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Hi fellow hosts, longtime host here (since 2018) with a backcountry cabin in Colorado, USA. The hosts who have been on this forum a few years know that my cabin has given me major heartaches and major moments of joy. I’m completely off-grid (solar, propane, wood, well) and cater to guests who come from very hot, nearby states like Texas and Arizona. They pay more than I would ever pay per night, but the cabin is more or less a luxury cabin and I provide many amenities.
My most recent challenge started a month and a half ago when I tried to turn on the water after winterizing. Basically, my well is under-producing. While this would not be an issue for me, it’s obviously a major issue for guests. In fact, I don’t think it’s legal to host guests without running water. The well and drilling companies in the area are completely booked months - if not a year - in advance, so it’s unlikely I’ll have this situation fixed anytime soon. I have some guests coming this weekend who know exactly what’s going on and are willing to work with me to make the water situation functional. I refunded them a good part of their nightly rate. I blocked the rest of June once I discovered the problem but my next reservation is June 20th and then I have 6 other reservations this summer. I’ve been narrowing the rental season each year, but my last reservation will be arriving late August.
So my question is: What is the best way to handle this with AirBnB? I have many years of experience managing the off-grid cabin glitches with guests. I think I’ve become almost a master of guest service/diplomacy because I’ve somehow managed to have all 5 star reviews and am in the top 1% of homes. Truly a miracle given the hiccups I’ve had to deal with! Ha ha. I’m pretty confident in how to handle this latest issue with guests, although it is honestly heartbreaking to have call up people and tell them this news. But with AirBnB, what is the best way to disclose this situation and work with them to cancel the bookings? Should I cancel them all now or cancel the upcoming ones now and wait to see what happens with the well as the summer progresses? Does anyone have any words of caution? I doubt I’ll be renting the cabin again in the future since it’s been in my plans a long time to “retire.” Plus, in the event that I do want to rent again, I could always use VRBO as my sole booking agent, but obviously I want to minimize any penalties or otherwise negative implications with AirBnB.
Okay thanks for the advice and wish me luck - I’m a gonna need it! Lol
Maybe you don’t need to raise it with Airbnb especially - the bookings are still a way out so talking to the guests directly might resolve the bookings: some guests might want to chance it at a reduced rate whilst others might opt to cancel outright and find somewhere else whilst they still can. I think you would only need to flag the problem with Airbnb if you are actively making the cancellations as host, and one would hope that the fact of ‘beyond your control’ uninhabitable accommodation should be a mitigating factor in any host cancellation penalty.
Helpful thanks @Lizardsinthekitchen! I do feel like I’m pretty far out and will definitely give the guests different options (help rebooking with property management companies I know in town, reduced rate if they opt for the “rustic” stay, maybe a change in dates although I’m not sure I want to promise that at this point). A part of me hopes that they’ll decide to cancel, but I’m not sure the cancellation should be on them? Are guests dinged if they cancel? Anyhow, thanks again for your tips!
I’m pretty sure there is no penalty for guests who cancel a booking and they don’t even need to specify a reason. The only issue that might put them off doing so is if they are worried they won’t be refunded in full - but as host, you can override the refund offered by Airbnb after the cancellation comes through to ensure they do get a full refund including all fees…
@COCabin This may be a non-starter, since you say you are planning to stop hosting, but would it be possible to get a large water tank, and get a water truck delivery to fill it? (I have no idea if such a thing exists in your area)
I was thinking the same thing. It might be rather costly, though, by the time the tank is connected to the water system.
Someone in our local host group just posted about water shortages this morning (intermittent supply from the water company). Since you say your well is “underperforming” and not completely dry, these ideas might help keep the rest of your bookings.
Their suggestion was portable showers (5 gallon shower) and the guest can boil water in a kettle and add it to the bucket for warmer water.
For toilet flushing, rain barrels to collect water to flush toilets and store it in 4-liter jugs. Overall water supply is in 7 gallon jugs that they fill when they have water.
It’s not exactly what the guests signed up for, but I’m sure you have it in your listing that you are completely off the grid so many of the upcoming guests might be ok “roughing it” as long as they have water.
Yes! I’m looking into that but it will probably be at least $7k on top of the new or repaired well so it doesn’t really work out budget-wise. It would definitely be worth it if I decided to keep hosting!
And @PitonView yes thank you! I actually have a river right in my back yard and can leave some buckets of water for flushing and of course drinking water in gallon jugs. And I actually have a solar shower I bought a year or so ago. I hadn’t thought of that! Of course the water probably lasts about 1 minute with its small size but it’s worth putting out for them. Personally, I’ve become a huge fan of polar dips in the river. I started in the middle of winter with ice chunks floating by (yikes) but my tolerance for cold water has skyrocketed. Ha! Thanks for those tips!
Maybe a pump from the river would be a possibility?
As far as drinking water goes, have you ever heard of a Berkey water filter? Where I live in Mexico, the tap water isn’t safe to drink, so people either buy those 5 gallon jugs of drinking water, or have undersink or whole house water filters. I used to have to deal with those huge jugs, but bought a Berkey a few years ago. They come in various sizes, sit on the kitchen counter, and are stainless steel, so they are attractive. You just pour tap water (or river water, rain water, whatever) in the top section, and it slowly filters down through 2 large charcoal filters. It removes 99.99 % of dangerous pathogens, but not the good minerals.
The filters cost a couple hundred bucks to replace, but they can last up to 7 years, depending on how much they have to filter out. I’ve had my Berkey for 4 years now,and am still on the original filters. It’s one of the best purchases I ever made- I no longer have to deal with those heavy water jugs.
Also got a Berkey about 4 years ago, too many chemicals in water that I didn’t want to drink after having the best water from a well in the Pacific Northwest.
I had a similar issue with a hurricane that hit my area and the backyard was a mess! I first contacted the incoming guests and explained the situation. Many decided to come anyway and I gave them a discount. The others I contacted Airbnb to cancel their reservation without penalties. I simply submitted pictures of the muddy backyard with the fence destroyed and pieces everywhere.
How would you demonstrate you don’t have adequate water supply, though? I guess you’d have to video yourself going around the property and turning each faucet on all the way to show only a trickle is coming out.
I suppose you can’t. From previous host’s experiences what guests try to push through as an “inconvenience” or “false advertising” it’s probably just a question whether Airbnb would side with a guest and just try to make them happy to shut them up.
While many people would show a certain amount of understanding for such a situation, I think it’s just a responsible host’s thinking to provide the best possible experience for their guests.
I would think that communication is key and inform all future guests about the situation. Let them decide whether they want to deal with it or not. Some won’t have a problem with it others might decide to cancel the booking, and for those who cancel outside of the reimbursement window, I would try to make them whole, just to maintain a positive image. Given, that this wouldn’t financially ruin the host, of course.
I was thinking the same thing. Many people living in my area don’t have municipal water or wells, & either haul their own water or have it delivered. It would certainly be worth checking into, & this scenario might be doable, at least in the short term.
Thanks everyone. I’m impressed by these ideas - it’s like you all have been living off grid for years!
@muddy pumping water from the river would be nice but it’s technically not legal in these parts (plus my property line stops a bit short so I’d be on Forest Service land). And yes about the Berkey! I borrowed my friends’ Berkey a couple of years ago and loved it. Do you find that you have to clean it a lot to prevent mildew? Or any other maintenance needed besides filter replacement, which sounds like it’s practically a non-issue?
@Ritz3 thanks for the “case study!” I’ve already started to contact guests and had an idea to come up with a “guest experience box” with compostable plates and cups, wipes, Purell, solar showers, etc.
@mollimac and @Hosterer I have the invoice/receipt from the well company’s diagnosis and am sure I could get a statement from the company saying I have an under producing well (or better yet - lack of water). I think I’ll ask for that now so I have it on hand.
It did cross my mind that it might not be legal to pump water from the river.
Where did you get mildew in the Berkey? I live in a hot humid area and have never had that issue. But I have the "“Travel size” Berkey, which only holds 5 liters of water, so it gets refilled every day or two- the same water isn’t sitting in there for long. As far as maintenance is concerned, you are supposed to remove the filters and scrub them with soap and water occasionally. I neglected doing that for the first year, and as my water has a high calcium content, it built up on the outside of the filters, and the water was taking forever to filter through. Scrubbing them did little to remove the mineral build-up, so I researched online and a couple of people said they had had the same problem.
Although Berkey cautions against using anything but soap and water, one woman said they ended up soaking the filters in vinegar for a few hours and they came clean. So I tried that and it worked. And I clean them more regularly now so haven’t had to do the vinegar soak again.
And while Berkey doesn’t mention doing so, having had a drinking water container before (not a filter unit, just a container to pour the jug water into), I found out that those plastic spigots can definitely get moldy inside- I had taken the little pull tab section off mine, because the spigot seemed to be clogged, and there was black, red, and green mold in it! So gross.
Berkey is actually in a court battle presently with the FDA which may take years to resolve. The FDA is insisting that Berkey filters be classified as a pesticide because they filter out bacteria and amoebas. And the pesticide designation would carry all sorts of regulations. It’s ridiculous- they are just charcoal filters, not some poisonous pesticide.
So Berkey is blocked from selling their own filters until the case is resolved, but they have a link to order the same kind of filters from a company in the UK that fit the Berkeys.
Actually I didn’t get mildew but I noticed (probably imagined) that the water had a bit of a weird smell when the water had sat for a long time. And thank you for the tip about the water jug pumps! I was wondering this exact thing and talked to my nephew about his pump. He said he hadn’t noticed any mildew but it’s relatively new and he might not be as vigilant as you or I might be. lol
Thank you @Ritz3! First the AirBnB resolution: I’ve called one other guest so far and she decided to cancel since it’s a big family affair. They got a 50% refund but I called AirBnB and asked that they refund the full amount and they actually thanked me for being such a “considerate” host. Ha! Little do they know… I’m not sure what will happen if I call a dozen times requesting full refunds but we’ll see. For now, no impact to my super host status or other penalties.
Meanwhile on the water front, the well guy miraculously made it to the cabin today and while it’s complicated and messy on the well front, he’s going to install an 1800 gallon cistern that will cost some money but provide a lot more security. And probably add a little value to the property even though I’d still like to get a well running and not have to haul water. Especially since there’s 5+ feet of snow on the road in the winter. So you all gave very good advice on a few fronts. Thanks again. Hopefully no one else has to read this thread due to a stressful and major disruptive event!
I was actually referring to the little faucets that the water comes out of on Berkeys and other water dispensers, but those long plastic tube pumps for the jugs could easily get the same mold issue.
