What Airbnb’s Terms Actually Say About Account Transfer
Airbnb’s Terms of Service are direct on this point. The Member Accounts section states: “You may not transfer your account to someone else.” The Terms also say you may not assign, transfer, or delegate this agreement, or your rights and duties, without Airbnb’s written consent.
This is not a buried clause. It is the main rule governing account ownership. When a host dies, the account does not pass to heirs the way a bank account or a deed does. The listing, the reviews, the Superhost badge, and the search ranking history are all tied to the account. None of them transfer.
Vrbo has a similar rule, with one partial exception. Vrbo says no listing can be transferred to another party. But Vrbo does allow a new owner or heir to request that reviews transfer to a new listing. This is decided case by case. On Airbnb, reviews cannot be transferred under any circumstances.
Does Georgia’s Digital Asset Law Override Airbnb’s Terms?
Georgia adopted the Revised Uniform Fiduciary Access to Digital Assets Act, called RUFADAA, in 2018. It is O.C.G.A. Title 53, Chapter 13. The law lets fiduciaries, such as executors, trustees, and agents under a power of attorney, access digital assets of a deceased or incapacitated person.
But RUFADAA has a limit. It explicitly allows platform companies to comply based on their own Terms of Service. Airbnb’s rule against account transfer is not overridden by RUFADAA. The right of fiduciary access does not create a right of account transfer or continuity.
Here is what RUFADAA does allow. An executor or trustee can contact Airbnb with a death certificate and letters testamentary. That lets them redirect pending payouts to the estate’s bank account. But those are just administrative actions. They do not preserve the account, the Superhost status, or the review history for an heir who wants to keep hosting.
Georgia law lets your estate access the account. It does not let your heirs inherit it.
What Heirs Actually Face When the Host Dies
Here is the sequence when an Atlanta host dies with no co-host and no estate plan in place.
1
The account becomes inaccessible
Family members who know the password face a choice. Use it and violate the Terms of Service. Or contact Airbnb support with a death certificate and letters testamentary to redirect pending payouts. Either way, active listings go unmanaged.
2
Active bookings go unmanaged
With no co-host and no one authorized to log in, guests get no responses. The response rate drops. Superhost status is at risk. Guests with upcoming reservations may arrive at an unmanaged property. Each unmanaged arrival is a potential 1-star review that cannot be removed.
3
The estate redirects pending payouts
With a death certificate and letters testamentary, Airbnb will redirect pending payouts to the estate’s bank account. This takes days to weeks. It also requires a probate proceeding to already be underway. A funded revocable trust removes this delay entirely.
4
The heir creates a new account from zero
There is no other path to keep hosting. New listings start with zero reviews. The Superhost badge is gone. Platform algorithms rank new listings lower than established ones. The revenue premium the original account earned is gone for good.
The Revenue Math on Superhost Status Loss
Superhost status is not just a badge. It drives real, measurable revenue. Industry data from StaySTRA (2026) shows Superhosts earn 29% more annual revenue than similar non-Superhosts. That comes from 60% higher revenue per available day, plus higher occupancy. Other analyses put the premium as high as 64%.
Atlanta’s average Airbnb annual revenue per listing runs $23,000 to $36,000, depending on property size and neighborhood (Rabbu, Airbtics, and AirROI data, 2025 to 2026). Here is the revenue premium on a $30,000-a-year property:
- Conservative case (29% Superhost premium): $8,700 lost per property per year
- High end (64% Superhost premium): $19,200 lost per property per year
A host with three Atlanta properties averaging $30,000 each could lose $26,100 to $57,600 in annual revenue premium, permanently. A full Georgia real estate investor estate plan costs far less than a single year of that lost income. Airbnb reviews Superhost status four times a year. Requirements include 10 completed stays in the past 12 months, a 4.8-plus star average, a 90% response rate, and under a 1% cancellation rate. Minimum technical rebuild: 3 to 4 months. Realistic rebuild to the same review volume: 12 to 24 months.
The Three-Part Fix Before Death
No legal instrument can force Airbnb to transfer an account to an heir. The non-transferability rule is absolute under the current Terms of Service. But estate planning can still do two things. It can keep the business running during the transition. And it can reduce the permanent damage.
For a full overview of estate planning for Georgia real estate investors, see the Real Estate Investor Estate Planning hub.
Add a co-host to every listing now. A co-host can keep managing reservations, guest messages, check-ins, and cleaning coordination, through their own Airbnb account, without needing the primary host’s login. If the host dies or becomes incapacitated, the co-host keeps the property earning income while the estate is settled. For the full co-host and power of attorney setup, see How to Keep Your Airbnb Running If You’re Incapacitated in Georgia.
Include STR-specific authority in your durable power of attorney. A standard financial power of attorney under O.C.G.A. Chapter 10-6B does not automatically cover digital platform account management. The document should clearly authorize your agent to manage Airbnb and Vrbo accounts, accept and decline reservations, and redirect income on your behalf during incapacity.
Fund a revocable trust that holds the rental property. The trust does not preserve the Airbnb account. But it gives a successor trustee Day 1 authority to manage the property and collect income, without waiting for probate court. That Day 1 authority matters most when active guest bookings are running and no one else has legal standing to act. If the property is held in an LLC, see The Orphaned LLC Mistake for why funding takes two steps, not one. If the property carries financing, see Does Your Personal Guarantee Survive Your Death in Georgia?
