(Bloomberg) – Airbnb Inc. guests in the path of Hurricane Ian are counting on hosts’ generosity for refunds, as the short-term rental company’s cancellation policy specifically excludes storm season in Florida.
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Ian, which hit Florida on Wednesday as a Category 4 hurricane, dumped up to a foot of rain on some cities in the state, leaving an estimated 2.6 million homes and businesses without power amid felled trees and flooded roads. The storm is one of the costliest and most powerful in US history, with possible damage estimates in the tens of billions of dollars.
Florida, with its theme parks and hundreds of miles of pristine beaches on the Atlantic and Gulf coasts, is one of the most visited states by foreign and domestic tourists. It also makes the Sunshine State a popular destination for Airbnb guests, with six cities among the top 10 trending national summer destinations this year, including Fort Myers and Cape Coral, which were both in the eye of the storm.
The state is also all too familiar with hurricanes and is hit nearly twice as hard as the second most hurricane-prone state in Texas, according to Universal Property, a property and casualty insurance company. That’s why Airbnb’s extenuating circumstances policies for cancellations and refunds cover certain natural disasters, but not “weather or natural conditions that are common enough to be foreseeable in that location,” and specifically cite hurricane season. in Florida among the exceptions. Expedia Group Inc.’s Vrbo platform will also not cover natural disasters or events beyond the owner’s control.
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The Fort Myers area on the Gulf Coast, which was directly impacted by Ian, has about 2,800 active short-term rentals on Airbnb and Vrbo, according to industry data tracker AirDNA. Given its waterfront real estate, 97% of all listings are full vacation rentals.
Bret Tracy, a 48-year-old sales manager from South Carolina, owns a townhouse in Tampa, about a two-hour drive north of Fort Myers, which he rents on Airbnb when he’s not staying there. . Tracy was to host a guest at his home during a local convention, which was later canceled and Tampa issued an evacuation order. Under Tracy’s normal refund policy, the guest would have only been eligible for a half refund, but he granted a full one.
“In this situation, understanding the magnitude of it, we just said that if you initiate it on your end, we will give you a full refund,” he said. “I don’t want to put anyone in danger.”
The arrival of Hurricane Ian is another example of the delicate balance shared accommodation companies are trying to strike between hosts, about half of whom make a living renting out their properties, and guests, who often have to pay extra. ‘advance. At the start of the pandemic, Airbnb came under fire from guests who were denied refunds because the onus was on hosts to be accommodating. Airbnb later rolled back that policy, allowing guests full refunds, angering hosts faced with empty calendars and impending mortgage payments. Over the past few years, Airbnb has tried to appease both sides, adding AirCover, which regulates cancellation policies, lists inaccuracies and other issues, for both parties.
While the extenuating circumstances policy excludes hurricanes, Airbnb says guests can filter their home searches with flexible cancellation policies that offer full refunds as well as the purchase of travel insurance. The company also allows hosts to cancel reservations without penalty.
For many hosts in an Airbnb Facebook group, the question of whether to refund a guest during a hurricane was a no-brainer. A post asking if other hosts have refunded has attracted more than 240 comments from friendly owners. “We fully refunded our guest,” Mary Singleton commented on the site. “We had to ask them to leave as the area was under mandatory evacuation, so we could prepare the house for the storm. It’s a major hurricane and we didn’t hesitate to refund.
Another host named Brian Wilson said he tends to be “a pretty ruthless businessman. But the day I sacrifice my morals for money is the day I leave. It’s an emergency.”
Other hosts recalled issuing refunds during past natural disasters, including Hurricane Agatha in Mexico in May, or during wildfires in other states.
Some guests, however, weren’t lucky enough to have such accommodating hosts. Rebecca Lopez, a 38-year-old administrative assistant from Tannersville, Pennsylvania, was scheduled to fly from Philadelphia to Orlando on Thursday for a family event, but her flight was canceled. Lopez had rented an Airbnb for $600 for the trip, but the property manager and owner refused to reimburse her, telling her to contact Airbnb instead.
“They point fingers at each other and each refuses to help me,” Lopez said. “I’ve never had an issue before. I’m so shocked that this is happening given the extenuating circumstances.”
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