European coordination for host requests on energy issues.

[Debora1454]

Dear Friends, you will certainly know of the important energy restrictions that Europe had to adopt for the winter of 2022-2023 and probably also for the following years, as a consequence of the energy crisis due to the war in Ukraine and climate change.

Not only do we have to pay a lot of attention to the consumption of electricity, gas and even water, but we must contain the very high costs that hosts today are forced to face to guarantee you the best holiday. As a host we can implement all the best practices possible, but without the collaboration of the guests in respecting the duties, nothing can save us from succumbing to the weight of the energy bills.

For this reason we believe that an intervention by Airbnb is essential to protect us. As an Italian Airbnb community, we have decided to send personal feedback to the company to ask for new rules and tools to be introduced to deal with this emergency. Airbnb can be decisive in this historical period for a new awareness of travel.

Airbnb must ask its customers IN PREVENTION and as a NECESSARY CONDITION FOR BOOKING on this site to:

1) always observe the laws of the States in which they go regarding leases and behaviors connected to tourism. So they are required to inform themselves.

2) strictly observe the laws on energy saving that are simple (how to do separate collection carefully) or more complex (how to adapt to the new heating limits which for Italy will be 19 °). If apartment owners ask to observe the energy saving regulations, they must follow them. NOT FOLLOWING THEM IS OUT OF LAW (not just unwelcome or rude behavior).

The Host must be enabled to ask a guest who does not comply with the law to leave without suffering a penalty. And in the same way, complaints regarding the energy containment regulations are not admissible: if the law says that we must keep the temperature inside the apartments at 19 °, a complaint and a consequent request for reimbursement for a " discomfort "that does not depend on us".

It would also be important to introduce a tool to request an "extra" for energy costs, so as not to have to raise prices in a generalized way that is not easily understood by travelers.

We believe that coordinating European hosts in sending feedback with these requests can help draw Aribnb's attention to these issues. We therefore ask you to take action to send personal feedback to the platform on this issue.

Thank you all in advance for your cooperation.

[Cristiana19]

@Debora1454 Dearest Debora, excellent! I hope many hosts will follow your suggestions. Brava!

[Adriano78]

@Debora1454  thank you so much!

Here in Spain, the price of KWh for electricity increased by approximately 250%.

The Spanish government passed VAT from 21% to 5%, but this lowering of VAT did not serve as a great deal with how the price of the kwh increased.

The price of 1 kWh with taxes and subscription included are between 0.41 euros to 0.64 euros!

Having a majority of North American tourists, the prices of the tourist apartments in Seville increased prices by about 20%/30%.

In my apartment,  now i put an entrance detector if a guest leaves the apartment, the air conditioning is automatically turned off.

I also had to decide to limit the temperature in the summer. We have very hot and dry summers (about an average of 37 ° C) and 15% humidity.

Unfortunately, the problem comes mainly from North American customers who do not know about energy crises and where electricity prices are very low.

A North American customer consumes 3 to 4 times more than Kwh than a European customer and I am sorry to say that the American customer "the energy economy" does not give a **bleep**!.

The mentality is: I pay = I waste.

With external temperatures of 37 ° C and internal of 27C, they regulate the A/C at 16C thermostat !!!. Of course with such high external temperatures, no AC in the world is able to lower the internal temperature to 16 ° C without damaging and freezing the compressor.

In winter it is the opposite with external temperatures of about 15C and internal temperature of 18C, they regulate the A/C to  26C!

Since last summer in my rules on Airbnb, I have specified that the thermostat in the summer will be blocked with a minimum temperature of 24C.

From this summer in Spain, we have a new law, all the premises that welcome the public (shops, restaurants, bars, state buildings.) They will not be able to put the air conditioning for less than 27C in summer and maximum heating at 19c in winter.

What @Debora1454  say is perfect!

For this reason we believe that an intervention by Airbnb is essential to protect us. As an Spanish Airbnb community, we have decided to send personal feedback to the company to ask for new rules and tools to be introduced to deal with this emergency. Airbnb can be decisive in this historical period for a new awareness of travel.

Airbnb must ask its customers IN PREVENTION and as a NECESSARY CONDITION FOR BOOKING on this site to:

1) always observe the laws of the States in which they go regarding leases and behaviors connected to tourism. So they are required to inform themselves.

2) strictly observe the laws on energy saving that are simple (how to do separate collection carefully) or more complex (how to adapt to the new heating limits which for Spain will be 19 ° in winter and 27c in summer ). If apartment owners ask to observe the energy-saving regulations, they must follow them. NOT FOLLOWING THEM IS OUT OF LAW (not just unwelcome or rude behavior).

The Host must be enabled to ask a guest who does not comply with the law to leave without suffering a penalty. And in the same way, complaints regarding the energy containment regulations are not admissible: if the law says that we must keep the temperature inside the apartments at 19 °, a complaint and a consequent request for reimbursement for a " discomfort "that does not depend on us".

It would also be important to introduce a tool to request an "extra" for energy costs, so as not to have to raise prices in a generalized way that is not easily understood by travelers.

We believe that coordinating European hosts in sending feedback with these requests can help draw Aribnb's attention to these issues. We, therefore, ask you to take action to send personal feedback to the platform on this issue.

[Sudsrung0]

@Debora1454 @Cristiana19 @Adriano78 

Im 100% behind you, you will see it has been discussed on here a few times, me and my husband have been talking about it for days, It's the same for us here in Thailand all we can do at the moment is increase our rates which we have done and I now have a cleaning fee to offset some of the cost, It's not only the electric it's everything you need to run a successful Airbnb,

It could be included in your listing as an extra charge like the cleaning fee, then guest could not complain about it in your reviews, 

In my experience in the past on some of our villas we did charge extra for electric and we were getting bad reviews because of it, But if Airbnb had it an extra charge that wouldn't happen.

Then the host would have a choice either charge or not, like the cleaning fee and pet fees.

One of the problems we have is the waste like leaving doors and windows open cooling the garden down.

I know my husband is looking into a keycard system much like they have in Hotels when you take the card out it all goes off, because that is the other problem going out all day and leaving everything on.

One thing I will say is when we did charge extra for electric, you watch the guest turn everything off when they know they have to pay for it, 

I remember one couple when I saw the bill I thought how is that possible this was a big 2 bedroom pool villa I found out what they were doing, he was turning the pool off, honestly they must have lived in darkness for 3 weeks, Then the pool started to go cloudy,

[Debora1454]

Thanks @Sudsrung0 , it is precisely because the problems are more or less the same worldwide, that the platform should intervene. I invite you to write personal feedback to Airbnb on this issue, the more feedback they get, the more chance there is of getting attention.

Hey @Huma0 would you please join us in this action?

[Huma0]

@Debora1454 

I certainly agree that something must be done. I have put my nightly rate up a little bit, but I fear it is not enough. 

Like @Adriano78 , I find that American guests have a different attitude towards energy (and water) consumption and, as I seem to be hosting more American guests in the past few months than I ever did before, it was starting to become a real issue even before our prices shot up again here on 1st October. I try to tell people that there is an energy crisis, but they stare at me blankly like they have no idea what I am talking about. Likewise, when we recently had a drought and a hosepipe ban, I asked guests to be a bit more conscientious in their water usage, e.g. not putting on lots and lots of tiny loads of laundry, not leaving taps on etc. but their behaviour did not change at all. 

Of course, this behaviour is not limited to American guests but, judging from what some US hosts have written here on the CC, people over there are not suffering from increased prices, so perhaps it is just not on their radar.

It would certainly be helpful if Airbnb could support in some of the ways suggested, e.g. a guide for being a responsible guest, which is something actually sent to them, rather than something they have to go hunting for. If they hear it from Airbnb, maybe they will pay attention.

I would also support an additional electricity/energy charge. However, in my experience, if this is a flat rate, people tend to be MORE wasteful with energy than if they are paying for usage, so I would encourage any hosts who are able, to have some sort of metered system where they can measure guests' usage and charge accordingly. It is difficult for me to do this because I have a homeshare with three separate guest rooms, but it could certainly work for hosts with entire units.

[Huma0]

@Debora1454 

PS feedback sent to Airbnb.

[Debora1454]

Dear @Huma0 , unfortunately, it is difficult to measure consumption, partly because most buildings are not equipped with meters and partly because tariffs are constantly changing. You could charge a lump sum and then eventually make an adjustment on the basis of the consumptions recorded in the bill, this can certainly be written in the contract, but if not everyone does it, obviously the guests will go to those who do not, for this reason a tool put available from the platform would be more useful. It is true that those who pay tend to consume more, but it is also true that we have to pay the **bleep** bills without having to lose out. I believe that Airbnb should do its part to educate travelers to new awareness in respect of the environment and consumption, instead of promoting the idea of a unique holiday where you can do whatever you want and everything is allowed. The time for fat cows is over!

[Huma0]

@Debora1454 

Well, if meters are impossible, then of course a flat charge would be necessary. Here is is normal for homes to have meters and, in fact, energy suppliers have started providing 'smart meters' for free, so that you can easily see daily consumption. My issue is that, as it's a shared home, there is no way to accurately monitor what individual guests are using.

Yes, we have to pay the bills. It would just be great to be able to find a way to encourage people to waste less. I used to work for the Energy Saving Trust, an organisation that aimed to raise awareness of climate change issues and educate people to reduce their carbon footprint, so I know a bit about this. Most people do not care about environmental issues unless it impacts their own wallets. 

It is not useful for your situation or mine, but there will be many hosts out there who can measure how much energy a guest uses. @Debra300 has found a system that works well for her. She sets a (generous) allowance for electricity and takes a deposit. If guests exceed the allowance, they need to pay for the extra units. She said she finds that they never go over the limit. Of course, this system only works if you have a meter for the unit and you would need to read it on check in and check out.

[Debora1454]

@Huma0 I agree with everything you say, everyone will try to put in place the best strategies to protect themselves, the fact remains that the cost of energy will continue to increase, even making a certain amount available and then asking to pay for any extra consumption, will not protect you from having huge bills. This situation is destined to last for a long time, it is said at least until 2025, so it will be really difficult to survive this crisis. Not to mention probable decreases in power, scheduled power cuts, gas rationing, curfew of electricity. Airbnb must protect hosts by preventing guests from making absurd complaints or refund requests because of these problems that are beyond our control.

[Debra300]

@Debora1454,

It has been my experience that guests tend to be more conscious of their energy usage when there is a financial incentive.   It is currently low season for us, but for the upcoming high season I plan to make duplicate listings, and test offering our rental spaces without air conditioning for a reduced rate (there are ceiling fans in all rooms except the bathrooms).  These listings will be linked to the regular listing, and guests can decide if the price difference is worthwhile.  

@Huma0,

One feature that I really like about the circuit breaker/energy meters is that they can be reset to zero after each checkout.  Although this has never happened with us, it prevents any confusion or claims that some of the energy usage was consumed prior to the guests arrival.

[Debora1454]

@Debra300 Excellent, it's all part of the good strategies that we can put into practice, but in any case they do not protect us from possible complaints from guests and requests for compensation for problems that do not depend on us, as they do not protect us from the exorbitant costs of energy and all the limitations established by law that we are obliged to observe. For this reason, sending feedback to the platform to ask for more protection is important.

[Sudsrung0]

@Debora1454 

Maybe you are better than me at facts and figures, If all host had to increase their rates by 25% surely that would have some economic effect on Airbnbs turnover?

[Sudsrung0]

I just noticed there is a section 

• How to host responsibly Should have "How to be a responsible Guest

[Debora1454]

@Sudsrung0 These are suggestions to hosts, now we need rules for guests.