Host Extenuating Circumstance Cancellation Chronical

1

This morning I discovered an issue with my home that is causing me to have to cancel on a guest due to arrive on New Year’s Eve. This is my first experience with something like this, so I thought it might be helpful to chronical my experience for other hosts to see how it goes.

I live in a single family home and rent out two different bedroom/bathroom suites to Airbnb guests. I’ve been a super host for around 7 consecutive quarters and I think I have 94.6% 5 star reviews.

We are having an insane and prolonged cold snap where I live in the US. As of this morning, the temp is -14 F, and I discovered we’ve had water pipes burst overnight, causing, among other things, there to be no water to the bathroom the NYEve guests are booked in.

I called Air at 6:15 in the morning. Melissa answered and I told her my plight, explaining that I can’t host people in a room with no running water. She told me she’d reach out to the guests “try” to find them alternate accommodations, and that the reservation would be cancelled. I asked if this circumstance fell under the host’s extenuatiing circumstances policy and she said it did, but wanted to know what evidence I could provide to back up my story. I told her I could send her phone screen shots showing the current temp where I live, and the Special Weather Statement warning locals of the extreme low temps, as well as a video showing the faucet in the bathroom being turned on and no water coming out. Melissa very carefully made no solid promises, stating that she’d “try” to move the guests elsewhere and that my situation “should” qualify me for a penalty free cancellation.

I would rather not lose my Super Host status, as I believe it is necessary in my market. I’m worried that Air will think I simply want to go out and party on NYEve without the headache of having guests in my house.

Stay tuned to see how this unfolds.

2

I can see why a picture of you turning a faucet and no water coming out doesn’t really prove anything. You could have shut the water off yourself.

Can you send a picture of the ice all around the broken pipes and a close-up of the burst pipe?

Also be sure to get a receipt from the plumber that makes the repairs and have them write out the issue very clearly (instead of the usual mumbo-jumbo illegible description many of them write). Send a copy of that receipt to Air.

1 Like
3

Usually, the frozen pipe is behind a wall and I have never seen a frozen pipe with ice. Very hard to take a picture of that.

1 Like
4

But sooner or later the plumber will have to get in to fix it, so maybe a picture then would help a lot?

5

Similar concept problem but exact opposite circumstances summer 2016: Temps in high 90’s. High Humidity. Dead airconditioner. A copy of the repair receipt did the trick. Airbnb gave me a few days to send it (a week?). It was the height of the rental season & a holiday weekend. HOWEVER they found the guest an alternative lodging with a host who accepted Instant Book.

I feel for you about the frozen/burst pipes. You’ve got your hands full. I can understand about not wanting to lose Super Host status but it sounds like you’ve got bigger immediate concerns. -14F is achingly cold. We’ve got temps in the 20s and I think that is miserable.

6

@Chloe

I think even if you had a statement in writing from the plumber verifying the condition of the pipe problem, including the soonest it could be repaired, etc., it would suffice to support your Extenuating Circumstance…for the time being, anyway. Then submitting the eventual repair bill and payment would clinch it.

2 Likes
7

Since they refund guests on EC for any old thing (I have had it happen myself too often) it’s maddening that they cannot take a look at the temperature in your area and honor your cancellation as EC. Who can travel in that kind of weather anyway?

8

Goodness, my hands were indeed so full at the time that I completely forgot I started this thread, and I apologize for taking so long to come back with the resolution.

As it so happened, Airbnb was wonderful. They were able to find a new place for the guests, and they accepted my screenshot of the local temperature and video of no running water. Thank goodness. No auto review stating I’d cancelled and no loss of superhost status.

I suppose it’s true I could have shut the water off myself, but honestly, that thought never even occurred to me until the above poster brought it up. Therefore I’m glad Air accepted what I sent. Indeed, frozen pipes don’t work the way the same poster suggested. The pipes are inside walls, and they don’t have frozen water surrounding them even once they’re exposed.

1 Like