Ukranian Refugees

[Catrin6]

Hi

I want to do my bit to help where I can and am happy to let my property for free between committed bookings. I know this is not ideal as people will want longer stays, but it may be better than nothing and will give comfortable refuge until a longer term stay can be arranged. Once my committed bookings are over, I will then be happy to host longer term (mid June) 

Is anyone else doing this and if so, how have you gone about it?

[Kate867]

I would love to do this as well, but we only have a few days available here and there between bookings right up until September.  As I understand it, if we cancel bookings to enable refugees to stay, then we will incur penalties.  I don’t care about losing Superhost status at all given the scheme of things, but  the personal financial penalty would be seriously concerning.  Also, those dates would then be blocked so could not be booked/used by those genuinely needing them… I assume.  Hopefully someone more educated will read this and advise?

[Anonymous]

@Catrin6 @Kate867  If you want to make the open dates on your listings' calendars available to people in crisis (including, but not limited to, Ukrainian refugees) follow this link: https://www.airbnb.com/for-airbnb-org/how-to-host

To the best of my knowledge, Airbnb is not exempting hosts from cancellation penalties for hosts who want to switch from a normal booking to an Open Home, so that is really not a workable solution. It's not really in the spirit of charity to screw over your existing guests to help out hypothetical ones. But apart from offering accommodation, there are many other ways you can volunteer your time and resources to support refugees in and beyond your community. And of course there's nothing stopping you from donating the proceeds from your committed bookings to charities that are better able to maximize the impact of every pound.

[Catrin6]

Hi Andrew/Kate

Thanks for getting back. I will look into the link and see what can be done. I am very aware of all the different ways I can of course help, but right now, it seems giving people a roof over their heads and some human warmth and kindness trumps every other consideration, but it will take a great deal of thought and research, so thank you both.