Host expectations up front, supporting narrative below.
AIRBnB LOCATED IN THE US, you need to hear what we, the Hosts are expecting of you. As with all business sectors in the US, the AirBnB community of vacation rental property owners make up an essential part of every level of economy the touch, stemming from those found in small towns and all the way up to larger Federal economies. On our own, we are just single voices and single examples. We, as small business owners, are not equipped for what needs to happen, and do not have access to the economies of scale which many other industries rely on established advocacy groups to communicate their needs to elected leaders. This is where you, AirBnB Corporate Leadership, are needed by your Hosts.
1. WE HOSTS ARE DEPENDING ON AND RIGHTFULLY EXPECTING AIRBnB LEADERSHIP TO ACTIVELY LEVERAGE EVERY INCH OF AIRBnB CORPORATE LEVEL POLITICAL ACCESS AND INFLUENCE CAPABILITIES TO TAKE THE FOLLOWING STEPS NEEDED TO ENSURE THOSE WATCHING THEIR LIVELIHOODS EVAPORATE BECAUSE OF THIS PANDEMIC ARE ACCURATELY REPRESENTED AT THESE LEVELS.
2. RIGHT NOW, THERE NEEDS TO BE ADVOCATES OF THE AIRBnB HOST COMMUNITIES LEVERAGING EXISTING POLITICAL ACCESSES TO ENSURE KEY MEMBERS OF CONGRESS ARE AWARE OF THE SITUATION, AND THE SENIOR LEADERSHIP OF THE APPROPRIATE EXECUTIVE BRANCH AGENCIES ARE AS WELL.
3. THEN, AIRBnB NEEDS TO ACTIVELY DEMONSTRATE THE HOW AND WHY THESE HURTING MIDDLE CLASS AMERICANS SHOULD BE PRIORITIZED OVER THE WEALTH PROTECTION OF MAJORITY SHAREHOLDERS OF AIRLINE CORPORATIONS, AND BE PROVIDED FUNDING AT HIGHER LEVELS AND AHEAD OF ANY PACKAGES PROVIDING THESE AIRLINES MORE TAX DOLLARS TO WASTE.
Today, while filtering through what is now a steady and high volume stream of COVID-19 everything, I found a short, obscurely written, and rage-inducing article. I won't go into all the reasons WHY this is disgusting and inappropriate corporate behavior which will likely be once again validated and enabled by the dotes in the Legislative Branch of the US Federal Govt. It discussed that because the US airline corporations were so focused on a corporate BuyBack strategy for no other reason then to make the ultra-rich majority shareholders just a little more ultra-rich, and doing so just because, they have found that they are short on enough working capital for the downturn we all are dealing with. It wasn't long before these self-serving and profit-always-before-people based corporations began posturing to anyone who would listen as the real victims of this tragedy which they claim now "we are all in together". I won't delve into the decades long hyper-growth they have been operating in, the entire time doing so while systematically decreasing services while simultaneously increasing fees. Hey, capitalism is what it is, we bought tickets, we shouldn't be blaming them, right? Well, right up to their nasty habit of leveraging all this cash not to ensure long term viability, but instead to generate short term increases in wealth for majority owners. And now after a self inflicted amateur-hour business strategy which failed (Surprised face!) they feel they are entitled to a US Government Tax Dollar Hand-Out .....AGAIN!
I raise this issue, simply to provide a very evident contrast between what I see as a disgusting and pathetic example of a specific industry seeking Federal Govt financial assistance for the fourth time in my memory, singing the same old self-victimizing songs, but only needing this working capital because they mismanaged their earnings, and all in the name of greed-based idiocy, and what I believe is an honorable, and legitimate need of an industry which consists of tens of thousands of unrelated and distinct middle class small business owners who are seeing the funds they were relying on, simply disappear right before their eyes.
If anyone sees any parallels with these two scenarios, or is perceiving my comments as unfair to the US Air Carrier corporations, that's swell. Regardless of any of that, I felt it needed to be clearly illustrated to everyone here that these types of define industry and sector stimulus/ support packages are a normal way of doing business for the US Federal Government. They are passed after every single natural disaster impacting US interests, or even to help the very industries guilty of triggering the very downturns they hold their tin cans out for a penny, sir.
