Emergency at a Property and SAME DAY check-in

[Brad1257]

Hello,

I had a water heater bust at one of my luxury properties this morning. I have guests coming in this evening, and I don't have any comparable listings open that I can move them to. 

Do I just need to cancel and let them figure it out? I typically try to find other accommodations but I really don't have anything else this late. 

[Joelle43]

Hello @Brad1257 

What an awful situation to find yourself in but do not cancel your end😱.   Instead call Airbnb customer service and get them to cancel penalty free since this type of situation is covered by the extenuating circumstances as per the link below that you need to read before calling.  You may be faced with someone who doesn't necessarily know about this special clause so make sure you do!

https://www.airbnb.co.uk/help/article/2022

You need to get confirmation from CS, written preferably that you will not incur any financial penalty as a result of this cancellation.

In practice, your guests should be covered by Airbnb's Air Cover policy in these type of circumstances but in practice it might be another story... This should mean that Airbnb would have to find them another accommodation with similar facilites at the same sort or price range

Best of luck Brad and do let us know how this goes,

Joëlle

[Joan2709 · Accepted solution]

@Brad1257 

You should contact Airbnb and advise that due to the water heater breaking you cannot Host them safely (have videos/pictures to show them). Then ask if they can cancel without penalty to you under valid cancellations reasons:

Cancellations - Valid Reasons Without Penalty

https://www.airbnb.com/help/article/2022

Of course, contact guest after speaking with Airbnb. Apologize and and mention you have contacted Airbnb to assist them in finding another location. 

[Elaine701]

@Brad1257 

That's happened to us before. We went down to the appliance store, bought a new one and installed it. It took about 4 hours in total. 

[Elisa]

Hi @Brad1257 😊, 

Thank you for sharing this situation here, I’m really sorry about it.

What did you end up deciding?

I’m glad to see so much support from our hosts!

Looking forward to hearing from you.