Refund for power outage?

[Pete69]

Thankfully I haven't yet activate my listing because we had a power outage in my area from 2 AM to 11 AM. This had me thinking what if this happened when a guest was staying.

Would you issue a full or partial refund?

What if there was a moderate outage of just one or two hours? Knock off 10%?

[Grant327]

Question.  If you booked a hotel and the hotel lost power for an extended period of time what would you do then

[Sophia]

Hello @Grant327 I came across your comment on an inactive old thread. I’d highly recommend that you create a new discussion with your question, this way more hosts can see your post and share their thoughts 😎

Feel free to create a new post here ✍🏼 I’m sure fellow hosts have plenty of advice to share. 

If you need any help, please feel free to mention me by tagging. This ensures I  get a notification of your message. You can do this by using the @ symbol and selecting my name  from the drop-down menu 😊

[Debra300]

@Sophia,

Things have changed in the 5 years since this thread was initiated, you could share that Airbnb now has a formal policy regarding Rebooking and Relocations: https://www.airbnb.com/help/article/2868. and emphasize that hosts and guests should review and bookmark the Airbnb Help Center: https://www.airbnb.com/help.  It is written in simplified language and is a great resource for Airbnb users to final formal policies.

@Grant327 

[Grant327]

I appreciate your response. 

Flip the coin. Why should the the guest take the hit for something out of their control?

[Grant327]

My intuition tells me that if this was flipped and you where guest of a hotel that had a power outage for an extended period of time I don't think you would say hotel is in the right not to do anything and it's on me for not getting travel insurance.

Just.my intuition though.

[Rona16]

I'd be interested to hear hosts opinions of this scenario  currently hāppening in Manhattan NY

Airbnb booked for 4 nights

First night fine

Second day and night no power

Host unable to be contacted

Airbnb support crew assured it would be sorted

Third day /night fridge food spoiled, rude email received from host, airbnb contacted again with refund offer of 50% for  affected days

Now going into day four 

Is this acceptable? 

[Kevin1056]

1 day is one thing... Several days is another thing.

[Edgardo27]

We just had an experience where we had booked the Airbnb for 2 nights. The day we arrived the people that help with the house told us that the power had been gone for 24 hrs. 

We immediately got in contact with the owner, letting him know that one of hour friends (party of 7, including a 1 year old infant) needed a machine to sleep. Long story short, the power came back that same day around 7 pm when we were about to leave to another location. 

Next day, we lost power around 9 pm all the way to noon next day when we had to leave. 

My friend could not sleep, it was a remote location in Mexico, so it was sketchy not having power. Our food went bad also. 

The owner said that never happened, yet he has a HUGE solar lamp post outside. Hmmm

we asked for a 75% refund based that one full night was wasted, all of our food and no sleep for my friend. 

For all the hosts out there, what’s your opinion?

[Sarah977]

@Edgardo27  You booked 2 nights, (basically 2 24 hour periods) and you were definitely inconvenienced and lost $ for the food gone bad. One of the 7 people couldn't sleep one night. In the meantime, you did, I assume, cook there, sleep in the beds, use the towels, presumably used hot water showering, washing dishes, etc.. You asked for opinions, and I think 50% is fair. 

If the power issue had been due to the host's negligence, rather than something out of their control, then I'd say a larger refund would be reasonable. Living in Mexico myself, I can tell you that power outages happen quite often. In the US and Canada, if the power company is going to be working on the lines one day from xx hour to xx hour, they notify residents ahead of time. No such thing happens here. You just wake up to find there's no power, and make sure to open and close the fridge door quickly, and have to put off using the internet, etc.and hope the power comes on again before the milk goes bad.

The fact that there was a solar light on the power pole means nothing- lots of people use solar devices in places where the sun shines most of the time. Why use up power when you can generate it for free?

[Edgardo27]

The person that didn’t sleep paid as well. The house had a jacuzzi that we could not use either. The fact that power was gone for 24 hours prior our arrival and then gone again for 15 hours makes me think the owner knew about the problems. If he had let us know, it’s up to us if we wanted to take the risk, but he didn’t. I was born and raised in Mexico, and this place was in the middle of nowhere. You don’t install a $3000 solar lamp post unless you know you will need it. 

Thats what upsets me. He knew and said nothing upfront. 

[Sarah977]

@Edgardo27  Yes, I agree that the host had an obligation to alert you to the fact that the power had been out for 24 hours prior, definitely, giving you an opportunity to look for another place. You didn't mention the jacuzzi in your original post, which would be a big amenity loss which I'd assume is one of the reasons you booked this place. So maybe 75% is reasonable.

[Edgardo27]

Yes, we escalated with Airbnb to see what happens. I just felt bad because a couple came from the US for this trip. Thanks for your input. 

[Adi25]

well, something similar happened to me. It wasnt a power outgae but a water outage. Apparently a pipe broke in the street and the water company shut the water up to everyine so my guests who were preparing to go to a wedding couldn't shower and couldn't even go to the bathroom.

They immediately called Airbnb and they moved to a hotel. I refunded them for the night, what was I supposed to do? If I were in theor shoes I would have wanted to be refunded.

[Edgardo27]

Yes, it’s a tough situation. And I understand things like that are out of the host/hostess control. But a heads up would have been nice in my case. 

[Sarah977]

@Edgardo27  Another thing to keep in mind if you feel you deserve a refund for any reason for any accomodation- the host is much more likely to be amenable to the refund (assuming they are reasonable people)  if you, as a guest, tidied the place up before you left. If the host finds a pile of dirty dishes, filthy stove top and counters, garbage all over the place, stained bedding and towels, trash bins overflowing with dirty diapers, and food all over, they are going to feel that their extensive cleaning time balances out any inconvenience you experienced.

Nothing personal, you may be extremely respectful guests, just something all guests should keep in mind.