Hurricane Nolo Refunds: What Airbnb and Vrbo Actually Cover

Hurricane Nolo was about 220 miles south of South Point on Hawaii Island at 2 a.m. HST on Friday, September 25, 2026, with 85 mph sustained winds and a forecast to become a major hurricane Saturday, according to the Central Pacific Hurricane Center. Hawaii County is under a hurricane watch and a tropical storm warning, with 15 to 30 inches of rain forecast for the eastern and southern Big Island.

Big Island hosts have guests in the house, guests due Saturday, and guests booked for next week, all asking about their money. The answer depends on a short ladder of government actions, and as of Friday morning none of the rungs Airbnb's policy names has been reached, so every refund on Hawaii Island this weekend defaults to the host's own cancellation policy.

This is the update to our Tropical Storm Edouard refund guide from September 1: what has happened, mapped to the exact policy language, and the three outcomes a host controls.

Key facts

• Nolo had 85 mph sustained winds at 2 a.m. HST on September 25, 2026 and is expected to become a major hurricane Saturday while its center stays south of the main Hawaiian Islands, per the Central Pacific Hurricane Center.
• A hurricane watch and tropical storm warning cover Hawaii County, per the CPHC advisory, and a flood watch runs through 6 p.m. Saturday, per Hawaii News Now.
• Hawaii County said "there are no evacuation orders in place at this time," and the state's guidance is to consider evacuating, per Hawaii News Now and HI-EMA.
• Airbnb's Major Disruptive Events Policy covers mandatory travel restrictions such as an evacuation order and prolonged utility outages, and excludes non-binding advisories and foreseeable seasonal weather, per Airbnb.
• Vrbo's policy names hurricanes that are Category 3 or higher at least 24 hours before forecasted landfall, and the listing's cancellation policy applies until Vrbo sends notice, per Expedia Group's policy page.

Which government actions have been taken, and which have not

On the forecast track Nolo turns west Saturday with its center well south of the islands, tropical storm conditions on the Big Island by Friday night, hurricane conditions possible early Saturday in steep terrain, and 1 to 3 feet of surge for Hawaii County, per the 2 a.m. advisory. The 11 p.m. HST Thursday discussion added that "additional southward shifts in future advisories are possible," per the CPHC.

Governor Josh Green's September 3 emergency proclamation covers "any additional storms" through November 1, 2026, and it does not order evacuations, impose a curfew or close businesses, per the governor's office. State and county offices, public schools and UH campuses on Hawaii Island closed Thursday and Friday, and the governor requested a federal emergency declaration, per Hawaii Public Radio. Hawaii Volcanoes National Park and all state parks and trails on the Big Island are closed, per Hawaii News Now, and Hawaii County opened four shelters Wednesday evening and five more Friday morning, per the Honolulu Star-Advertiser.

The part that decides the refund question: the county's shelter release said "there are no evacuation orders in place at this time," per Hawaii News Now, and the state's update page, last revised September 23, tells residents and visitors to "consider evacuating to a safer shelter, especially if you are in southeast Hawaii Island," per HI-EMA. Recommended is the operative word. A watch, a warning, a proclamation, closed schools and open shelters are five different things, and none is a mandatory travel restriction.

Where each action sits on Airbnb's policy

A Major Disruptive Event is Airbnb's term for a large-scale event that lets guests cancel for a refund regardless of the listing's cancellation policy. The covered list: public health emergencies, "mandatory travel restrictions imposed by a governmental agency, such as an evacuation order or shelter-in-place order," military actions, "prolonged outages of essential utilities" affecting most homes in a location, and unforeseeable natural disasters, per Airbnb help article 1320.

Two exclusions on the same page matter this weekend: "non-binding travel advisories or other government guidance that fall short of a travel ban or prohibition," and "weather or natural conditions that are common enough to be foreseeable in a given location, such as hurricanes in Florida during hurricane season," covered only if the weather "triggers a covered Event that prevents completion of the reservation." Flight cancellations are excluded on their own line.

So the proclamation, watch, warning, closures, shelters and the recommendation to evacuate are all guidance short of a prohibition. A mandatory evacuation order for a district, or a prolonged power or water outage across most homes in an area, is a trigger. Airbnb activates the policy "for the impacted area and timeframe" after assessing the event, and we found no Nolo activation notice on Airbnb's help pages on September 25. Until then, "any refunds outside of the reservation's cancellation policy are at the host's discretion."

One more line is easy to miss: "hosts are obligated to cancel a reservation if their listing is uninhabitable," per the same policy, and fees are waived for "certain valid reasons beyond the host's control," such as major damage, per Airbnb's Host Cancellation Policy. A flooded house qualifies. A forecast does not.

What Vrbo's policy actually triggers on

Vrbo's help center returned an error page on every attempt on September 25, so the text below comes from Expedia Group's marketplace policy page for Vrbo. Hurricanes get their own line: "Hurricanes classified as Category 3 or higher at least 24-hours before forecasted landfall may be in scope," and a storm below Category 3 at that point "generally will not apply unless the hurricane makes landfall and its impact causes another disruption that is in scope," per Expedia Group.

Nolo is expected to reach Category 3 on Saturday, but the official track has no landfall at all, so the hurricane clause may never be met on its own terms. Flooding is separately listed as an event that "may be in scope," and Vrbo decides at its discretion.

The timing rule is what costs hosts money: "Until Vrbo provides that notice, the listing's cancellation policy and any enforcement under the Host Cancellation Policy will continue to apply," and hosts who cancel before Vrbo confirms the policy applies "may still be subject to enforcement actions." Once it applies, the host must refund in full before check-in or partially after; our post on Vrbo's host refund rules covers how the penalties stack.

That discretion is real: in the March 2026 Kona low, a Massachusetts family lost roughly $12,000 on a Hawaii Vrbo rental after Vrbo declined to activate the policy and said flexibility was "up to the host," per CBS Boston.

The flights: only Hilo has a waiver on Alaska's page

Guests will say the airline waived their flight, so the rental should follow. The two are unrelated on both platforms, and the waivers are narrow: as of September 25, Alaska Airlines' advisory page listed one Nolo waiver: Hilo (ITO), for original travel September 24 through 27, rebookable without a fare difference through September 30 or cancellable for credit if changed before departure, per Alaska Airlines. No Kona waiver appeared.

A September 24 roundup listed Kona waivers from Southwest, American and Delta, per Hawaii Reward Travel; confirm those with each carrier. Either way, a guest with a waiver still holds a rental reservation that both platforms treat as fully in force.

The three outcomes a host controls, with the payout math

Take a four night Kona stay arriving Saturday, September 26, with a $2,400 reservation amount (base rate plus cleaning fee, Airbnb's definition for fee purposes). Under the 15.5 percent host-only fee that reached US self managed hosts on September 15, the payout is $2,400 multiplied by 0.845, or $2,028.

Hold the policy and offer a date change. The guest keeps or moves the booking and you keep the $2,028; if the guest cancels instead, your cancellation policy sets the refund. This is the only outcome where a host comes out whole.

Refund as goodwill. On a full refund the payout goes to zero, but no fee attaches and the decision is yours; a 50 percent goodwill refund costs $1,014 of payout.

Cancel as the host. Airbnb's fee is 50 percent of the reservation amount for nights not stayed when the cancellation is within 48 hours of check-in or after it, 25 percent between 48 hours and 30 days out, and 10 percent beyond 30 days, with a $50 minimum, and the host "will not receive a payout for the canceled reservation," per Airbnb. Canceling that Saturday arrival on Friday costs the $2,028 payout plus a $1,200 fee withheld from future payouts, a $3,228 swing, and it can cost Superhost status; our post on what it costs to cancel a guest has the full schedule.

If Airbnb activates the policy for the Big Island, a covered guest cancels for a full refund and "the host does not receive a payout for the canceled dates," per the policy: the same zero as a goodwill refund, reached without your consent.

On a direct booking there is no ladder. The weather terms are whatever you wrote into your rental agreement, and the guest's contact details are yours, which makes a date change an easy conversation. Haven (bookwithhaven.com) builds branded direct booking sites where the host sets those terms and keeps the guest relationship, with no booking commission.

A checklist for Big Island hosts this weekend

Message every guest arriving through Tuesday before they message you, with the advisory time, the watch and warning status, and whether the house is habitable with power and water on. Offer the date change first and in writing; a guest who declines has been offered a reasonable alternative, which matters if a dispute reaches the platform.

Do not cancel as the host on a forecast. If the property floods, loses power for an extended period or becomes unsafe, cancel promptly and document it with photos and the outage map, because that is a valid reason and the fee can be waived.

Check each Central Pacific Hurricane Center advisory, Hawaii County Civil Defense alerts, and Airbnb's policy page. If a mandatory evacuation order is issued for your district, the answer in this post flips for reservations inside that order's area and dates. Write your weather stance down in two sentences and apply it to every guest the same way.

What to watch next

An evacuation order from Hawaii County Civil Defense is the single fact that changes the platform answer; an extended outage across a district is the second. Hawaii County hosts also still face the December 31, 2026 deadline on the county's vacation rental registration, covered in our Hawaii County registration post.

FAQ

My guests arrive on the Big Island Saturday during Hurricane Nolo. Does Airbnb make me refund them?

Not as of Friday morning, September 25, 2026. Airbnb's policy covers mandatory evacuation orders, shelter-in-place orders and prolonged utility outages, and excludes non-binding advisories and foreseeable seasonal weather, so your cancellation policy governs unless Airbnb activates the policy or an order is issued.

Hawaii declared a state of emergency. Does that trigger Airbnb's policy?

No. The governor's September 3 proclamation runs through November 1 and by its own terms does not order evacuations, impose a curfew or close businesses. Airbnb's policy turns on a mandatory travel restriction and excludes guidance short of a prohibition.

Does Vrbo's Category 3 rule apply to Nolo?

Not automatically. The clause names hurricanes that are Category 3 or higher at least 24 hours before forecasted landfall, and Nolo's official track has no landfall, so it may not be met on its own terms. Flooding is separately in scope and Vrbo decides at its discretion; until it sends notice, the listing's policy applies.

If I cancel my guests myself because of the hurricane, do I pay Airbnb's host cancellation fee?

Yes, unless Airbnb agrees it was a Major Disruptive Event or a documented valid reason such as a flooded home. Inside 48 hours of check-in the fee is 50 percent of the reservation amount for nights not stayed, and the payout is forfeited either way. A goodwill refund costs the payout but no fee.