Updated : Mar 17, 2025
Damages induced by natural disasters leave a devastating impact, long after their occurrence. The recent wildfires in Los Angeles have ravaged neighbourhoods in California, destroying over 10,000 homes and completely damaging public infrastructure. Hurricanes and typhoons have similarly disastrous effects, disrupting homes and properties that often serve as a source of passive income for residents and short-term rental owners. The cost of rebuilding is high, but how can one be insured in such adverse times?
Platforms like Airbnb support hosts and guests during such crises to ensure their policies provide adequate protection. The recently updated Airbnb Natural Disaster Policy addresses these challenges. If you’re a host, here’s a detailed guide on Airbnb’s natural disaster policy, what it covers, how it works and secures a good host and guest experience for every user.
What is Airbnb’s Natural Disaster Policy?
Airbnb Natural Disaster Policy called the Major Disruptive Events Policy prevents Airbnb hosts and guests during a natural disaster, public health crisis or another large-scale event that impacts hosting. It was earlier called the Extenuating Circumstances Policy and was updated to provide cancellation and refund support in case of any unforeseeable events and disasters.
Here’s what this policy means:
For hosts: You can cancel upcoming reservations at an impacted location without fees and other related consequences.
For guests: Guests are eligible for a refund if they cancel their active reservation at a location of impact.
If there is a hurricane forecast in Florida with a mandatory evacuation order from the government, both host and guests can cancel their active booking to that location. Hosts won’t have to pay cancellation fees, while guests would also be eligible for a refund.
What Does The Airbnb Natural Disaster Policy Cover?
The Major Disruptive Events policy is specifically designed to cover events that are beyond the control of hosts and guests. Understanding what is covered under it is important for both the guests and hosts.
Inclusions
- Public health emergencies and epidemics: If the government has declared a public health emergency or pandemic in a particular area, it will be covered under the policy. This does not include endemic diseases in an area.
- Government-Imposed travel restrictions: The policy is specifically applicable if the government has ordered travel restrictions or evacuations from a particular area.
- Military actions and hostilities: If there is an act of war, invasions, civil war, terrorism activities, explosions, bombings, riots and insurrections, the policy is applicable.
- Natural disasters: Any natural disasters or severe weather-related events that prevent completion of the reservation in a particular area.
- Large-scale outages of utilities: If there is a prolonged outage of utilities like heat, water, or electricity which impacts a particular location, it will get covered under a major disruptive event.
Exclusions:
When defining major disruptive events, Airbnb also accounts for the common foreseeable weather events, natural conditions and endemic diseases in particular areas. It may not cover events that are quite predictable at a location in a given timeframe.
For example: Typhoons, hurricanes, and snow storms have a seasonal pattern. If a hurricane in New Jersey does not lead to evacuation and your trip can still go on, it may not be covered under Airbnb’s Major Disruptive Events Policy.
COVID-19 is also not covered under this policy. Airbnb expects guests to research their destination before making a booking. Hosts should also be aware of the cancellation policy in case of such foreseeable events.
There could be other reasons that impact your travel plans. But this policy does not cover:
- Events that affect the guests’ ability to travel, but to the location of the reservation
- Unexpected injury or illness
- Cancellation or rescheduling of the event for which the reservation was made
- Non-binding travel advisories
In any of the above cases, the guests and hosts should ideally come to a mutual agreement. This could be a partial refund or a change in booking dates.
How Does the Airbnb Natural Disaster Policy Work?
You now have a list of situations or events accountable under this policy. So how exactly will the policy work for hosts?
If an occurrence classifies under the Major Disruptive Events Policy, you can cancel a reservation without bearing fees or other consequences. Those dates will appear blocked on your listing calendar.
The application of the Airbnb Natural Disaster Policy overrides the Airbnb cancellation policy for a host. So, if the guests cancel their booking, they are eligible to get a refund. In this case, your listing will remain open for others to see. You will not receive a payout against a cancelled reservation.
If the guests have already arrived at the location, both the host and guest can cancel the remaining nights in case of a disruptive event. The guest can get a refund for unused nights, while there will be no penalty for a host.
How Does Natural Disaster Policy Affect Airbnb Hosts?
Airbnb hosts must note that the Natural Disaster Policy does not act as a direct insurance cover. It protects you from penalties for cancellations caused by any major events. But you will also face cancellations from guests without payouts.
The policy keeps a fair balance between guests and hosts. In light of adverse weather conditions, you may need to adjust the strict cancellation terms. Weather events at a specific location are also covered if they lead to another eligible issue like a major power outage due to storms.
Airbnb also waives the fees if you cancel a reservation because of valid reasons which make your property inhabitable. If the place is inconsistent with what the guest has booked for, you can cancel the booking. Constantly communicate with your guests, if there is even a slight possibility of a disruptive event at your property location. Be a responsible host and make sure your guests are at ease in case of unforeseen circumstances.
Frequently Asked Questions
1. Where to find airbnb natural disaster policy?
Go to the Airbnb homepage and access the Help Centre. You will find the Major Disruptive Events Policy here. You can also look for it in the search bar to find related articles.
2. Will Airbnb refund me if there is a hurricane?
Airbnb considers hurricanes to be predictable and foreseeable events that guests should account for when booking their stay. As a result, cancellations due to hurricanes do not automatically qualify for a refund.
