Does road closure qualify as extenuating circumstances?

[Quoc19]

We booked a rental in Reno for the xmas week but unfortunately, we had a major snow storm which dumped 17 ft of snow on mountain roads breaking a 50 year long record.  All highways were closed between California and Reno for several days. 

I explained to airbnb that is not the usual weather problem and it was totally outside of my control as i was physically prevented from traveling across the mountains.  Unfortunately airbnb support doesnt agree with this.  

Does anyone had a similar situation? How was it resolved? 

Many thanks

[Emiel1]

@Quoc19 

You can read what is covered here:

https://www.airbnb.com/help/article/1320/extenuating-circumstances-policy

IMO your issue is not covered by the extenuating circumstances cancellation policy,

but maybe your travel insurrance can do the job ?

[Quoc19]

Thanks @Emiel1 .  I saw that document and i thought it would qualify as natural disaster.  This is not the common condition.  In past years, we do this drive with snow chains as the worst case.  

Or we could say it might also fall under Government Change as they closed roads and prevented access.

Natural disasters. Natural disasters, acts of God, large-scale outages of essential utilities, volcanic eruptions, tsunamis, and other severe and abnormal weather events. This does not include weather or natural conditions that are common enough to be foreseeable in that location—for example, hurricanes occurring during hurricane season in Florida

[John5097]

@Quoc19 

If the roads were closed by the state or local agency it should qualify for extenuating circumstances according to Airbnb policy that I'll cite below. 

"Government travel restrictions. Travel restrictions imposed by a governmental agency that prevent or prohibit traveling to, staying at, or returning from the Listing location. This does not include non-binding travel advisories and similar government guidance."

.....

So if the roads were actually closed it would qualify. 

....  

And below that: 

"What is not covered

Everything else. This Policy only allows for cancellations for the Events described above. Everything else is excluded. Examples of situations that this Policy does not allow cancellations for include: unexpected disease, illness, or injury; government obligations like jury duty, court appearances or military duties; travel advisories or other government guidance (that fall short of a travel ban or prohibition); cancellation or rescheduling of an event for which the reservation was made; and transportation disruptions unrelated to a covered Event like road closures, as well as flight, train, bus and ferry cancellations. If you cancel a reservation in these cases, the amount refunded will be determined by the cancellation policy that applies to the reservation."

This also says, road closures are a "covered event" 

.......

You can google I80 road closure and find news articles that I80 was closed during potions of this time. And to a link to the a government agency  Caltrians District 3 Twitter feed where you could scroll down to the dates in question and if the roads I80 was closed by government agency on your travel dates. It appears they were closed on and off and was closed to all but essential travel for most of the holiday week. 

https://twitter.com/CaltransDist3

Hope this helps and glad you didn't risk driving into that. 

[John5097]

PS.. If Airbnb just stuck to their Extenuating Circumstance Policy its not a problem for host. Its really worse when guest get out of cancelation policy for no reason at all. Host could also strongly reccomened travel insurance. There were massive power outages. I'm somewhat familiar with this area AKA Donner Pass. It a difficult situation but other host have granted cancelation for road closures in the NW. But I'm just stating the cancelation policy and what it appears to state. Maybe CS are assuming it was just an advisory? 

[Quoc19]

Thanks @John5097 I did articulate the severity of the snowstorm and provided many links to the support team.  This was all over the news and it is unheard of that i-80 were closed for many days. Not sure if they took the time to read the articles linked.

Regarding this condition you highlighted "and transportation disruptions unrelated to a covered Event like road closures", I have a hard time understanding it. It's not clear to me what "unrelated" refers to.

[John5097]

@Quoc19 

It's likely they didn't read anything espically a link. You are also correct that you would want to simplify and make things very clear. The EC policy says guest should have proper documents to support this, so I don't think just a link to a news article would suffice. You might have better luck escalating the case and have a copy of a government document CS agent could easily connect to the same location, county, etc. Make it easy for them to understand as they are likely in another part of the world.

Yes the EC policy highlighted should be more clear for everyone to understand especially the Airbnb Customer Service.  So a more clear way to say it would be "Only road closures are covered under EC and other transportation disruptions are not." 

Although as mentioned for best results you would need to precent very easy to follow government documents that would easily be connected to the county and address of the place you tried to book. 

Once again I just feel its important to follow the same policy for everyone and just stick to it. 

Also when I was traveling in the area I was told by locals that I80 was never closed. I think I read just now there were 300 snow plows. I was also told its the only crossing in the Sierra Navadas that's kept open but this was a while ago. I know I've crossed there during winter so as not to get trapped on other roads that are buried. I'm not from there but would imagine its been a very long time since it was closed that long. 

I'm also in hurricane prone area which gets tricky.

Also you would be dealing with CS on this one as they are the only ones who can decide on the situation. 

If its extremely dangerous state of emergency I don't want guest risking their lives. But then again my local, state and federal government has let me stay open and haven't had any problems in past 2 years so don't mind a few extreme weather related cancelations. 

Good luck!  

[Quoc19]

Thanks @John5097 very helpful tip.

I watched the road conditions and even on the second day of our booking, road were still closed. I even checked the webcams along the donner pass and no vehicle were on the road for that 70 miles stretch. The snow plows were only brought in a day later when it stopped snowing.

[John5097]

@Quoc19 

Good point this does seem like an extreme weather event, record breaking snow since 1970, and no one at all could drive for first two days of reservation. 

Here is a link on Trip Advisor discussing access to the area which seems very unique. 

https://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowTopic-g155987-i338-k3246539-Driving_on_I_80_in_California_in_January...

I'm not sure why more host and Airbnb don't suggest or offer travel insurance especially for situation like this. 

The EC does seem to say road closers by the government is covered. Every day host here are frustrated with CS and every day claim they don't fully understand the ABB policy and have to point it out to them. 

You seem like you have acted in good faith and communicated tried to work things out with the host, so I'm not going to make assumptions, and of course no one here has access to all the specific info between you and host, so leave that up to you. 

You may just get to a point where its no longer worth time and effort, but I'm convinced you are the kind of person who learn and benefit in the long run.  

 

[John5097]

@Quoc19 

I'm not sure if CS or other host are aware that this was also declared state of emergency by the governor. 

You might make a copy and screen shot from governors office and link. 

Here is one from a news outlet. I don't think some of the others here are appreciating how exreme this was. 

https://www.msn.com/en-us/weather/topstories/live-updates-sisolak-declares-state-of-emergency-traffi...

"Traffic into and out of the city of South Lake Tahoe area ground to a halt Tuesday night, prompting Nev. Gov. Steve Sisolak to declare a state of emergency for the area.

The emergency declaration allows state officials to order cars on those highways to turn around and head back into Western Nevada until weather conditions subside and the roads are safe, according to the governor’s office. The goal is to prevent motorists from becoming stranded overnight on the roadways, potentially running out of gas in subfreezing temperatures without access to emergency services."  

Also: 

"Hundreds of cars piled up on the road over the weekend, eventually driving CHP to post “STOP TRYING TO USE THE BACKROADS TO GET TO NEVADA!” on social media."

.......

PS.. and Gov Newsome also declared state of emergency for Cali. 

https://sacramento.cbslocal.com/video/6180005-gov-newsom-declares-state-of-emergency-for-nearly-2-do...

[Quoc19]

That's right @John5097. Both CA and NV declared state of emergency.  I gave them several links like this https://www.gov.ca.gov/2021/12/30/governor-newsom-issues-emergency-proclamation-to-support-counties-... but again I can't force CS to read and try to understand what happened.  They aren't even giving me a justification of why it is not considered EC nor asking for supporting proofs.  

I saw in another thread a host reported airbnb granted EC to their guest who also canceled due to this same snowstorm.  So it appears it depends on the competence and mood of the CS.

[John5097]

@Quoc19 I think you have handled all of this really well which is the best you can do and sets a good example for anyone, as we all find ourselves in some situation like this. It also seems to be mood here at the community forums. There is a lot of history to the EC. Namely in the past cancelation policy wasn't honored for beginning of covid, for example, so host have to be very vigilant to maintain some kind of policy. I can only interpret what I read, and don't know what CS is going by. ABB did cut CS down and outsource in past two years although I've had good experience with them. 

As you mentioned this seems to be grey area. As I mentioned I'm in a hurricane prone area, so it gets to be tricky at times. 

Even now it seems mind boggling that the area can get 30 feet of snow a year. 

I wonder if anyone is trapped up there. As Gov Newsom said it could take weeks to restore power? 

I would imagine that some or most CS just considers any disruption to driving such as rain or snow not covered by EC. But that a declared state of emergency would be covered. 

On a different note in the past couple of days I've had several cancellations due to flights being canceled and one that was within the cancelation window but didn't give a reason and didn't request refund. If I can rebook I'll refund them. So each host is different and each listing is different. 

You seem to handle situations like this better than I and most would have. In the end, this can be the nature of using booking site and more often host have to deal with challenging situations.

[John5097]

@Quoc19 It may be that CS are also overwhelmed at the time with the massive surge in recent flight cancellations from omicrom surge. 

I've had several and for whatever reason I just don't feel like communicating with guest after they cancel. Im part because I'm rescheduling my calendar to improve changes of rebooking and that's tricky to explain, or I'm just used to guest just not responding, or seems like best they can do is book some place else next time.  

[Quoc19]

@John5097 to my knowledge, thankfully it appears the worst is over.  The power outage is still unresolved for 90,000 residents, but most roads were reopened on 12/31 allowing people to leave the area if they wanted to.  Of course, many residents have nowhere else to go and are still there without power in freezing temperatures.

Driving condition is still hazardous. Some days are clear, some days have low visibility with wind blowing at 45mph.

This was no ordinary road closure.  Thousands of cars were trapped over the mountains and people were forced to sleep in their cars overnight.  Many ran out of fuel, food, and water.  This storm hit during the busiest week which made the matter worse.

[Anonymous]

@Quoc19  Are you aware that it's your host, rather than Airbnb, who had to absorb the loss when Extenuating Circumstances are invoked?

In your case, sounds like the weather conditions did not affect the destination itself but rather your ability to reach it with your chosen mode of transport. That's not an Extenuating circumstance, so much as a situation where a claim on your travel insurance would be the appropriate course of action. Hosts are in no position to act as guest's de facto insurers.