Guest wants to cancel due to wildfire

[Hannah1027]

Hello! 
We have the strict cancellation policy in place for our Airbnb. We have a guest who is supposed to check in tomorrow and is asking if she can cancel because there is a wildfire about 15-20 miles away from our cabin. There are no evacuation orders where our cabin is located. 

Is this something that AirCover would take care of for income loss protection? 

If not, what would you recommend in this situation? Should I give her a full refund, partial refund, or keep my strict policy in place? 

Any advice or tips in this situation is greatly appreciated! 

[Mike-And-Jane0]

@Hannah1027 no Aircover will not pay out here.

options are 

1) refund and you lose money

2) don't refund and you get money and possibly a bad review

sorry there are no good options here

[Enri1804]

@Hannah1027  I don’t know your area or the impact of wildfire near your property, but for other “natural disasters” its commonplace to only offer refund if there are local evacuation order. Based on decades of what “vacation rental” companies do, I have it written in my rules that my property is prone to weather issues, storms, and hurricane warnings and refunds are not given unless there is an evacuation order given by the town. I don’t know if this helps you, I don’t know your towns ability to keep wildfires away, but it’s your decision. Would the guest have to drive through the wildfire area to get to your home? I would look into that but then also have refund rules in place and upfront. 

[Basha0]

As I live in a fire zone of Sonoma County Ca I am ok with guests cancellations due to smoke and  or fire. Often I will tell them in advance that there is an issue. I’d rather not have to worry about them evacuating or being miserable dealing with smoke. Sometimes it’s not about the money. However, if it is 20 miles away and no smoke drift or danger educate them

[Helen744]

Hannah1027 .read the new cancellation policy first. If you have IB then you still have three get out of jail free cancellations . otherwise you must ring Airbnb if you intend to cancel and take advice . the guest can cancel but cannot expect a refund  so let them know to also ring airbnb about their cancellation first.Fear of fire may be a good enough reason but the penalty and who pays it is the issue. H