How to close an Airbnb account when someone dies

When someone dies with an active Airbnb account, there are several things that may need attention: upcoming guest bookings that could incur costs if not cancelled, Airbnb Credits that will be lost if the account is closed without review, and – if the deceased was a host – active listings, pending payouts, and guests with future reservations who need to be notified. Airbnb does not have a dedicated bereavement team or a formal deceased-account process in the way that banks and utilities do. The absence of a published policy means families often have to piece together what to do from general customer service guidance.

This guide covers both scenarios – guest accounts and host accounts – because the considerations are quite different. If the deceased was only an occasional guest, the process is relatively straightforward. If they were an active host, there are more steps, and some of them are time-sensitive.

Quick reference:

• Customer service phone (UK): +44 203 318 1111 (24/7)
• Chat support: Available via the app – Profile → Help → Contact Us
• Account closure help page: airbnb.co.uk/help/article/240
• Airbnb Credits on death: Forfeited on account closure – not transferable to the estate
• Superhost status: Personal to the account – cannot be transferred or inherited
• No dedicated bereavement phone line: Use general customer service and explain the circumstances

How to report the death to Airbnb

Airbnb does not publish a specific deceased-account reporting form. The process goes through their general customer service channels, which you should approach directly and explain the circumstances clearly.

If you have the login credentials, the most practical first step is to log into the account and review any upcoming reservations before contacting customer service. This lets you assess what is time-sensitive before deciding how to proceed.

To contact Airbnb:

• By phone: Call +44 203 318 1111 (available 24 hours a day). This is the general UK customer service line. Explain that you are calling on behalf of a deceased account holder and that you need assistance with the account. Ask for the call to be escalated to someone who can handle account bereavement situations.
• Via app chat: Open the Airbnb app, go to Profile → Help → Contact Us. Choose your issue category, then select “It’s something else” and “I still need help” to reach a live agent. This is the fastest non-phone route.
• Via email: Email support@airbnb.com for non-urgent matters. Allow 1–2 business days for a response.

Airbnb’s general customer service agents can note a death on the account, pause upcoming bookings, and route the case to the appropriate internal team. There is no single bereavement form to submit – the process is handled case by case.

What to tell them:

• The deceased’s full name and the email address registered to the account
• The date of death
• Your relationship to the deceased and your authority to act (next of kin, executor, or solicitor)
• Whether there are active bookings or host listings that need immediate attention

They will typically ask you to send a copy of the death certificate by email to confirm the situation before making changes to the account.

What happens to active bookings

The most time-sensitive issue for a guest account is any upcoming reservations. Log into the account (or ask Airbnb customer service to check) and identify any future bookings before the check-in dates pass.

Free cancellation bookings

If a booking has a free cancellation window that has not yet expired, cancel it through the account immediately. You will receive a refund to the original payment method. Airbnb typically processes refunds within 5–15 business days, though the card issuer may take additional time to credit the amount.

Do this before the cancellation deadline, even if you do not yet have the death certificate. A free cancellation requires no justification – it is within the booking terms regardless.

Non-refundable bookings and strict cancellation policies

Airbnb has several cancellation policy tiers, set by individual hosts. Non-refundable or strict policies do not automatically bend for bereavement. Airbnb’s Major Disruptive Events Policy (what used to be called the extenuating circumstances policy) covers large-scale events such as pandemics and natural disasters – it does not cover personal circumstances including the death of a guest or their family members. This is an important distinction: Airbnb removed personal bereavement from the extenuating circumstances policy, and community support staff have confirmed that deaths in the family are handled under each listing’s own cancellation policy.

That said, there are two practical routes:

1. Contact the host directly. Hosts have discretion to offer a partial or full refund outside their stated policy. Many hosts will do so when presented with a death certificate and a straightforward explanation. This is the most likely path to a compassionate refund on a non-refundable booking.

2. Contact Airbnb customer service. Explain the circumstances and ask whether Airbnb can facilitate a goodwill resolution with the host. Airbnb can act as an intermediary but cannot override a host’s policy unilaterally.

The table below summarises likely outcomes:

Bookings in progress at time of death

If someone dies while staying at an Airbnb property, this is an acute situation that requires a direct call to Airbnb on +44 203 318 1111. Airbnb’s AirCover for Guests may apply in some circumstances. The host will need to be informed, and the remaining nights of the booking will need to be handled. Airbnb can coordinate between host and family in these situations.

Travel insurance

If the deceased held travel insurance – including an annual policy on home contents insurance – cancellation due to death is typically a covered event. Travel insurance is usually the more reliable route to recovering costs from non-refundable bookings that Airbnb and the host decline to refund. Check the policy definitions for who counts as a “close family member” for cancellation purposes.

What happens to Airbnb Credits and gift cards

Airbnb Credits are amounts held in an account that can be applied to future bookings. They are explicitly non-transferable under Airbnb’s credit terms: once credited to an account, they cannot be moved to another person or another Airbnb account.

When an account is closed, any unused credits are forfeited. Airbnb’s terms state that termination of an account will result in forfeiture of unused credits. This applies to:

• Booking Credits (earned through promotions, referrals, or dispute resolutions)
• Travel Credits (issued as compensation or through specific promotions, typically expiring one year from issue)
• Rebooking Credits (issued when Airbnb cancels a booking, typically valid for one year)

Before closing the account, it is worth calling Airbnb customer service (+44 203 318 1111) to ask whether any Credits can be refunded to the estate given the circumstances. Airbnb’s terms suggest this will be refused, but it is reasonable to ask in writing, particularly if the credit balance is substantial. Put the request in an email to support@airbnb.com so there is a written record.

Gift cards are separate from account credits. A physical Airbnb gift card has a redemption code that can be applied to any account – it is not tied to the deceased’s account until the code is entered. If the deceased had unspent gift cards (physical or digital), these can be used by whoever the estate passes them to, as long as the code has not yet been redeemed to the deceased’s account.

Host accounts: a different challenge

If the deceased was an Airbnb host, the situation is more involved. Host accounts have financial obligations, guest relationships, and live listings that do not pause automatically when someone dies.

Taking listings offline immediately

The first priority is to take any active listings offline to prevent new bookings being made. If you can log into the account, go to the listing, navigate to Listing → Calendar and Availability, and set all future dates to “unavailable” (or use “Snooze listing” if available). This prevents further bookings while the estate is being administered.

If you cannot log in, call Airbnb on +44 203 318 1111 and explain that the host has died. Airbnb can deactivate the listings on the account while the situation is resolved.

Existing guest bookings for future stays

Any guests who have already booked future stays need to be handled thoughtfully. Cancelling confirmed bookings as a host carries consequences: Airbnb’s host cancellation policy imposes financial penalties and calendar blocks for hosts who cancel. However, Airbnb has discretion to waive these penalties in exceptional circumstances, and the death of the host is a clear exceptional circumstance.

Call Airbnb customer service and explain the situation. Ask them to mark the account as deceased and to waive cancellation penalties on any bookings that need to be cancelled. Airbnb will typically agree to this when a death certificate is provided.

If possible – and if a family member or co-host has the capability to manage the property – it may be preferable to honour some or all of the upcoming bookings rather than cancel. This avoids disruption for guests who have already made travel plans and preserves the goodwill the host built. This is a judgment call for the estate to make.

Guests whose bookings are cancelled should be notified directly via the Airbnb messaging system (or by Airbnb, if the account has been deactivated). It is courteous, and in practice guests need time to rebook.

Pending payouts owed to the estate

Any hosting income that Airbnb has not yet paid out is owed to the estate. Airbnb releases payouts to hosts 24 hours after guest check-in, and they are transferred to the bank account or payment method registered on the hosting account. Standard bank transfers take 3–5 business days; faster payment methods are quicker.

Pending payouts will not be automatically released to the estate. You will need to contact Airbnb and provide:

• Death certificate
• Proof of authority to act (grant of probate or letters of administration, once available)
• Bank account details for the estate, or confirmation that the existing payout bank account can be used

If the payout bank account was the deceased’s personal current account, the bank will likely freeze it on notification of death. In that case, coordinate with the bank and Airbnb to redirect outstanding payouts once the estate account is established. See our guide to what happens to bank accounts when someone dies for how to manage this.

Security deposits

Airbnb does not hold security deposits in the traditional sense. Under Airbnb’s standard system, any damage claims go through the Resolution Centre or AirCover for Hosts. There is no separate cash security deposit that needs to be released – this is one less complication compared with some other rental models.

Superhost status

Superhost status is personal to the account holder and cannot be transferred, inherited, or passed to a co-host. It is a performance designation tied to the individual account’s review history and activity record. Airbnb’s own guidance confirms that Superhost membership is “automatically suspended or terminated” if a host stops meeting the qualification criteria, which would include cessation of hosting activity. It has no monetary value that can be extracted from the estate.

Documents required

The table below summarises what you will need depending on what you need to do with the account.

A death certificate is the document issued by the register office once the death has been formally registered. If the death is subject to a coroner’s investigation, an interim death certificate is usually accepted as a starting point. Order several certified copies when registering the death – they cost £12.50 each in England and Wales from the General Register Office (gov.uk/order-copy-birth-death-marriage-certificate).

A grant of probate (or letters of administration where there is no will) is issued by the Probate Registry and gives formal authority to administer the estate. Airbnb’s general customer service may close the account and deal with pending bookings based on a death certificate alone, but accessing or redirecting financial balances is likely to require formal estate authority. See our guide to applying for probate for the full process.

Access issues and two-factor authentication

A common problem with Airbnb accounts is two-factor authentication (2FA). Airbnb requires 2FA for account access, typically sending a one-time code to the registered phone number or email address. If those are no longer accessible – the phone is lost, the SIM has been deactivated, or the email inbox is unreachable – you cannot log in by the standard route.

Airbnb does provide a workaround for 2FA lockouts. On the login screen, if you cannot receive the one-time code, select “Need help?” on the two-factor authentication screen. Airbnb will then send an account recovery link to the registered email address within 12–24 hours. If you do have access to the registered email but not the phone, this route works.

If you have access to neither the phone number nor the registered email, the options are more limited:

• Contact Airbnb by phone (+44 203 318 1111) and explain the situation – that you are an executor or next of kin managing a deceased person’s account and cannot access 2FA. Airbnb’s support agents can verify your identity through alternative means and deactivate the account without you logging in.
• If the account was linked to a Google or Facebook login, access via those platforms may be possible if you have those credentials.

The practical message is this: if the account has active bookings or host listings, you do not need to log in yourself to resolve them. Airbnb’s customer service can act on the account once you have provided a death certificate and confirmed your authority. You do not need the account password to ask Airbnb to deactivate listings or contact affected guests.

How long it takes

Airbnb does not publish a formal timeline for deceased-account handling. Based on their general service standards:

• Listing deactivation: Can happen within hours of calling customer service with a death certificate
• Account closure: Typically actioned within a few business days of submitting a written request and death certificate
• Payout release to estate: Likely to take longer – 2–4 weeks once probate documentation is in place and Airbnb has processed the request
• Credits refund (if Airbnb agrees): No standard timeline; treat this as a low-probability outcome

Things to watch out for

Cancelling confirmed guest bookings as a host carries penalties – but Airbnb will waive them. Hosts who cancel bookings face calendar blocks and can lose Superhost status. In bereavement circumstances, these penalties can and should be waived. Ask Airbnb explicitly to mark the cancellations as exceptional circumstances when you notify them of the death.

Airbnb Credits have no cash value and cannot be converted. Unlike Booking.com’s Cash Credits, Airbnb Credits have no mechanism for being paid out – they can only be spent on bookings. If you cannot use them before the account is closed, they will be lost. There is no point holding off on closing the account to preserve credits if no one is in a position to use them.

Reviews left by or for the deceased remain on the platform. Airbnb’s reviews are publicly visible. Reviews left by the deceased for hosts, and reviews left by guests about the deceased’s property, will remain on the platform after the account is closed or deactivated. Airbnb does not routinely remove them. If a specific review is causing a problem, you can contact Airbnb’s content team, but removal is not guaranteed.

Host payout accounts linked to frozen bank accounts will need redirecting. If the deceased’s bank account is frozen on notification of death, any pending Airbnb payouts will likely fail if attempted to that account. Sort the payout redirect early – do not wait until an expected payout fails to discover the problem.

Notify the bank as well. If the deceased had the Airbnb app and a linked debit or credit card, cancelling the card is handled via the bank, not via Airbnb. See our guide to what happens to bank accounts when someone dies for how to notify financial institutions.

The host’s booking reviews help establish trust for future family members. If a surviving family member wants to take over a property that the deceased hosted, they will need a new Airbnb account – the existing account and its review history cannot be transferred. Building a new hosting reputation takes time; this is a legitimate consideration when deciding whether to continue letting the property.

Summary

When someone dies with an Airbnb account, these are the key steps:

1. Log in and check for upcoming bookings – identify any free cancellation windows and cancel those immediately
2. If the deceased was a host, take listings offline – log in and set dates as unavailable, or call Airbnb to deactivate the listings
3. Call Airbnb customer service (+44 203 318 1111) – explain the situation, provide a death certificate, and ask them to note the death on the account
4. For host accounts, ask Airbnb to waive cancellation penalties on any bookings that cannot be honoured
5. Pursue pending payouts with a death certificate and, once available, grant of probate
6. Check for Credits before closing the account – ask Airbnb if they can be refunded; if not, accept they will be forfeited on closure
7. Close the account via airbnb.co.uk/help/article/240 or by asking customer service to action it

Airbnb lacks the formal bereavement infrastructure that banks and utilities have built, but their customer service team can handle the key tasks when given clear information and a death certificate. The absence of a specific policy means some outcomes depend on individual agents and their discretion – persistence and written follow-up matter.

For related guidance, see our what to do when someone dies hub, our guide to cancelling a Booking.com account when someone dies, our guide to notifying British Airways when someone dies, our guide to cancelling a Ryanair booking when someone dies, and our guide to what happens to digital assets when someone dies. If the deceased had an outstanding PayPal balance, see our guide to what happens to a PayPal account when someone dies. For notification checklists covering all accounts and services, see our estate notification checklist.