What happens to Airbnb accounts when the owner dies

Airbnb does not issue a payout to a host until 24 hours after the scheduled check-in for a home reservation, so earnings from recent and in-progress stays can still be held in Airbnb's system. Payouts go to the payout method on file, which may be a bank account that is frozen after death. Airbnb publishes no estate payout process. The estate contacts support with a death certificate and letters testamentary or letters of administration and asks what Airbnb requires to release or redirect the pending payouts; Airbnb decides at its discretion.

The account cannot. Airbnb's help center states there is no way to transfer ownership of an Airbnb account to a different host, and Section 16 of the Terms of Service states an account may not be transferred to someone else. Reviews, ratings, listing history, and Superhost status stay with the original account, so a listing recreated under a survivor's new account starts with no reviews. The one documented continuity path is co-hosting: a full-access co-host operates the listing through their own account and can designate themselves as the listing's primary host.

Reservations continue unless someone cancels or manages them, so guests may still be arriving. A full-access co-host can handle messaging, check-ins, and cancellations through their own account. Where no co-host exists, the estate contacts Airbnb support with the host's name, account email, and property address. Blocking or snoozing the calendar stops new bookings while the estate decides what to do with the property.

The two are materially different. Deactivating hides the profile and listings while Airbnb retains the account data, and the account can be reactivated later. Deleting is permanent: Airbnb states that once an account is deleted it cannot be reactivated, no data can be recovered, and pending reservations on it are canceled. Deletion also destroys the reservation and payout history an estate inventory relies on. Airbnb also states that open Customer Support and Resolution Center issues should be resolved before an account is deactivated.

Airbnb's dormant accounts policy deletes an account after four years with no activity, and after one year of inactivity where the account has had no activity since it was created. Airbnb emails a warning 30 days before deletion and a reminder 48 hours before, both to the account's registered email address, which after a death may be an inbox no one is monitoring. Deletion results in permanent closure and deletion of the related personal information.

Airbnb publishes no policy for gift card or travel credit balances after a death. The estate contacts Airbnb support with estate documentation and asks what Airbnb requires to address any remaining balance. Airbnb reviews these requests case by case and decides at its discretion.

No. The Major Disruptive Events Policy covers only large-scale events that impact the reservation location, such as declared public health emergencies, government travel restrictions, military actions and hostilities, large-scale outages of essential utilities, and unforeseeable natural disasters. The death of a host, guest, or family member is not among the covered events, and the policy's own list of common events it does not cover includes events that affect a guest's ability to travel but not the reservation location, and unexpected injury or illness. Reservations outside the policy remain subject to the listing's cancellation policy, and any refund beyond it is at the host's discretion.