November lockdown calendar block

[Marcus21]

As per their recent email it now seems air bnb have taken it upon themselves to block November supposedly due to the lock down. It hasn’t happened like last time, the dates appear available but I see in my inbox now enquiries for dates that are available have been altered to “not possible” and the statement is “some or all of these dates aren’t available” so I can only presume this is what’s going on. I’m very very unhappy about this, the initial lockdown cost me thousands in lost bookings but I could understand that, we weren’t allowed to host under government guidelines but this is different, we ARE allowed to host work trips and people moving home so why has this been done? Supposedly for the safety of our community? Well I’ve had lots of requests over the past couple of months for people who freely admit they are travelling to the uk and will not be quarantining as they should, I raised this with air bnb expecting them to put a stop to it or  at very least contact the guest and educate them, they wouldn’t intervene at all..so how was that looking out for the community? Almost all my stays since lockdown have been people working or moving/between flats, rates are terrible but I’ve managed to keep going on these payouts by living frugally/selling things off on eBay etc  (air bnb is my only source of income) now I’d expect 3 weeks without bookings will halve what savings I have left. I thought air bnb were going to listen to hosts after the March/Covid cancellation fiasco? How is this listening? I can’t imagine any host would agree this was the right thing to do.

[Helen427]

@Carol5573 @Marcus21 @Helen350 @Jean4999 @Ben-and-Jo2  

Send @Brian CEO of ABB a Direct message via ABB CC , get a Read Receipt, so you know he has it and make sure he fixes it up so it's in accordance with the Law.

Rule of Law is there for a reason.

As an aside, the Govt should not ever have or be using the word "must" in it's addresses to anyone, the legal terminology requires the word "May" such is how much of a mess those running the SShow are ignorant of laws.

"Ignorance of Law is not an excuse for breaking the law".

2020 will go down in history for politicians reading word for word pre written rubber stamped scripts that are not in line with International Human Rights, alas they have been under the control of "Scientists" who they should be asking questions of and holding them to account and not destroying World economies and the wider public health of all of Society .

 It's weird how those in Parliament in 2020 across the world who make laws don't understand the basics of the laws those Sage people did before them, particularly basic Human Rights.

[Marcus21]

@Helen427 

isnt messaging @Brian  a bit like messaging Britney Spears or Donald trump (you decide which!) 

he must have a mountain of them..surely you can’t be the only one with his “@“?

[Marcus21]

@Jean4999 

if lockdown ends at 00.01 on the THIRD of December I feel we’ll have been lucky! 
remember how they pushed it back before and it’s already been said if the r number isnt low enough bye bye xmas.

[Emma-and-Mark0]

I spent another two hours on chat with Airbnb again yesterday. My last message to them sums up where I got to:

"I understand this isn't your fault Jan but it's really frustrating when you keep sending me the same link that I originally sent you. You are using the same text, from the same website, to prove your point that I am using to prove my point. We are both reading the same information but Airbnb have interpreted the information wrongly."

Their response is unbelievable! 

"Thank you, Emma for understanding regarding the subject matter.
Actually we all are Airbnb,our respectable Host and guest all are triangular partners and want to have a smooth relationship to run the company."

[Emma-and-Mark0]

I'm now having an existential crisis 🙈

[Jacqueline944]

It's ridiculous isn't it.  Generic messages but nothing that actually addresses the issues we are raising or helps us in any way.  

[Carol5573]

So here’s the latest response from Airbnb support..

Hi Carol, Thank you for your response.
As support to the government restriction imposed by your government, Airbnb has blocked the calendar of hosts for the affected dates. As per the exceptions on hosting, we still have no option to open the dates on your calendar. Our team is currently working double time to update our policies that would coincide with the exemption made by your government.

Thank you for your understanding.

Kind Regards

Make of that what you will, I’m not optimistic!

[Emma-and-Mark0]

It's a bit better than the responses I've been getting. 

[Marcus21]

Support is just a bunch of people reading from the manual. It doesn’t take long on the job to know more about it than they do. If it’s not in their book that’s it, you’re not going to negotiate policy change with them. I think the best we can do is try to raise awareness of this thread, perhaps an administrator might step in and combine it with Similar to make it bigger (anyone?? Hello??)  Keep commenting and like comments as often as you can..it all helps push it closer to being on the radar and then the powers that be might notice it. Alternatively send loads of comments to the feed back section..this is apparently reviewed..nothing is ignored even if it’s not replied to (blah blah) 

[Helen350]

You need to learn to tag the administators @Marcus21 !

- Allow me to be of assistance: @Katie @Nick @Quincy @Liv @Lizzie ! 🙂

[Marcus21]

@Helen350 i tend to naturally pick up things that are useful to me..so far..I’ve yet to see any magic from the air bnb community forum. 

not looking to employ too many bells and whistles on how to use it currently.

[James-And-Isobel0]

I too have tried to talk sense to Airbnb. 
After all our November bookings cancelled (holiday bookings) we received 2 new bookings that complied  with the government restrictions before Airbnb shut us down. 
I am sure we would have received many additional “compliant” bookings if our calendar was still open on the platform. 
By the way single (Estranged) parents who need accommodation to host their children are also entitled to use hotels and other lodgings