Too verbose with comments that made no sense to me so I stopped reading.
Dear me.
You didn’t answer my previous question. How does your STR insurance company feel about guests being in a home with no power?
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The average yearly temperature in Cairo ranges from 50 degrees to 96 degrees. So no one is going to freeze without heat, nor be having to deal with freezing cold water. Did the hot water and cook stove run on electricity?
The other two things you mention have to do with adapting to a different culture, nothing whatsover to do with paid-for accommodation, so totally irrelevant to a discussion of guests being adaptable to a listing that runs exclusively on electricity that has no electricity.
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When I was a kid, back in the 1970s, England had severe striking, in particular by miners. We lived in a mining area and had frequent power cuts every day for weeks.
We were more or less helpless because everything in our house needed electricity. Even our can opener was electric. Needless to say, we soon had emergency supplies. If an area has regular outages, as we do here in Florida, hosts must be prepared to help their guests.
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Install a good sized propane tank. Change the water heater, kitchen stove, and hot tub to propane. If you need interior heat in the winter, install a couple of propane ceramic heater units (like a Monitor stove, but for propane).
And cancel the order for the crappy UPS units, which would only be good for charging phones or maybe running a computer or TV set, not for an outage of several days. If you really want battery backup, get a battery bank inverter that uses good old 12V lead-acid auto batteries, your best $/kwh buy when weight isn’t an issue (but you do have to check them a couple of times every year).
Install a generator that runs on propane. How big will depend on what you want to keep running when power is out, but install auto start and switchover.
Also, buy a couple of ice chests and have a supply of ice in a freezer somewhere guests wouldn’t normally access, that they can unlock in emergencies.
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excellent advice there NordlingHouse!
This is such a great question and I didn’t mean to not answer. I had an inquiry into our insurer (Farmers) and they JUST NOW got back to me.
Me: How does my STR insurance behave if/when there is a power outage? SCE (utility) is killing the power in the mountains proactively to protect the power lines/avert wildfires. It’s often. Just wanted to know what there is to know?
Insurer: Depends on what damages come from it and how long the power is out… How often and for how long at a time?
Me: Power can be out for 24+ hours easily. It was just out from Wed 6PM until Thursday 9PM this week (27 hours). It was a proactive outage. It might be turned off 4-6 times per year in this way. Usually early Winter or early Spring is the timeframe.
Insurer: I see what you’re getting at. These kinds of outages will cover loss of income and even things like loss of food, etc.
Me: What about general liability?
Insurer: Power had nothing to do with liability unless you intentionally did something to cause a claim.
Me: Much appreciated.
I hope I answered your question! They get back to me quickly if you want me to follow up with them on anything else.
@NordlingHouse I really appreciate this comprehensive list of suggestions. I will let you know if/when we decide to make these massive investments. A part that’s lost in all of this is the colossal investment we’ve already made to make the property what it already is. There’s capital in a deep savings account to take on these projects, but I’d really like to avoid it at least for now. I really appreciate this list!
In keeping with the interaction I had with CS where they told me that my existing Listing Details House Rules had me in a position to NOT REFUND anything based on the original circumstances that inspired this thread, I decided to tighten up my House Rules and Listing Details even further. I realize it’s strong/harsh. I’m sorry about that. However, I can’t put myself in a world where the host has to take all financial responsibility for weather issues. Guests can book at other places where the hosts are more likely to hand out refunds. We are not those hosts. (insert my wife still pee’d at me for giving back 2/3 of the income on the original booking).
Here it is:
You are making a STRICT | NON-REFUNDABLE booking. We strongly suggest all guests procure traveler’s insurance. We also graciously ask that guests not request refunds for reasons outside of the hosts’ control. You are choosing to book this listing and live like a local. As a result, you may be subject to POWER OUTAGES, SNOW EVENTS, RAIN EVENTS, WIND EVENTS, or PERSONAL ILLNESSES which are all outside of the hosts’ control. NO REFUNDS.
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That’s great information - thank you. I think many people who read this forum will thank you for the info too. 
Yes, please do let us know if any additional points crop up.
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I’d also suggest following up in a message right after you get a booking with the same info. It’s widely understood that some guests don’t read every single thing even though they are supposed to. And everyone has 48 hours to make a free cancellation. So make sure they understand the situation right when they book.
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I agree with you completely and I wanted to add this same blurb at the point of Airbnb thread interaction after each confirmed booking too. My wife overruled me on it. “We make it clear enough already” is her position.
So here we sit in, let’s call it “Beta testing,” with the harsher House Rules and Listing Description.
We’ll see what happens if/when we get another guest wanting a refund for something they should have known was a risk on them.
To speak to directly your comment above, that’s actually not the case for NON-REFUNDABLE bookings. They are locked in IMMEDIATELY and cannot be canceled, even minutes after confirmed.
And since we offer that option (it saves users 10%), I would say about 75% of bookings are made in this way. So by the time they confirm, it is, sadly for the guest, too late.
We have had multiple guests “fat finger” bookings for the wrong days, etc. They are poop-out-of-luck in those cases and Air has our backs every time. I tried to book a NON-REFUNDABLE myself as a guest to see how it felt as a user. They warn you, like 5 times that it’s NON-REFUNDABLE. So people that screw this up, I have no sympathy for.
Guests need to take more responsibility for their actions and decisions. Hosts can’t jump on the grenades when the guests are the ones pulling the pins.
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Oh, yeah. I don’t use that as a guest or offer it as a host so I forget it exists. Anyone who does use it gets what they deserve, lol.
Still you could have the problem of the unhappy guest who slams you in a review and hurts your booking rate in the future. But I’ll reiterate that I think that is fairly rare.
Your current thoughts seem unlikely provide a desirable outcome, especially at your price point.
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- Have a nice evening, with a great meal and copious amounts of quality red wine / excellent cocktails
- Take no action of any kind
- Stop talking and thinking about it
- You will come up with a MUCH better plan with a good nights sleep!
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Unless CS decides the situation is subject to extenuating circumstances and they will refund anyway….be warned!
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So she’s unaware or in denial of the fact that many guests don’t read through everything? Or just stubborn?
Prevention is far preferable to damage control.
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Remember from a couple days ago, it was Air’s existing EC policy that sided with the host as long as it’s “foreseeable” (part that is underlined below).
I gave the guests back 2/3 of the booking cost based on recommendations from you guys NOT from what CS required (or even suggested; they said I had to give them nothing back).
With our stiffer warnings, we’re likely out of the refunding-guests-for-circumstances-out-of-our-control business.
The wildcard (that many have mentioned) will be the review factor. We are confident that we can manage that. A guest that leaves a bad review because they are upset that a host stands behind rules/policies that the guest already agreed to have no business on the platform in the first place.
Whole house generator, propane powered. Plus battery back up on internet router.
About 10 seconds after the power cuts out everything back on in 3 buildings
Similar listing, mountain cabins where power can and does get cut out on windy days.
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A recent interaction with CS.
Obviously working from home somewhere in the Philippines with noises from roosters and children in the background.
Two years ago Airbnb closed the semi professional call centres and outsourced to companies that service many organisations.
The lady I had on the phone had absolutely no idea about Airbnb policy.
Every time I asked something I was put on hold while she obviously looked up the policy and gave me her definition of it, and some phrases she had little understanding of. I had to push and push to get through to someone who did have an idea.
I was right, but the effort to get the situation was ridiculous.
CS are a law unto themselves, and they are guest centric.
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That may be but that doesn’t mean they aren’t Airbnb guests or that they will be removed.
I took another look at your listings and honestly, it seems like what you are doing is working and the listing you’ve written about here has excellent ratings and reviews. If you are a perfectionist and you want to have a competitive advantage then over time you will implement the many suggestions in this thread. It sounds like you are a wee bit over your head right now but once you recoup more of your investment you’ll see your way clear to make your rental stand out from others in CA that go dark when there’s a power outage.
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I agree with many of the posts regarding being proactive in the future…it’s disappointing, for a group this large, who expect it’s just going to be a fluke if the power goes out. It sounds like at some point it is expected in your case. You might possibly want to give stats on how often and what time of year they might experience such an outage.
I get one a year or so for less than a day. I have offered a total refund if the guest wants to leave and 50% of them leave.
It will cost some $$ but having good backup, propane stove, small generator, etc, shows good concern about the guest’s comfort. REI now has solar batteries than can also be on hand for backup electricity to power many items, TV, phones, lamps, laptops, small coolers and more. They come in various sizes.
If you get all this backup equipment, you can tout it on the listing. 
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Seems like you are having “buyers remorse” and wishing after the fact that you sided with your wife and kept the money. Technically, it is neither wrong or right. If you don’t care about the review, so be it. It is your business to run as you see fit.
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We CAN opt to stand firm, on such occasions and self-justify and “stick to the written policy”. We CAN do what many of us would, and what you did - and refund 2 days.
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IMO, your wife was wrong because your place is expensive and you KNOW it happens sometimes. But that is just my opinion.
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IMO, it is worth it to invest in “enough infrastructure” to allow guests to stay comfortable the next time. And THEN you are entirely justified with no refunds. Only my 2 cents.
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