts,

I'm a host in Nepal and as you may know the political situation between Nepal and India has turned into a full blown crisis. Nepal is on its knees from being cut off from petrol, gas, medical supplies and other necessities. Nepal has never been a stable country when it comes to what we most take for granted in the first place (electricty, running water, etc.)

This is affecting my listings to a degree that makes it hard for me to provide basic amenities like hot water (which is already more than most Nepalis have) and heat during the winter. 

A lot of people coming to Nepal come to help, currently with rebuilding after the devasting earthquake in April. Another group of people are tourists, coming to vist the mystical Himalayas.

Anyway I'm faced with a situation I don't know how to handle and I'm seeking your advice. I have a couple of guests that have only just arrived. I have been communicating with them prior to booking and arriving. They were very aware of the situation in Nepal. I'm sure they'd thought it through and decided to push through with their one-week visist. I've also weighed in and I encouraged them to come as we were able to solve one of the problems. But in the last couple of days the situation has deteriorated and new graver problems have arisen.

The situation at the moment is that the goverment is supplying almost no electricty, meaning barely any hot water (no sun either to heat it), the backup batteries wont be able to recharge from the lack of electricty. This means little or no internet and light. 

We have fireplaces in our flats, but we've had a problem with the chimneys. The problem cannot be fixed for the same reasons as above. This leaves the flats cold during winter.

I'm being asked to resolve these issues by the guests that have now already moved in. I feel a mounting pressure to go and source for supplies (gas, petrol for transport, etc.) in the black market--which would involve more money and does not necesarily guarantee a steady supply. The situation is definitely beyond my control now as there is hardly any electricity anymore. And to resolve such issues may even take time (more than a week just to solve one supply problem sometimes), as things in Nepal move at a snail's pace.

I've already notified incoming guests of the dire situation in the country and have given them the option of canceling.

So my question is, how does Airbnb support hosts who have to deal with existing guests who have already been informed beforehand about the situation and are still generally unhappy about the political and economic instability in Nepal and seem to expect me to resolve things that are getting beyond my control? I feel sorry for them but at the same time I feel that they should have been prepared to live in Nepal under such circumstances--given that I have not failed in informing them of the situation and the growing lack of modern facilities and amenties. 

[Linda0]

At this point safety is the most important thing so don't do anything that will put you and your guests in jeopardy by trying to barter on the black market. Notify Airbnb about the extenuating circumstances that you face and let them contact the guest to see if they want to be moved. It sounds like anywhere they go they will face the same thing unless they go to hotel.

Stay safe!

[Michael29]

Thanks everyone for your responses. I really appriciate your feedback and that you took the time to respond.

@Linda0, it is likely they'll experince the same thing at a hotel as well.

The guests staying now are actually not there to work, but on vacation. Despite that, they've been informed of the situation for more than a month and they've themselves looked into it. 

That said I have a "working guests" as well and they are suffering in their work and often they postpone it, but still they expect from me to solve all problems in the same environment. 

[Deb0]

Michael,

That sounds like a very difficult situation. I think you are doing your part by making the situation crystal clear to guests and giving them the option to cancel. All you can do is reiterate the lack of basic supplies and leave the decision up to them. Once they arrive they are responsible for themselves. If you keep all messaging in the Airbnb thread it will help support your case if needed later. 

It sounds like such a stressful situation. Hopefully your guests will be supportive and won't add to the problem. If you need to cancel, call Airbnb and I'm sure they can facilitate it without penalty due to the situation. Please keep us updated, we'll be wondering about how things progress with your guests and with the general situation in #Nepal.

I hope things improve quickly for you and all of Nepal. It must be very difficult to have this crisis so soon after the earthquake. And in winter... 

Take care,

Deb

[Michael29]

Thanks everyone for your responses. I really appriciate your feedback and that you took the time to respond.

@Deb0, I was reiterrating the lack of basic necessities and informed them as new problems arose, but then as they moved in (or while they were inflight) new problems arose. Basically nepal always have scheduled power cuts, called load-shedding, to save on energy (sold to India). But at the moment the power cut became so servere that backup batteries could not even be charged and water could not be heated (the sun is too weak this time of year to heat by itself).

I've given up on help from AirBnB when it comes to cancelling. I've been punished twice because a fluke in their system. When I tried to contact them, they wouldn't do anything about it, this my score is down from 100%. 

[Linda0]

Although your guest came there to help they obviously were not prepared to work in this type of environment to help others after all and have become burdensome. Good luck.

[Deborah0]

@Michael29

I am moved by your plight and your description of such a difficult situation.  Best wishes to you in resolving these things in the most harmonious way possible, on this day, Christmas Day here in the USA.  Linda and Deb have given excellent advice.  It does seem that what you face is a national crisis and that your guests would have a similar problem regardless where they went, so this point should continue to be made as you work with AIrbnb.