A Hostomat listing audit report for a fixture listing, framed on a green field with a headline about Airbnb guest refunds

Blog · October 30, 2026 · 6 min read

Airbnb guest refunds: what a broken heater costs you

Airbnb lists heating that fails in winter as a reason to refund a guest, taken from your payout. The 72-hour rule, what is covered, and the checks to run now.

The Hostomat team

Airbnb names one winter problem by name. Its AirCover for guests page (read 21 October 2026) lists "the heating is not working in winter" as a serious issue that can get a guest rebooked or refunded. The money for that refund comes out of your payout, so the time to check the heating is before the first cold booking, not during it.

What the policy covers

The rules sit in Airbnb's Rebooking and refund policy for homes (effective 6 February 2025, read 21 October 2026). It calls a problem a Reservation Issue when one of these happens:

The host cancels before check-in.
The guest cannot get in.
The place is not habitable at check-in: not reasonably clean, or it holds a safety or health hazard.
The place is significantly different from the listing: the wrong space type, the wrong number of bedrooms or bathrooms, the wrong location, or an undisclosed person or pet on site.
A special amenity or feature in the listing is missing or does not work. Airbnb's own examples: a pool, a hot tub, a major appliance, heating and air conditioning.

The same AirCover page draws the line on the other side. A broken toaster is a minor inconvenience and is not covered. A cold house in January is.

Issues the guest, their group or their pets caused are not covered.

What it costs the host

The policy is short on this point. If a Reservation Issue disrupts a stay, the host receives no payout, or the payout is reduced by the amount refunded to the guest. It also says that when the policy applies, it takes precedence over your cancellation policy. A strict policy does not protect a stay where the heating failed.

How much Airbnb refunds is a judgment call. The policy lists the factors: how severe the issue is, its impact on the guest, the portion of the stay it affected, whether the guest leaves, and how strong the evidence is.

Take an invented stay: four nights at $160 plus a $90 cleaning fee, $730 in total. The boiler fails on the second evening, the guest reports it, and Airbnb decides the last two nights were not habitable and refunds them. Read literally, the policy reduces your payout by the amount refunded, here $320. That is the amount the guest paid for those nights, not the smaller amount you would have kept after the 15.5% host fee. Open the reservation in your Earnings page afterwards to see the exact figure.

There is a harder case. Airbnb's Host Cancellation Policy (read 21 October 2026) says a host can be found responsible for a cancellation when the place is grossly and materially different from the listing, whoever presses cancel. After check-in, the fee is 50% of the reservation amount for the nights not stayed, with a $50 minimum. Airbnb's examples include a pool that does not exist. A dead heater may not reach that bar. An amenity advertised all winter and never delivered might. Our post on Instant Book settings covers the rest of the cancellation rules.

The 72 hours, and your side of it

The guest must report the issue within 72 hours of discovering it, to you or to Airbnb, with evidence such as photos, videos or your own confirmation. Airbnb may accept a late report if reporting on time was not feasible.

Three lines in the policy are on the host's side, and most hosts never use them:

The guest has to come to you first, whenever feasible, and try to resolve it directly.
Airbnb usually checks with you before deciding, and you can dispute the guest's account by contacting Airbnb.
Airbnb may reduce its refund to reflect any refund or relief you already gave directly.

That last one matters most. A fast fix, a technician the same evening, or a fair partial refund through the Resolution Center (read 21 October 2026) puts the number in your hands instead of Airbnb's. Requests are accepted up to 60 days after checkout, but a refund offered on the first night beats one argued about later.

Evidence works both ways. Our post on damage claims shows how much Airbnb leans on dated photos. A timestamped photo of the thermostat reading 70°F at turnover is the same kind of proof, on your side.

The checks to run this week

Service the heating before the first cold stay, and keep the invoice with its date.
Write the heating instructions into your check-in guide: the thermostat, the boiler reset, what noise is normal.
Keep one technician's number who answers on weekends, and know what an emergency call-out costs.
Read your amenities list as a guest would. A hot tub closed for winter, a fireplace you no longer allow, an air conditioner that is really a fan: say so in the listing or untick it.
Photograph the working basics at every turnover: heating on, hot water running, the space clean.
Answer fast. The guest has 72 hours to report. You have far less time to keep the refund small.

What Hostomat does here

Hostomat is not a maintenance tool and does not message guests.

The listing audit scores every connected listing out of 100 against the top-earning listings nearby, across photos, copy, amenities and reviews, and rewrites the title, description and amenities for you to paste into Airbnb. Nothing is applied for you. That matters here: if the audit suggests listing an amenity the market offers, paste it only if yours exists and works in January. The audit is free and needs no card.

The Hostomat audit report for a fixture listing, with the amenities bar showing how much of the market's kit the listing actually lists — The Hostomat audit report with fixture data, not a real host. The amenities bar shows how much of the market's kit the listing actually lists.

Pricing only writes nightly prices. It never touches availability, so blocking nights for a repair stays in your hands on Airbnb. It works with Airbnb only, connected directly or through Hospitable. No Vrbo, no Booking.com yet. It is a young product, and the setup guide shows every screen before anything moves.

Where this can go wrong

A strict cancellation policy treated as a shield. An amenities list written for summer and left on all winter. A guest message about the cold answered the next morning. A refund argued to the end when a quick partial one would have closed it. No dated proof that the heating worked at check-in.

Turn the heating on tonight, read your amenities list as a stranger, and put a technician's number where you can find it at 11pm. Pricing on Hostomat is 14 days free with no card. Start at hostomat.io/guide.