host cancellation due to hurricane irma

Deborah275
Level 2
Sonoma, CA

host cancellation due to hurricane irma

On the request of my guest, and the instructions from Airbnb, I cancelled an upcoming reservation because of the hurricane. While the guest gets a refund, clearly the host does not. In addition, the cancelled weekend is blocked on the calendar and I can't seem to get it unblocked. 

 

I am not happy about the lost income and the inability to unblock the weekend so another reservation could be possible. I think Airbnb should protect its hosts as well as the guests in a natural disaster. 

 

 

4 Replies 4

@Deborah275:
As you have learned the hard way, ALWAYS have the guest cancel. If your guest requested the cancellation it should have been put back on them to ckick the cancel button. As hosts we want to try to help our guests and do the best we can for them, but this is one of those things that Airbnb will get you on every time.

We had the problem due to hurricane Irma, Jose and Maria that our electricity and internet was off for about a week. (We were really lucky) I could not respond to the rental request because the 24 hours had expired. I have tried many times to get in touch with the quest but to no avail. Does anybody understand in AIRBNB the problems of living on a small island in the Caribbean ? Let alone know where St.Kitts/Nevis is.

Maria519
Level 2
Miami, FL

Same thing happened to me. I rent a cottage and we lost power during the hurricane. So, I offered the guest to stay at the other property I listed on Airbnb which had full power, is bigger, comfortable and beatiful. This guest was a whining creature, **bleep** and difficult. He decided to leave and filed a claim with Airbnb. I responded that I am not in control of natural disasters, nor in control of FPL, that I had provided him with accomodation when we lost power, so I did not cancel his reservation, and that there was absolutely no reason why the guest should be refunded. Airbnb showed no interest in assisting me and refunded the guest $ 800.00, explaining that these were " unforseen circumstances" for the guest. I immidately wrote them back saying that these "unforseen circunstances applied to me as a host". On top of that, I had been laid off during the hurricane. THOSE ARE REALLY UNFORSEEN CIRCUMSTANCES. However, Airbnb showed no interest in assisting me and refunded the guest $ 800.00. I received no income for the next 4 bookings.

Airbnb has always been just, but on this instance I could have sued them. But, I had more important things to do.

I am still in a shock about the treatment I received from Airbnb when in fact, the only person who had suffered a severe loss was me.

 

I finally called Airbnb for the fourth time and they gave me a credit of $250.  But I still had to pay the guest $800.00

 

An awful experience

 

Maria

 

It’s unfortunate, but no host (regardless of their cancellation policy) should ever consider abb income to be guaranteed. Abb could grant an extenuating circumstance cancellation, guest could stay for entire visit but then complain about some issue (real or imagined), there are several scenarios under which a host could end up with nothing with no recourse. This is the reality of this service.