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

[Hadrian1]

@Juan63 I agree with you. Ignore this guy @Scott1156 who is clearly not the brightest tool in the shed. Airbnb is my primary source of income. I have 13 properties, and 72 listings listed on Airbnb and I am doing just fine in the current situation. Just believe in yourself and follow your instinct.

[Juan63]

@Hadrian1 thanks, I appreciate it. Although it's not my primary source of income, I see nothing wrong with that, any business is a risk. I believe we should stand up for the community when we are treated unfairly or people spread inaccurate information. 

[Scott1156]

Bingo.

[Terry29]

What a condescending attitude

[Karen2391]

Well then, I hope you will also have zero sympathy for ALL who are severely financially affected. They ALL should have planned for THIS! Teachers shouldn’t teach, cruise ships shouldn’t offer experiences for you, waitress positions shouldn’t exist to serve you and supply chain people should just die,  they ALL planned their careers very foolishly. And ALL hosts/hospitality people are DEBT-RIDDEN SLOBBERING PARASITES RUNNING MULTIPLE PROPERTY INVESTMENT SCHEMES. 

Yeah, screw those stupid STUPID hosts making this whole wonderful travel resource possible. 

[Scott1156]

Teachers have primary income through an employer.  Servers work for restaurants, for an employer.

This business some of you are running is completely different.  Do you seriously not see that?

The lack of self awareness is truly astonishing.

[Juan63]

@Scott1156  You are thick. So their employers are not in the same boat? You conveniently disregarded the coffee shop owner. Your logic makes zero sense. Employers are not immune to the failure. Maybe you are a communist and believe everyone should work for the government, because really that's the closest you can get to prevent business failure.

[Scott1156]

Who takes all the risk in starting that business?  Not the server.  They are simply employees.  Risk/reward is different. 

Holy S.  I'm done here, I stumbled across the "idiots of real estate" over here.

[Juan63]

@Scott1156  You made a absurd claim that made no sense since every business and every job has risk. Airbnb has no higher risk than many other businesses. The problem here is how they unilaterally decided how to issue refunds. 

[Sarah977]

@Juan63 Yes, the coffee shop owner's business could fail. But the coffee shop owner collects and is in charge of his own finances- that's the difference here. And employees of the coffee shop, while they aren't in control of the money and rely on the owner to pay them their salary, are protected by labor laws in most places. 

It just seems foolish to have put all one's eggs in a basket that is ultimately controlled by a large, greedy corporation that has shown itself, long before the COVID crisis, to be uncaring of, and often extremely unfair to their providers. 

I would venture a guess that the majority hosts who are outraged about how Airbnb has handled this (which is not to say that those who aren't totally outraged believe that Airbnb has acted responsibly here) are those who have been merrily running their business, making good money and never had any major issues where Airbnb totally shafted them before.  Never had Airbnb override their cancellation policy due to some bogus claim from the guest, never had guests who left 1*, lying retaliation reviews that Airbnb refused to remove, never had Airbnb refuse to pay out for major damages caused by guests even though the required proof was submitted, never had missing payouts for months or even longer, never had their listing suspended due to some guest lie, never been delisted due to a supposed "safety" issue that Airbnb refuses to disclose to them. In other words, most weren't actually aware of how poorly the company has dealt with their hosts for a very long time and are shocked that Airbnb would apply the EC in a way that damages all hosts. 

[Juan63]

@Sarah977 Yes, it's obvious that the owner and employees are different in some ways, but they are the SAME as their hedging their bets on a business. A barista could go to work at Starbucks or the small coffee shop down the street. They both have risks. Sure spreading your risk is a good strategy for any person, but that doesn't make using a proven platform any less risky than working at the local coffee shop. Want proof, in many cases, the barista and the Airbnb host are out of work.

[Jean174]

You are correct. Always list on more than one platform.  Be willing to pivot on a dime when you have to.Review your pricing strategy daily.  Cut my price in half and got a local first responder in my unit.  Some money is better than no money.  I had to make a decision and promote my listing quickly and it worked. 

[Trudi15]

booking.com is not responding any better. In fact if ABB were smart they would do something VERY BOLD like give 10% of their IPO shares to Superhosts and refund all cancellations. Become heroes of the industry. Make us all loyal stakeholders, compete with Booking in a way they can not. what would it cost in % of their revenues in exchange for massive goodwill. Brian are you listening?

[Dawn573]

I think we could all stand to give everyone the benefit of the doubt. I'm sad to see so much shaming and blaming at this difficult time 😞 

[Branka-and-Silvia0]

If this pandemic doesn't fall under extenuating circumstances then I don't know what does.  Especially because almost none travel insurance covers pandemic.

I think Airbnb should immediately extend this policy at least until September so hosts can cancel penalty-free all their bookings now and rent their properties long term until this pandemic is over.