phgaming What Travelers Need to Know About Hard-Hit North Carolina

Over the past decade, tourism has boomed in and around Asheville, N.C., with visitors drawn to the temperate climate, green mountains and beautiful waterfalls of the Blue Ridge Mountains. The number of second homes in the area has multipliedphgaming, as have the number of short-term home rentals.

The region was devastated by Hurricane Helene, with at least 196 people confirmed dead in the storm’s path, and roads, towns and homes washed away or severely damaged. For guests and hosts of the western North Carolina’s short-term rental properties, Airbnb and Vrbo have instituted emergency policies about refunds and cancellations, but questions have arisen about the policies, as well as the propriety of visiting a region that has endured such destruction.

Travelers have voiced their confusion on social media, some expressing frustration over the policies or the level of the support they have received from the booking platforms. Others have criticized these complaints as trivial in light of the region’s devastation. Many hosts, meanwhile, have destroyed or damaged properties, missing loved ones, and months, if not years, of recovery ahead of them.

Here’s what to know.

Should travelers visit the region?

According to a statement from Visit North Carolina, the state’s tourism office, visitors should avoid the mountains of western North Carolina. It added that if a travel provider cannot be reached, “you should consider them to be unavailable and delay your trip until you have confirmation they are open and ready to welcome visitors.”

What are the emergency policies now in place?

This summer, Airbnb and Vrbo updated their refund policies to better respond to emergency situations. Under the companies’ disaster policies, a host must refund guests during a covered disruption, regardless of the host’s individual cancellation policies.

Now, after the storm, both companies have activated their emergency policies.

Airbnb has applied its “major disruptive events policy” to affected areas in Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina and Tennessee, under which “hosts can cancel eligible stays in these areas without consequences, and guests who have an eligible booking in these areas can cancel for a refund.”

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