WHY WILL COVID-19 BANKRUPT HOSTS AROUND THE WORLD?

[Michael303]

COVID-19 WILL BANKRUPT HOSTS AROUND THE WORLD BECAUSE AIRBNB REFUSES TO ACKNOWLEDGE THE EXISTENCE OF TRAVEL INSURANCE!

Travel Insurance is easy and inexpensive for Guests to purchase. The lack of travel insurance protection is completely devastating for Hosts!

For 3 1/2 years I have been trying to get AirBnB to listen. Well, unfortunately, a global pandemic is going to bankrupt hosts around the world because AirBnB refuses to make legitimate travel insurance available for booking guests.

VRBO and HomeAway do such a superior job offering travel insurance to their/ our guests.

1. If you drive a car without insurance and get into an "unforeseen" accident, you are responsible, not the person you ran into. If you book a trip without travel insurance and something "unforeseen" happens, you are responsible, not the person who is hosting you. 

2. I have to carry liability insurance, flood insurance, homeowners insurance with an added hotel policy on top of that on my building to protect me and my guests for short term rentals. I would carry travel insurance for all my guests if I could... no wait it do?! It is AirBnB's insane policy of refunds?! Hosts are not Insurance companies. 

3. I think it's beyond unfortunate for Airbnb, hosts and guests that Airbnb does on hold guest accountable for travel insurance. The simplest way to handle this is to explain travel insurance up front - prior to booking and let guests know it's their responsibility to purchase it or guests will be taking the risk themselves. Travel insurance has existed since the beginning of modern travel. 

4. Airbnb Actually Recommends Travel Insurance. (the AirBnB link is blocked by AirBnB) Airbnb offers refunds at the host’s expense. It is completely unacceptable as a policy and puts the hosts in an untenable situation of loss that cannot be recouped for last minute cancellations – which, by the way, is why trip insurance exists.

5. Suggestion: if Airbnb wants to act like an insurance company and refund guests their money then charge a fee ($35 – $45 to be competitive with trip insurance companies) for that service.

This part of the Airbnb & Host relationship is 100% unfair and 100% unprofessional. Hosts are not Insurance companies. This policy is insane. Travel insurance has existed since the beginning of modern travel.

Airbnb is hurting the small business owners who are the reason Airbnb is in business at all. Shame on them for allowing this and for interfering with legitimate trip insurance companies who protect the owners as well as the traveler when situations happen outside of either parties control. Airbnb clearly is not protecting owners and their businesses with this kind of policy.

[Sarah977]

@Geoffrey112  Not all Airbnb hosts are taking housing off the market. There are plenty of home-share hosts and hosts who converted a garage or built a separate dwelling on their own property where they live, to list on Airbnb. Personally I just rent a private guest room/bath in my home and share the kitchen with my guests. I wouldn't rent that room long-term to anyone anyway, in fact it just sat empty most of the year unless I had friends or family come to visit (which is why short-term works for me- I can block off rentals when I  need to) for many years.

I list it because I enjoy hosting travellers from all over the world, and I've met some lovely people, some of whom have become friends who I keep in touch with. The $ I charge is minimal and it's of course nice to have a little extra cash, but not all hosts' motivation is purely financial.

So while I agree with your sentiments that this business of people buying up or renting houses to list on Airbnb hurts locals ability to find an affordable place to live, please understand that not all hosts have those kinds of listings. They actually distress a lot of small-time hosts like me, as well.

[Deborah505]

I am 65 with chronic bronchitis and terrified of this.  There is no way I can open back up (private room but shared bath)  until this is minimized. I am angry at the possibility of losing my Super Host status. I hope Airbnb can put a pause on the requirement to obtain  super host status. What do you think? 

[Sarah977]

@Deborah505 Check your email inbox. I got an Airbnb message yesterday saying they are not counting either number of stays or cancellations into the Superhost assessment on April 1 and may extend it to the next assessment depending on how things go. So, nothing to fret about.

My daughter, even though she's only 47, is also high risk, as she had a near-death case of pneumonia a few years ago. It's scary. Stay well.

[Deborah505]

thanks so much!!!

[Marie1673]

I can't believe a company can unilaterally decide to ignore the terms and conditions of their hosts contract with them! It was bad enough thinking my income would drop by 50% but to take 100% of ALL our bookings and compensate guests (at our cost) irrespective if they are insured or not is horrendous. A company the does that deserves to cease trading, I'm all for a class action, I'm incensed. How dare they interfere with my business. Without our properties, our hard work then they wouldn't have a business! lets be honest here, they continually try and force prices down and now this! As soon as I am in receipt of outstanding funds I fully intend to take my business elsewhere. 

[Rodney11]

IMHO, AirBnB have decided on their COVID-19 policy for the following reasons:

1. Their legal team has determined this is the best course of action to indemnify them from a class action lawsuit from either guests or hosts.

2. Their PR team has determined this is the best story to put forward to the public. Guests are all happy with full refunds and the story most of the world is running with is that hosts were compensated 25% of their income.

3. Their financial team has advised them that AirBnB needs to hang on to a big amount of cash to rebuild, either when int'l travel becomes viable again, and/or to reinvent themselves as a long-term rental platform. Between the money they keep out of the COVID cancellation policy, the $1B they have already raised from private equity, and the USD$1B it seems like they will receive as part of the US gov't bailout, AirBnB will attempt to rebuild. It may also go under.

4. AirBnB expects a large portion of their current hosts leave the platform, due to either bankruptcy or finding other ways to get the equity out of their properties. They will need millions of new hosts to cater to their new business model as can be seen here: https://techcrunch.com/2020/04/06/airbnb-turns-to-private-equity-to-raise-1-billion/

5. AirBnB wants their customers to return. Hosts are not their customers, guests are. We hosts are AirBnB's product. When the market goes soft, a usual strategy is to first reduce the price of your product, while refunding those who purchased your product recently at the original higher price, and either reduce your products availability and/or find new markets to get your price back up to where it was originally. AirBnB seems to be doing all of the above. The reality is AirBnB owns a huge market share of the short-term rental business, so hosts leaving the platform will likely not find as many bookings. Though right now, it looks like the short-term rental market is dead for the foreseeable future.

IMHO, if you expect AirBnB, or any billion dollar corporation, to compensate you for your COVID losses, you are barking up the wrong tree. AirBnB have made up their mind and no amount of griping on the community message board is going to change that, and a class action suit is most likely doomed to fail, but probably only after it takes years to work its way through the courts.

Shift your focus to long-term rentals if you can. The current business model is not coming back any time soon. 

[Michael303]

@ Catherine-Powell Please take a minute to read this thread. Travel Insurance is easy and inexpensive for Guests to purchase. VRBO does a superior job with this. I’m sure it is another revenue stream for their business. The lack of travel insurance protection has been completely devastating for Hosts. I traveled to Cuba with a group and travel insurance was $40 per person that included medical and emergency evacuation. You can contact me anytime to further discuss.