On holiday near wildfires - WTF to do?

[thetinsoldier]

We’re in Bordeaux, 40k from the fires. It’s really smoky, the sun is covered by smoke and it’s really quite scary. Have spoken to neighbours and they say the smoke is just being blown this way, we’re not in danger, but it’s horrible and scary.

What would you do??

I have just read that Bordeaux has now been sent an evacuation warning, so I guess that is the OP's decision made

She has already updated, did you not read the posts above yours?

They're not supposed to be leaving until tomorrow. Hopefully @thetinsoldier will get the warning.

No of course not, this is Mumsnet!

Well maybe it took that poster eight minutes to read a post and type a line and a half. Typing is tricky yo.

@thetinsoldier Were you okay up till now smoke wise? Were you still able to be outdoors and enjoying the day (and last night)?

She is also heading ‘inland’ which I think is huge mistake, but I wonder if she has one of those partners who make everything worse.

I had one of those once, he would have convinced me that I was overreacting in this situation. I’m so glad I’m free of him and can follow my own instincts.

• You can cancel the booking yourself from your end then agree the refund amount with your host.

• Tell the host 1000 EUR insufficient in the circs and remind them that you can review them if you don’t cancel their booking.

• A 1* review plus a complaint they offered you a paltry refund in a wildfire is not in their interest.

Love your sarcasm but sorry to disappoint, it didn't take me 8 minutes to type a line and a half; at the point I read the last post, OP hadn't updated the post was from someone advising (as many had) that she should leave, I happened to see something come up on my newsfeed but before I could get round to posting I received a phone call I suppose I could have gone back into the thread on the basis that there may have been an update between the time I saw the newsfeed and the time my call ended, but actually I don't have the time to keep going back to threads to check for updates that might have happened in the last 10 minutes, I only wish I did! How the other half live, eh?

Love your sarcasm 😁😁😁

Thank you!

I hope OP will be able to actually enjoy some time away. Evacuating and being safe is obviously good, but to be on holiday and arrive back home exhausted isn’t fun ☹️.

If this is correct, the host can invoke VRBO’s extenuating circs policy which means hosts will not be penalised for cancelling and you qualify for a full refund.

It covers natural disasters including wildfires in the event of the property being unsafe to occupy, or subject to an evacuation order.

Isn’t the fire on the west coast though, by going inland she’s further away from it I think?

I mean, obviously there are other fires around, but she is definitely heading away from it for now.

Fire is apparently 12.5 miles from the city centre now. From looking at videos i wouldn’t say its contained or controlled but appreciate im no fire expert.

Inland is whole territory of France. Eg Dordogne is inland from Bordeaux and it will be totally fine

I’m off to bed OP. I hope you’ve read my posts.

If you’re subject to an evacuation order that takes it out of your hosts hands - you have the right to demand a cancellation and refund and they can apply for a cancellation penalty waiver.

If authorities stop short of an evacuation order, and can’t get your host to be more reasonable, consider applying for a chargeback.

Wow.

Their house might burn to the ground and your sad old 1 star review will be all that is left swinging in the breeze.

Some people really are fucking amazing. Not in a good way.

Do you know where Bordeaux is?

OP might burn to the ground, she’s lost 5k, she’s been offered is a paltry 20% refund. And all you can think about is your house? I’m a professional VRBO host and that is a disgraceful way to treat guests.

If you treat guests honourably there’s no reason to call out poor behaviour in their review.

If a humongous fire is raging the last thing anyone needs to worry about is your pathetic 1 star review threat.

No, you’re right, I’llhead west, out to sea instead! 👍🏼👍🏼

🙄🙄

Bordeaux is close to the coast. The fire is between B and the coast. We will head east, inland, away from B and the coast.

my h and I agree on this 🙄

I’d strongly suggest with a wildfire raging you consider your guests rather than simply yourself. Trying to make money out of them in a crisis is disgraceful. Treating them well does not make it any more or less likely your property will burn.

I didn’t suggest OP threatens anyone, I was simply pointing out that hosts know what to expect from a review if they mistreat their guests.

Interesting, thanks!

@thetinsoldier I am really glad that you're moving on to somewhere safe. Absolutely the right thing to do, since Bordeaux seemed to be almost surrounded by fires, judging by the map I saw last night on this thread. Fire is very unpredictable and you can't be too careful. Thank goodness you're getting out of the area.

Also happy for you that you've been able to salvage most of your hard-earned holiday.

All these fires everywhere each summer are really, really sad. So much destruction. Brings home to you how serious climate change really is. Not that I didn't know that, but watching Earth literally burn is quite something, in my view.

Bit of a stretch! Never ceases to amaze me how many posters can manage to twist everybody else’s situations around to make everything about them and their own issues.

No, not at our house. This morning there were thunderstorms - caused by the fire - and rain. This eve, when we got back in from our day out, it was so smokey you can’t go outside.

No worries. I must go to bed now, good luck.