Hello fellow hosts,
I’m writing to share a difficult and tragic situation I’m currently dealing with. Over the weekend, a suicide occurred at my guest house. As part of the investigation and cleanup, the police had to remove a portion of the wall to retrieve a bullet, and a biohazard cleanup team had to remove a portion of the floor. Because of this, my property is uninhabitable, and I will be unable to host for at least two weeks while I work on repairs. With the holiday I have been unable to receive a police report yet. I have however submit what I could find in the form of a press release.
An issue I’m facing along with everything else is that I have few upcoming reservations, one of which is in just a few days. I have contacted Airbnb Customer Support multiple times to explain that I cannot honor this booking due to the damage and current state of my guests house. However, these reservations remains active, and I have not received any response from Airbnb regarding canceling of the reservations. Obviously I cannot make these cancellations myself without penalties.
I’m really worried because I cannot host in these conditions, and I’m unsure how to proceed. Has anyone else faced a similar situation, or can offer advice on how to handle this? Any help would be greatly appreciated.