Power Outage RIGHT NOW - what would you do?

41

I’ve been running it on one listing to see if I can gauge how useful it’ll be to us.

To date, only one couple utilised it, hosts from an hour or so up the road from us who were coming here to go to the theatre for Swan Lake a month or so ago. Even if the ballet had been cancelled (Covid) they said they’d still have come just for the weekend away, and as they are in Andalucia, they wouldn’t have had any major issues even if we went up a few grades in the alert system.

I much prefer the transparency of the the BDC non-ref rate plan, it’s simply non refundable under any circumstances.

We’ve been pretty much fully flexible (on all platforms) since we opened back up last June, and putting Covid related circumstances to one side, we’ve had very few cancellations. I think it likely that I’ll be dropping the Airbnb non-ref, simply because I don’t trust Airbnb enough to back us up, which is pretty sad really.

JF

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42

It may be….

My listing is on an island, albeit a large island so surprisingly many people don’t realize it is an island. Anyway just before the hurricane hits, all power & natural gas to the island is cut off. I don’t know if water is disconnected or because there’s no power to run the pumps, there is no water.

Many years ago I lived there full time. Hurricane Floyd was a category 5 so we had a mandatory evacuation. We left thinking we were glad we were insured because if a 5 hit, our home would likely be gone. A miracle occurred and shortly before landfall Floyd lost Umph and became a cat1. Like your area, we were built for that so all was good.

Because of the extended power outage we lost everything in the refrigerator/freezer & separate freezer. Plus when the freezer defrosted, water damage occurred.

Point being, it was a required planned outage, not a storm knocked out power outage. Our home owners paid for damages. (Not a rental but something to know).

43

You do as you wish but I encourage you to really think about this.

I try to respect them golden rule—Treat others as you would like to be treated. Also I believe just because something is legal (or allowed) doesn’t make it ethically correct. My last moralistic cliche, “ you catch more flies with honey than vinegar.”

There is a balance between earnings, happy guests, treating people with kindness & empathy, and staying in business.

I’ve refunded many a hurricane related cancellation because it was the right thing to do. I don’t want the guilt if because of no refund a guest decided to stay during a hurricane & was hurt.

Every.single.time. after the hurricane (not required) refund something good came out of it.

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44

When we had “snow-maggedon” here in woefully unprepared Texas this past winter it was a DISASTER.

My family was stuck on a hill w/o a way to get down and no water. & no way to get to my guest who was first w/o power and then w/o water…in a hard freeze. And the wife was pregnant!

I offered to have my church deliver groceries, water, etc but they declined and drove to whatever stores were open (we are very close to resources & on flat road so that’s good).

Back up for the twist…the disaster struck hardest/at my STR after their stay was to end. They asked to extend. I reluctantly said ok but that I could not guarantee power or water as rolling blackouts had begun. They wanted to stay. They extended 3 times until they could get a flight out.

Of course the charge was minimal but they preferred to stay rather than look elsewhere because people were moving about only to settle in and lose power/water, including at major hotels.

In the end…5 stars and thankful I “let” them stay. I wanted them to leave so I could turn off the water (ended up having to anyway) to prevent damage but no way I was turning them out. It about gave me a coronary having them there, though. I was so worried/stressed (and my own family thirsty and cold ourselves).

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45

Maybe I’m a masochist? Maybe I just can’t stand the thought of an asset sitting empty. But, wait for it, wait for it. . .

We got the home rebooked. I’m not kidding. It was at a pretty deep discount ($270/night) but it still went. Including not having power with no ETA. I can’t believe it. Here is how the interaction went with the new guest. I’m still in shock honestly.

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Did you read how it ended above with the guest? We refunded them 2/3 of the money when we didn’t have to. I polled my entire family/friends at Thanksgiving. Every single one of them said I was too generous. And, again, my wife is still pretty steaming. But I took your guys’ recommendations and parted with the money even though we didn’t have to.

Meanwhile, we have it rebooked and recovered about 1/2 of what was lost. I’m happy overall.

We will have to. The problem with things I do at our listings, I want them to be as perfect as they can be. I don’t do well with wires through the window or things looking cobbled together. Indeed, at this stage NOTHING is worse than what we went through. But I’ll see what we can come up with that will be a better solution so we’re not in this place again. With a house all-electric, I just don’t know if a Gen is going to be enough for more than just outlets and a few lights. There still won’t be hot water or the hot tub or the HVAC (in the winter, especially). So we’re back here again anyway.

I’ll keep you guys posted :slight_smile:

46

How about that? Jeez, who would have thunk it, at this late a date?
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It is a HORRIBLE situation. Just crappy. There is not likely to be a “perfect resolution”, no matter what one does, as their special getaway ended before it could begin. Even though they “stayed the night”, they didn’t have electric and had maybe 40-50 gallons of hot water to share for “quick showers” the next morning before packing up.
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We agree with you, to refund the 2 days. As others have noted, their view is their entire special stay was ruined (though not your fault). Though, and as others including me have noted, you were AWARE of this being a reasonable possibility for your area - and so it really is not a total out of the blue “OMG why now and why us”.
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Yes, we are all running a business and sometimes it’s “how would I wish to be treated in the same circumstance” and the “do I really want to risk 1-2 stars” vs short-term revenue? IMO, a key factor is it’s not “just a rustic cabin for $100-200 a night”. It is a premium stay, and that changes expectations for guests and so what we need to consider as hosts.
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We certainly hope that they will be simply sad but reasonable and not hold it against you, especially as your ENTIRE AREA was affected.
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Please do keep us posted and we will keep fingers crossed.

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47

They don’t . If the guests contact Airbnb- airbnb will give them a discount for days without electricity and will give the guests a full refund if they decide to leave.

Why have a house that is all on electricity when you know the area offers outages .

If you’re not prepared to travel to your Airbnb when there is an emergency you need to employ a local co-host .

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48

Rebooking a room when you know the power is off is such a bizarre concept to me. Masochism, sadism, whatever your kink. But I used to ride a Harley without a helmet and that’s insanely dangerous so understand making questionable choices.

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49

Happened to us, but it was our fault (the generator was locked up somewhere it wasn’t supposed to be and no one seemed to know where the key was :face_with_symbols_over_mouth:).

We have a smallish generator but it’s enough to power the refrigerator, lights, internet, TV/audio, ceiling fans and one of the major appliances (stove or oven or microwave).

Hurricane Elsa knocked out our power and it took 2-1/2 days to repair. Guests could not leave since airport was closed and most of the island didn’t have power. Since it was our (my DH’s) fault the generator wasn’t available, we refunded fully from the moment the power went out until it came back on. Almost $2000US.

So make your business decision: either get a generator (doesn’t have to run everything but has to run critical items) and maintain it so it is available or refund when there is no power. It’s probably cheaper to just refund if it only happens a few days/nights a year.

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50

Or do what he did and just find another sucker who wants to camp in your building for $300 a night (included taxes and fees).

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51

Seems to me one of the critical items to run in winter is heat and that seems to be something generators can’t do. It’s fine to have lights and internet but if it’s 50 degrees inside, it’s not helpful.

Sounds like where the OP is located there are a huge amount of Airs and probably all in the same boat with no electricity and lots of unhappy guests.

52

So I have a property in the Mountains - and power outages are a definite possibility. We have a fireplace and can have firewood delivered if guests ask. We have flashlights, extra blankets, and a propane grill with an extra propane tank upon request. I’d provide them with tips on surviving the mountain experience with no power. I’d offer a hefty discount if they choose to depart and abandon the trip. I might even offer to have shelf stable food delivered to them.

On another note I’d also consider perhaps a house generator. Some of the homes where my property is do that. We are considering getting one in the next year for this very situation.

Now as a guest - I wouldn’t demand the refund as you mentioned this was possible - but I’d definitely be more inclined to throw a good review at a host who offered it. Even if I didn’t take up the offer. I’m sure they aren’t too crazy about canceling their trip in the middle - especially since they knew this could happen.

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53

So you think your place is more perfect with no heat, no water, no lights, no fridge, no way to cook, no way to bathe, and the only way to stay warm huddling under a pile of blankets, than with a wire to a generator running somewhere? :rofl:

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54

Really appreciate everyone’s thoughts.

So here is the update. RIGHT at 9PM last night, the power came back on. Guests arrived about 15 mins after that. The guests were able to fire up the HVAC and all was well in short order. The hot water heater will need overnight to recover. The hot tub was in the 70s. Even though it’s a big 50A 220v heater, it still takes about 1 hour per 10 degrees to come up to 104. So unless they were up until midnight, the hot tub was not useable. But by now, all should be perfect. Even though they had agreed to be OK if it wasn’t (which is absolutely insane to me).

So to be clear with everyone: an all electric house like this just simply can’t be run in any meaningful way with a generator. Period. 200A is the kind of power draw that multiple generators would have trouble even providing outright. And even if they could, you would run out of fuel very very quickly.

Here is the order of importance for power (let me know if you agree):

  1. Lights
  2. Utility plugs (mobile phone, iPads, Router)
  3. Refrigeration
  4. Heat
  5. Hot water (bathing)
  6. Cooking
  7. Hot tub
  8. Laundry

So when you look at the list above, the first 2 can be resolved with battery torches and a strong backup battery (at least for 2ish days). So we have that nailed. Refrigeration we would need a generator for. But let’s come back to that. Numbers 4-8 simply cannot be run with a generator - ever. So do we get a Gen just for the fridge? I’m thinking we would not. A fridge can keep food cold for 48 hours in most cases and our stays average 2.1 days on this listing.

  1. We need to eliminate the outage liability by putting it all on the guest. Airbnb TOS gives us that avenue and we just need to use it. All of us do this already with our listings - lowering expectations with creaky floors, bad water pressure, noisy neighbors, etc. In this case we can make it clear to them and have them even verbally sign off upon booking (which is what the Support Ambassador told me). For example: “If the power goes out, I (the guest) am fully responsible and will not seek compensation of any kind related to an outage outside the host’s control.”
  2. Remain hyper responsive on the platform to make the situation as comfortable as we can when this happens
  3. Make sure that all the battery back up power options are in place; we can resolve 1 and 2 completely above with a battery back up and flashlights
  4. Create a “power outage” box. Including but not limited to: small camping stove (takes care of #6 above), bath wipes and dry shampoo(#5)

The 2 major missing parts are HVAC and hot water. NOTHING can improve that unless we overhaul the provision for both (add a wood burning fireplace for heat, or a propane system for heating the house water). Neither of these things are EVER happening. We actually have another listing in a mountain area. Even though we’re on propane, we need electric for the arc-start on the tankless water heater and for the fan on the furnace. No heat or hot water there either in the event of an outage (although the stove/oven will work with a match). Power outages suck!

If you dig deeper into the region this is happening, it turns out that the state and the utility company are investing a lot of time/money to make this stop (burying power lines, etc.). So an end to all of this will happen. Just hard to say when. I’m an eternal optimist. So I think the stop gaps above (with a MAJOR emphasis on putting the responsibility on the guest) will be the key.

YOU CHOOSE TO TRAVEL! Traveling is a risk! When my wife and I were in Cairo a couple years ago, we didn’t complain when our power went out, when my wife was harassed by locals for not walking behind me with her head down (nuts!), or when we had to walk over a beheaded calf bleeding into the gutter on a public street. That’s travel!

When you choose to come to the mountains, there’s a 3% chance that there will be power issues (10-14 days a year it sounds like). It is not just possible, it’s probable. It’s foreseeable. If you don’t like it, go somewhere else! That’s on the guest! Not on me!

Thoughts?

55

At this point, it seems to me that you don’t really mean this.

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56

When I heated with wood for 17 years and power went out for days, I was so happy to have my wood stove to keep me warm.

When I travel, I can tell you being without power on a vacation is not acceptable. I realize your situation was on the power company, but somehow putting the blame on the guest because travel is risky is not a good look.

When someone is traveling how much attention do you think they pay to power possibly being out? Your attitude towards this seems really mean spirited to me especially at the $640 a night category.

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57
  1. Heat
  2. Cooking ( You can heat up hot water on a stove)
  3. Utility plugs
  4. Hot water
  5. Lights (lanterns and candles)
  6. Laundry
  7. Hot tub
  8. Refrigeration (if it’s cold enough to need heat, stuff can be kept cold outside)
58

@zillacop I really appreciate this point of view. I’m trying to be more empathetic. We are going to make our home almost unbookable by warning people so much. If they book, we are going to try
and make it on them. It’s the only way we’ll be able to sleep at night.

I can’t just sell the house as we’ve invested too much into it. We make what we make on it because it’s the best place in the area. I’m sorry, but we deserve every bit of that nightly rate.

When folks die in skydiving accidents, they should have thought about that before they jumped out of a perfectly good airplane.

@muddy Do you have an opinion on those Dyna-Glo Tank Top propane room heater things to resolve the house heat? They will heat a room right up. But I don’t know if I trust the guests to work it themselves. And even if my staff (or me personally) helps the guest set it up, what if they start a fire? Isn’t that more risk than we should take? Great point about refrigeration (might need to put stuff in car though as you don’t want to draw wildlife). I think I’m hung up on the refridgeration b/c that is what the first guest mentioned a couple times about the food getting “unsafe” and I let it fluster me

59

No, I live in the tropics, no heat. And when I lived in Canada, I had a woodstove.
Fire is a definite risk if guests are allowed use of things which could cause it. A large number of guests don’t even know to open the flue if they use a fireplace, and don’t read the house manual telling them to do that.

Having a large, well-sealing cooler, which can be left outside, should be safe from animals smelling food. Or the car, but depending on the temp, it could all freeze. No issue for meat, but frozen lettuce or milk doesn’t work.

60

Our large generator is 7500 size, dual fuel, it cost 1200$, we are running it on a 5 gallon propane tank, with cords everywhere. Someday, our contractor will hook it up right into the electrical panel and the switches could be easily thrown over for whole house use. We are happy we have a propane stove and hot water heater that do not (either) need electronic ignition.

I would like to go solar, but at the same time maybe keep the propane system, just because all electric is a bummer with these “psps”, which they did not turn us back on yet. So thankfull no guests here.

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