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We have guests leaving on Wednesday and another set arriving on Sunday. There’s a tropical storm that might strengthen to a hurricane that is currently forecasted to come near our home early Friday morning. No major issues are forecasted, but things might change. The main issues we have from hurricanes are power outages and a few downed trees, and we have a generator and several days to clear the trees and fix the power lines.
Would you contact the incoming guest now and tell them you are monitoring the situation, wait a few days until the outcome is more certain and then contact them, or just wait for them to contact you? I’d say it’s less than a 5% chance the storm will impact their arrival so I don’t want to worry them unnecessarily.
I would contact them. They have likely heard about the possible hurricane anyway and may be thinking about cancelling (I’ve read about it on the news today), so letting them know you have a generator, so they wouldn’t be without electric even if the power goes out, and are monitoring the situation and will keep them appraised could ease their minds and lets them know you’re an attentive host.
You can say that at this point it’s unlikely it will affect their arrival or stay, which if they may already have concerns, would do the opposite of unnecessarily worrying them.
If it does become a major threat, their flight will probably be cancelled anyway.
I always follow the National Hurricane Center this time of year – the only storm news you can trust in the Caribbean and coastal areas.
You and I know that even if Bret doesn’t become a hurricane, there’s going to be a LOT of wind and rain both before and after storm passage. If it’s too bad the planes won’t be flying, or will be significantly delayed.
I would tell them you’re monitoring the NHC, and that they are liable to experience strong winds and rain, not the usual idyllic island weather… Tell them you have a generator and will prepare your listing appropriately.
Here’s the Key Messages from the most recent NHC release this morning:
Bret is forecast to initially strengthen and then move across
the Lesser Antilles near hurricane intensity on Thursday and
Friday, bringing a risk of flooding from heavy rainfall, strong
winds, and dangerous storm surge and waves.
Given the larger than usual uncertainty in the track forecast,
it is too early to specify the location and magnitude of where
these hazards could occur. However, everyone in the Lesser Antilles, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands should closely monitor updates to the forecast for Bret and have their hurricane plan in place.
I know, and I’d definitely contact guests if the storm was forecast to impact their arrival, departure, or stay. But this is happening during a vacancy, and I don’t want to make them nervous about a storm that will pass more than 2 days before they land on the island.
The storm may pass 2 days before their arrival, but depending on whether it becomes a full-blown hurricane or not, you know that there could be downed trees, blocked roads, no cell service, etc.
However, I think that guests who book listings in hurricane alleys during hurricane season should be aware that their plans being disrupted is always a possibility. Just like booking a place in the prairies or NE US or Canada in the dead of winter carries with it the possiblility of blizzards, getting snowed in, etc… But likely many of them never consider that.
BTW, there’s a weather app I really like called Ventusky.com
It’s visually very attractive, you can see exactly where a storm is at any given time, and you can toggle back and forth between wind speed, precipitation, wave height, temperature, etc.
I would just follow the storm situation. Your guests should be aware of the weather.
If it is looking like you will get a direct hit, you can call airbnb and they will cancel the booking so you can focus on protecting your property. This is something airbnb is setup to help you with. You can then reach out to the guest and let them know that due to the hurricane you had to cancel the booking, they will not be able to leave you with a review.
If i have learned anything from hosting, it is that being too proactive will only result in lost business. That might not bother you, but this is a business for me.
I try to avoid cancelled bookings at all costs, and while it might be nice to follow-up with them, there is a good chance there will be no problem at your property and freaking guests out will only cause problems.
Airbnb provides support for these issues, and if the forecast indicates that you’ll be hit, cancel the booking and try to protect your property.
To give some context, recently I had a flood in my basement, I called airbnb because i had a guest set to check-in. Airbnb told me they would cancel the booking and there would be no marks on my record or anything like that. After talking to the guests, they said they wanted to stay in the house anyway, and I offered them a 50% discount on their booking as a result. I really did not want to host them because I wanted to finish cleaning my basement and getting it ready for new carpet and flooring but felt a duty to avoid disrupting their trip. Well, after their booking, they threatened to leave me with a 1 star review if I didn’t give them a full refund. So I had to do it. I could have had those 3 days to get my basement repaired, but instead had to deal with these guests and electric/water costs, among normal wear and tear for nothing. Guests will screw you over given any opportunity and you never know who will be cool or who will turn into a nightmare. Just protect your property.
Better to over communicate, many guests appreciate that. If you don’t communicate and things do go wrong then you look like a jerk that didn’t tell them, but if you communicate and things go fine then they are happy.
Why not? Was I supposed to scare him and prompt him to cancel “just in case”? If this were a Cat 2 or higher, I’d be a lot more worried.
Since it looks like it will be a direct hit on St Lucia as a borderline Cat 1, I messaged him yesterday morning about the storm. I told him we don’t expect significant issues, but that I would stay in touch with our staff and give him an update Friday morning after the storm passes.
Clarification, quote local officials, just avoid personally providing as a host any perceived guarantee that the stay will not be interrupted.
“Host minimized the weather threat.”
I would not notify the guest. You’ve got to assume they follow the news, so it’s their responsibility to contact you if they have a weather concern. Deal with the problem/concern if it becomes an issue … no need to worry about something that has a 5% chance of happening.
I have never even mentioned the weather or storm warnings to any guest; they can check the internet, come to this island at this time of the year, it is the rainy season, I can fix most things here but I cant fix the weather, I know that last year the HONG KONG embassy issuing travel warnings about a road that had been washed away then we had 2 guests wanting to cancel because of the rain, which I refused, not my fault you booked in the monsoon season,
So many guests don’t bother to inform themselves of geography or look at maps when having booked outside their familiar turf.
I had a guest book who messaged me a few days later, saying her mom was really worried about her coming to Mexico on her own, because she had read about a cartel shoot-out. As if Mexico is the size of Rhode Island, when it’s the 15th largest country in the world, with a land mass area of almost 2 million miles.
I had to tell her that happened 2000 miles from my town.
