Airbnb Safety Concerns: How to Protect Your Property During the Winter Holidays

As the holidays arrive, you’re likely facing a fully booked schedule for your listing. At this time of the year, it’s more important than ever that you pay attention to Airbnb safety concerns that can arise. As an Airbnb host, the safety of your guests should always be your first priority. By taking the proper precautions now, you’ll be able to enjoy a profitable, and hopefully, incident-free holiday season.

Here’s how to protect your property during the winter holidays and keep your guests safe from common winter Airbnb safety concerns.

Install an Airbnb Key Safe

One of the biggest Airbnb safety concerns is ensuring that only your guests have access to your property. Lockboxes and key safes make it easy for guests to collect and return to the keys to your property. Make sure to hide the key storage unit so that it is in an easy-to-describe yet hard-to-find location, such as a:

• Under a rock among others
• In a garden ornament
• Somewhere close to the sides of the house
• In the neighbor’s yard
• Behind a bush

You should also consider upgrading to smart locks so that each guest receives their own passcode to enter your property. With smart locks, you’ll never have to worry about the same codes being used twice or intruders discovering the location of your lockbox or key safe. You might also want to consider using services of key exchange solution such as Keycafe, EveryDoor, VirtualKey.  

Step Up Your Airbnb Fire Safety

While hotels are required to provide fire safety features, many Airbnb properties still lack essential Airbnb fire safety features, such as maps to exits, fire extinguishers, sprinklers, and smoke detectors. That is because some Airbnb hosts place safety on the back burner simply because residential properties aren’t held to the same stringent regulations as hotels when it comes to Airbnb safety concerns.

The winter months dramatically increase the risk of experiencing a fire at your Airbnb property. As guests use heaters and electrical appliances to stay warm, there is always a risk that a fire could start. Guests are also more likely to prepare holiday meals while staying at your property, which increases the risk of a kitchen fire.

To keep your guests safe, make sure to do all of the following:

Install Fire and Carbon Monoxide Safety Equipment

When you list your property on Airbnb, make sure that your property has smoke and carbon monoxide detectors and fire extinguishers. These features will help to keep guests safe by alerting to fire as soon as possible or giving them the opportunity to extinguish a small fire before it spreads. In addition, carbon monoxide is odorless so having a CO detector installed is the only way to protect your guests.

If you still need to outfit your property with a smoke and carbon monoxide detector you may be able to claim one for free from Airbnb here.

Notify Guests About Fire Emergency Escape Routes

Let guests know that if there is a fire emergency, their first priority should always be getting away from the danger. Provide a map of your property in your Guest Welcome Book so that guests know where the exits are located and how to vacate the building, if the unit is located in a multi-family property, in the event of a fire.

Make Sure That Your Property Is Up to Code

The start of the winter months is a great time to check for Airbnb safety concerns to ensure that your property is in compliance with all local building codes. If there any issues that need to be fixed, such as plumbing or electrical issues, take care of them before you rent your property again. You should also have your appliances checked to make sure that they are functioning properly and are safely installed.

Remove Any Hazards Before Your Guests Arrive

You also want to remove any hazards from your home that might cause injury to guests. Look for Airbnb safety concerns, such as cracked pavement, that might cause a guest to trip and fall. If you can’t resolve the issue completely right away, make sure to notify guests about the hazard and clearly mark it so that they can avoid it.

Hire a Snow Removal Service

If snow removal creates an Airbnb safety concern while guests are staying at your property, hire a snow removal service so that walkways and driveways are always clear of ice and snow. You should also keep at least 2 gallons of ice remover and sand in front of your property. Then guests can apply it themselves should they need to leave the property before the snow removal service has a chance to arrive.

Keep Emergency Supplies on Hand

With the winter months come fierce storms that could result in a power outage during your guests’ stay. Make sure that you have emergency supplies on hand for them to use, such as flashlights, batteries, and a solar-powered radio, so that they’ll be able to stay safe until the power comes back on.

If there is a storm on the horizon that makes a power outage seem likely, it might be a better idea to close your property to bookings until the storm passes to avoid Airbnb safety concerns altogether.

Review Emergency Contact Numbers and Procedures With Your Guests

Include the local emergency contact numbers in your Welcome Book and alert guests as to where they can find them before they arrive. If your guests are traveling to your property from a foreign country, it is a good idea to go over these emergency contact numbers with them personally since the phone numbers are likely different from those of their home countries.

You should also remind your guests that they need to contact you immediately if there is an emergency situation but only after they get in touch with the necessary emergency authorities first. Let them know that you want them to notify you about any Airbnb safety concerns when they stay on your property so that they will feel comfortable enough to contact you as soon as possible if there is an incident.