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We are hosting our first hurricane evacuee - at least that’s what the guest says. We are 1,100 miles from Florida and we haven’t listed our place for free for disaster evacuees - doesn’t seem to make sense this far away. Plus we’re pretty booked, so not sure how feasible it would be. Guest hasn’t asked for any kind of discount, but I wanted to ask what are people’s thoughts on the etiquette of hosting guests who claim to be evacuees. Do we offer our place for free? Or is it business as usual?
BTW, guest made same-day, instant booking, so I didn’t have much time to think about this. They arrive in about an hour (still need to make the beds).
I tried searching the forum but haven’t found anything related. Thanks!
My thought is that if you’re flying 1000 miles to flee a hurricane, you decided that it was the perfect time for a vacation. Full price with verbal sympathies given.
Now that we’ve met, money doesn’t seem to be an issue. Airfare was only $80 apparently. She’s turned it into a quasi-business trip. She’s more concerned about the state of her home she returns.
The consensus is that it’s a worthless program anyway. The benefits of sharing a drink with a guest far outweigh the dangers of compromising your host guarantee.
No providing the drinks, not no drinking. If you want to provide drinks you’ll have to offer an “Experience.” There are plenty of alcohol themed ones so they must have two sets of rules.
Read the fine print on the host guarantee. I could have technically been denied on the host guarantee for the awful party girl Jennifer because I stupidly left half a fifth of vodka in the freezer. I think sharing drinks is okay but not leaving wine and such.
About hosting a Florida evacuee: It is off season so low rates right now at my South Carolina beach condo. (I didn’t discount for the evacuation since already low) I’ve got guests from Miami. They drove 800 miles. Their GPS indicated a 3pm arrival. Due to traffic they arrived 6 hours late. I’m a little concerned about their check out because after Hurricane Matthew, sections of I-95 were flooded and for about a week so these good folks may not be able to return for several days or more after Irma. The unit is booked next weekend. We willl cross that bridge when we get to it.
Last year after Matthew, a flooded out family rented from me for 2-weeks. I discounted it to be just enough to pay the bills.
My guest arriving today just made it out of Tampa. She is meeting her daughter, arriving from California, in the Catskills for a wedding. We are both assuming she will be staying three nights past the original reservation and that’s okay. I will not be charging her for the other nights. After that I do need to honor another reservation.
@catskillsGrrl. I truly appreciate your willlingness to accommodate her at a no fee rate for a few extra days related to Irma. I would do that if I could. Unfortunately I rely on my rental to pay the bills for the condo & for my income. During times of hardship, I will reduce my rate to be “bill coverage only”.
I’m reluctant to list on the Airbnb disaster housing website because I’m not in a position to do $0 cost. Does anyone know if there is a way to do a “super discounted rate” on the disaster housing site?
I grew up in So Florida and MANY of my friends have gone to NC or SC just to avoid any possibility of the storm and to get as far as way as possible. You have to realize up until about 24 hours ago South Florida was predicted to get hit Catastrophically, so people just fled, which is RARE for FL natives to do. We kinda like our Hurricane Parties…
