During COVID-19 Fellow Hosts are an embarrassment!!

[Ginny30]

I am embarrassed by the entitlement some of my fellow hosts are having during COVID-19 epidemic.  The world does not revolve around your rental property or mine!  Airbnb has my full support in issuing 100% refunds during this time. 
This entitlement to thinking Airbnb should pay you according to your cancellation policy is absurd.  All of us are “self employed” with Airbnb, we pay them a small percentage to advertise, showcase and handle our bookings.

There is nothing more important to me then my health, the health of others in my community and the health of my guests!  Welcoming guests to my property right now could potentially expose them, myself and my community to this daily growing virus.  We don’t know if they have been exposed to the virus and they don’t know if I have!  
I have a feeling you would still be complaining even if they would go with your cancellation policy.  This is a global problem and their are people out there financially suffering much more than you are!  Airbnb or any other rental company should never be considered your main source of income period!  There...rant over

[Scott1156]

It’s arrogance, on your part.  Y’all have pushed housing prices far too high and you’ve not planned for risk.  Your get rich quick scheme is over and you can complain all you want, but this is what happens when you ignore risk.  Nobody is jealous of a failed business model.

[Juan63]

@Scott1156  No clue here. There is no evidence Airbnb raises house prices. I sat in at all the city council meetings. There was ZERO evidence it raised prices and some people thought it lowered prices, which is also false. If you think this is get rich scheme you need to dunk your head in cold water and wakeup!

[Scott1156]

How clueless to the macro are some of you?  Artificial demand for homes pushes prices higher.  Your business is artificial demand, as it’s not for primary residence and it’s simply to run a highly leveraged, unsustainable business.  See Zillow as well.

**bleep**, some of you are straight up ignorant.  I guess it’s not surprising that you’ve made the choices you have.

[Juan63]

@Scott1156  There is no such thing as artificial demand. The Airbnb market is no different than any other market. STR have existed for decade so you're full of BS!

[Juan63]

@Scott1156  Zillow..lol. Yeah that's an accurate website. Not to mention you should have been at the city council meetings since you are smarter than all the professionals who tried to find the real answers residents were looking for.

[Scott1156]

I'm referring to Zillow's house flipping business, which lost significant money per house last quarter.  For a real estate professional, you don't sound very informed about your own industry.

About artificial demand, ok.  Good luck to you, I'm sure it will work out well.

[Juan63]

@Scott1156  Did I say I was flipping house? You should be for specific if you want a more informed answer. 

[Patricia2604]

@Scott1156 

Could you please enlighten us of your business model as i would be interested to how you feel  "y'all" should be running our business.

As for me, my husband has reached the age were it is unsafe for him to carry on in the career he has been doing for 44 years. for which a huge part of that was working away with the Army (where may i add his wage back the was lower than welfare payments" and in Civilian  life.

We had a choice to apply for welfare or look for another way to support ourselves. Our choice was, to move into a small flat on our 1400 square metre block and rent out our family home to gain somewhat of an income. This was not done to make a quick buck, it was done to keep a roof over our heads and food on the table. Because of this we chose a strict cancellation policy. (good business sense for our situation as for as i'm concerned) 

Now when a person looks at our property it shows our cancellation policy, we even put all our house rules on and recommend they take out travel/holiday insurance for the unforeseen.

On booking  they acknowledge that they agree to these terms. 

Fast Forward to a unforeseen incident, now its no ones fault.

The guest has budgeted for this holiday, the host has supplied the accommodation. 

So a cancellation is needed.

If the guests looses 100% of the accommodation money they are still able to live and pay bills, If the host looses 100% of the accommodation money they are unable to pay bills etc. Now with the strict policy the only time a guest will lose 100% is if the cancellation is within 7 days of the stay otherwise its 50%. Taking into account it is not the guest or hosts fault I would of thought a 50/50 should have been a fair and reasonable solution. 

The hosts that are in uproar is to the fact that we all know that there is a extenuating circumstance clause but to completely change our policies that have been agreed upon between guest and host (and bear in mind the choices we had were set by Airbnb) with no correspondence prior to the full refund being offered was very thoughtless to say the least.

In our situation because of this action we now have no income, whereas if it had adopted our cancellation property we could have struggled through for a few months.

If Airbnb had a good business model for the type of service it is offering it should be encouraging guests to take out a Travel insurance and maybe even have links or a policy for them to access on their site.

[Wendy1071]

@Patricia2604  Your current situation is unfortunate - let's hope this is a short run.  Your summary of Airbnb policies is similar to many hosts who feel it's unfair but all hosts are bound by it, regardless of how many may be in the same camp or think the same thing and yes @Susan17 society IS structured around contracts and laws.  You too are looking for a legal remedy as you outlined one that may be submitted in August however, if the courts are up and running and if a change to Airbnb EC policies are amended sometime after that,  it will be a welcome change for hosts, but they will be amended going forward.  They won't become retroactive and they aren't going to change the current situation.  

Get a plan B.  In Canada, there are multiple remedies of deferral payments on bank mortgages being offered and government supports being set up to help people in dire straits.  Possibly there are some in your countries too?

[Susan17]

Oh please.. get a Plan B? Right now, in the tiny city of Dublin there are about seven and a half thousand hosts, all desperately trying that very same Plan B, and Plan C, and Plan D. Makes things a little tricky, to say the least. 

And do you really think we haven't already researched all "multiple remedies" to the nth degree? Despite what some of you appear to believe, we're not all complete morons, you know. 

The point is - the one reason, snd the only reason we're even in such a bad position, is because of Airbnb's complete f***ery. Now, can you all please, please, please just quit with the useless, unhelpful, condescending "advice"? Because quite frankly, all you're doing is making a bad situation for so many, a whole lot worse. 

[Wendy1071]

@Susan17 Okay Susan, you continue to blame Airbnb and lament other hosts for your current situation.  Good luck.

[Wendy1071]

@Susan17   Good, glad to hear.  Hang in there sister!

[Scott1156]

If you have one rental and it isn't your primary income, you aren't who I am speaking about.

If you are both indeed unable to find work for primary income, that is a separate issue.  Point being, AirBnB rentals should not be your primary income.

It's no surprise that AirBnB, and nearly every other travel business, has taken this approach.  If they screw the guests, they lose future business.  Then your business is screwed anyway.  You may get your temporary situation in line, but you are going to be in the same situation in a mere month or two.

[Juan63]

@Scot6 Such a stupid philosophy, Airbnb shouldn't be your main income? That's just idiotic. Any business is susceptible to failure. Maybe the coffee shop owner shouldn't have that be his main source of income, or lets tell that to the restaurant server. They are crazy to think they should rely on being a waitress as their main source of income. Most are not wanting a bailout from Airbnb, we want fair treatment. The EC doesn't mention anything about refunding money. We want the contract between the guest, hosts and Airbnb to be applied equally. 

[Scott1156]

You've proven very ignorant.  I would place significant money that your business is going to fail hard.  Good luck.