What happens to an Airbnb account when someone dies

“You may not transfer your account to someone else.”¹

Section 28.3 of the terms bars a member from assigning, transferring or delegating the agreement, or their rights and obligations under it, without Airbnb's prior written consent.¹

Reviews, ratings, listing history and Superhost status stay with the deceased account holder's account, so a listing recreated under a survivor's new account starts with no reviews.²

Active and upcoming reservations continue after a death unless someone cancels or manages them; Airbnb does not pause a calendar on notice of a death.³

A full-access co-host can keep managing reservations, guest messages and the calendar from their own account, and can designate themselves the listing's primary host.⁴

Deactivating hides the profile and listings while Airbnb keeps the account data, and the account can be reactivated. Deletion is permanent: a deleted account cannot be reactivated, its data cannot be recovered, and access cannot be regained.⁵

Any pending reservations on a deleted account are canceled.²

Airbnb asks that upcoming reservations and open Customer Support and Resolution Center issues be resolved before an account is deactivated.⁵

Under the dormant accounts policy, Airbnb deletes an account after four years without activity, or after one year where it has had no activity since it was created, with warning emails to the registered email address 30 days and 48 hours before.⁶

Airbnb's payments-account article states an Airbnb account will not be deleted for inactivity, but payouts can be paused and payout methods deactivated until the payments account is reactivated, including where no action is taken within 60 days of its reminder emails.⁷

That article treats a payments account as dormant after a long period, up to six years, with no movement of funds benefiting the host, or with no acceptance of the current Airbnb Payments Terms, no KYC details, or no access to Earnings or Payout methods.⁷

Airbnb does not issue a payout to a host until 24 hours after the scheduled check-in for a home reservation, so earnings from completed and in-progress stays can still sit with Airbnb, payable to the payout method on file.⁸

After release, processing time depends on the payout method: Fast Pay and Pay to card 30 minutes or less, Payoneer within 24 hours, PayPal within one business day, and ACH direct deposit 3 business days for the USA and Puerto Rico.⁹

A guest refund outside the listing's cancellation policy is at the host's discretion. The Major Disruptive Events Policy covers only large-scale events at the reservation location, and lists events that affect a guest but not the location, and unexpected injury or illness, as not covered.¹⁰

Whether to release or redirect pending payouts to an estate is Airbnb's decision, made at its discretion.⁸