The kinetic stability of the HXeOH and HXeOXeH molecules, chemically bound compounds made of Xe atoms and water, is studied by multi-reference ab initio methods. The decomposition paths, the transition states and the rates of dissociation as a function of temperature, are calculated. HXeOH and HXeOXeH are found to be protected by an energy barriers of 0.59 and 0.4 eV, respectively. Applying transition state theory, HXeOH and HXeOXeH have intrinsic half-lives of 1 h at 170 and 120 K, respectively. Implications of the results for the kinetic stability of these species are discussed. (C) 2009 Elsevier B. V. All rights reserved.