How to handle a review after guest passed away?

Catherine2614
Level 2
Penzance, United Kingdom

How to handle a review after guest passed away?

We had a family of 5 stay last week. The final evening the grandfather had a heart attack in the house and very sadly passed away that night. 

The guests did leave the following morning but the house needed lots of extra cleaning - stained carpets, sofa and ruined bedding. Given the tragic circumstances we wouldn’t consider charging for extra cleaning costs.  

But ….. Airbnb keeps asking me to submit a review. What do I say???  Am I penalised if I don’t review a guest. If I do submit one, what on earth can I say. 

Thanks for reading and interested to hear your thoughts

Catherine 

 

**[Title updated by Community Manager] 

25 Replies 25

@Richard531 If the individual died in my home, yes I would want to know, strictly from a liability standpoint. Some states do require that you report a death in the home and its disclosed during any sale of the property. But I agree with you if the guest died in a hospital during the stay or passed away during some other activity that was included in the stay. 

 

I tend to be very suspicious when strangers/customers/guests overshare as 9 times out of 10 it leads to some request for a discount, special leniency, or some other favor. If it happened to me that an elderly relative passed during travel and it affected my ability to do something with my hotel or Airbnb I would only say that we had a family emergency.

 

In fact, I am working on a house that I may do a LTR on, and recently posted a few pics on a neighborhood forum to gauge interest in rental. I got several reasonable responses and one that was paragraphs long detailing a husband leaving, a single mom with nowhere to go, young kids etc. I have stated when I am setting up appointments to view, and the ONLY person who can't seem to follow instructions is Ms. Sob Story who regales me with more and more details from her unfortunate situation. I am very much on my guard.

Fred13
Level 10
Placencia, Belize

How is the body going to be sneaked out without the host knowing about it? Specially in my case, since I pick up my guests from an island in a boat; the fact the deceased will inevitably turn out to be such a poor conversationalist would definitely give him away.

Catherine2614
Level 2
Penzance, United Kingdom

We have cctv outside so would know something was up if we checked it and saw an ambulance.

Clara116
Level 10
Pensacola, FL

@Catherine2614  Really sorry this happened and I'm sure it was distressing for you also.  I'm actually surprised we don't read about more of this since so many folks travel. In Florida when someone passes away/dies they have to investigate it esp. if its at a home. they have to rule out foul play. 

It wasn't clear if he died at your Airbnb or in the hospital? Also, usually with heart attacks there's not a lot of mess made. If the guests made a big mess just in general I'd make sure to file a claim through AirCover....the guests are now covered and under the circumstances you should not be out for extra anything. You are kind indeed. Blessings, Clara

Thank you. 
yes in the Uk there has to be a post mortem if someone dies at home. 

Yes he sadly died in the Airbnb. The mess is immaterial but there was mess - we were too shocked to take photos, just got on with the cleaning ready for guests arriving that day. 

Quincy
Community Manager
Community Manager
London, United Kingdom

@Catherine2614 very sorry to hear that this has happened. I hope you're ok. I could see that you did contact the team about this, however, I've flagged this to them again just to ensure that this is looked after. 

-----

 

Please follow the Community Guidelines // Volg de communityrichtlijnen

Catherine2614
Level 2
Penzance, United Kingdom

Ok thank you. 

Clara116
Level 10
Pensacola, FL

@Richard531 One final thought to you - when you have experienced deaths you might quickly learn that the last thing you want to be is private, keep it from everyone, non of their business, cause it is an event we will all encounter and typically we will also experience the death of other loved ones along the way. And when we think we can control the situation, the responses, reactions and outcomes and changes that are sure to occur after the death of people in our lives that we love and care about.....hold on, get ready cause it's never what you imagine it to be. The hardest aspect of life, yet the most natural event in life and it will be different each time with each person.  If you see how people gather/group/hold on to others during this time you'll also see although its private it isn't so private. We often learn the most about who we are from  when others die that have impacted our lives... you'll see. I hope it takes awhile before the big lessons begin Richard.  

I write this with only heartfelt truth intended seriously. I do hope you understand.

Blessings, Clara

John1563
Level 2
Waikato, New Zealand

Hi, I was searching for a response in here regarding writing a review for someone who passed away whilst staying in Airbnb.  My understanding is that your Superhost status is compromised if you don't leave a review? 

Anyway we had someone pass away in our Airbnb last night.  He was here on a trip with his son, and died in his sleep.  Our Airbnb is a detached apartment behind our house so we were on site.  We had  to comfort the son who obviously was quite traumatised and he didnt know what to do.  We called an ambulance (not really necessary as he has been dead for some hours), then we called the police who have to certify someone is dead and confirm there are no suspicious circumstances (thats the law and we are in New Zealand).  Then we called the undertaker in, who is a family friend, to take the body.  The whole process took about 4 hours.  Its caused a lot of gossip with the neighbours!  

Anyway, Im not sure what to put on the comment either, maybe I'll put a full stop to keep my 100% response, and nothing else.  

@John1563 Whether or not you leave a review is irrelevant to your status as a Superhost.  If the guest who died booked the apartment I suspect he won't really care what review you leave. If the son booked the apartment then leaving a fair (presumably positive as he did nothing wrong) review seems the decent thing to do. 

Jenny
Community Manager
Community Manager
Galashiels, United Kingdom

Hi @John1563 

What a sad situation to happen.  I'm sure it'll be of comfort to the son that he did not have to deal with that on his own.

I think @Mike-And-Jane0 has given good, appropriate advice about how to handle the review side of things.

Jenny

-----

 

Please follow the Community Guidelines