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I’ve been lurking here for ages so feel as though I ‘know’ some of you already but this is my first post. I haven’t been hosting for very long and so my first summer is coming up (hurricane season here).
So firstly, I’d love advice about what experienced hosts do when extreme weather is heading your way. Do guests generally cancel when they hear that rough weather is due? (Although I find that more often than not the media over-reacts with severe weather warnings).
Also, the apartment is about a mile from the ocean and we’ve never left when evacuation has been recommended but I can imagine a scenario where we have guests in the apartment who would panic and want to leave. If that happened, it would be great to connect with other hosts in South Florida who live more inland. If you do, I’d like to make contact so that I could direct any panicky guests who want to leave my apartment to your (safer) place. Would this work?
Any tips about dealing with Airbnb during extreme weather would be greatly appreciated — thank you!
Hi there I live in Miami, and have been hosting since December last year. It has been 10 years since we have been hit by a hurricane but dreading it when el Nina begins to come into play. What part of florida are you in? I think Lady cristina is in Kendal are well inland. I am in cutler bay but pretty close to the coast line. I think Airbnb allows cancellation for guest with no penatlies and they did a super job of rehousing guest for Super storm Sandy.
Thanks for your reply. I’m in Fort Lauderdale. I hope that the frequent bad weather warnings won’t affect our businesses this summer! It’s good to know that there are no penalties in the event of a hurricane warning. (And that’s interesting information about Sandy, too).
Let’s keep our fingers crossed for a hurricane-free season!
I love the idea that South Florida hosts can work together to benefit us all. We are sort of ‘in competition’ but I like the idea (I’m an idealist?) that Floridian hosts can work together to everyone’s benefit. I hope so, anyway!
vise versa like hurricane Charlie that did a number on the west coasts. Personally for me relocating a guest with a trusted florida host would be a number one priority for me because my guests would have a alternative plan when it would be hell in Miami and they may reconsider me again in the future. Of Course we would loose the income but I rather that then have them suffer like us and besides I don’t know about you but during a on coming hurricane I do not know how much of a great host I would be.
It would be also nice to state I know of a reliable host tat I can recommend when in crisis mode and the west coast or east coast would be flooded with relocations.
Maybe we can get a network going of Florida hosts?
Of course, another issue would be if they guests decided to stay! Our rental has strong metal hurricane shutters and the building (built in the 1940s) has survived many hurricanes and tropical storms.I can imagine a scenario where guests might want to stay in here rather than move on. Although it’s very boring being ‘trapped’ indoors - more than likely with no electricity - I guess it could be safer than travelling.
We were here in our apartment (just opposite the rental) for Hurricane Wilma and just rested and read a lot. I have books in the rental but I guess it would be a good idea to get playing cards and board games?
Oh, there would also be the water / food supplies thing too. We have an outdoor gas grill for cooking if the power is off post-storm. Is there anything else I need to think about???
We’re on the Left Coast – Fort Myers. It’s been 12 years since Charlie came through. We expect snowbird reservations to drop drastically in summer – heat not hurricanes being the deciding factor. If we do have guests and a storm comes, we’ll evacuate them and us if necessary/required. Only a fool rides out a hurricane or other natural disaster for thrills.
Good to know @KenH - we rode out Wilma because we had no option. Luckily it worked out fine. I expect bookings to drop in the summer months but I’d love to know how to avoid a slump
I’m in Hawaii and we have hurricanes skittering around us all summer. Some get even close enough for a hurricane watch, even fewer for a hurricane warning. When we had a warning for Iselle, Air started sending notices, asking us to refund and cancel (waiving penalties)… Well, because it’s tricky science at best to predict landfall, I did nothing. It hit the east side, my guests came and went and there was literally no impact for me.
As for relocation if it came to that, most communities would have shelters for affected residents and that would include guests.
Check this out… We had 17 named storms last year… well into November. There were watches all summer long but no hits! Look at this amazing image showing all of the named storms of the year!
