ABB's policy towards endemic disease is insane

[Joy298]

Due to the coronavirus outbreak in Wuhan, I would hope to cancel a group of upcoming guests from a neighboring province of Wuhan. I know it’s not good. I have never canceled any guests before. But I’m doing home sharing so this really upsets me.

However I just called ABB and found their policy towards endemic disease is not practical at all. The rep told me they only counted the Wuhan administrative district as the affected area. Any approaching areas are not counted. Please check the map below, Wuhan administrative district is in irregular shape. Any surrounding areas like Xiaogan, Huanggang and Ezhou are not counted.

How could they implement the policy so stiffly? I’m really worried now and feel like ABB is put me in danger.

Appreciate for any advices!

[Sarah977]

@Kath9  Just wait until climate change ice melting starts unleashing all the ancient deadly bacteria and viruses that have been lying dormant in there for thousands of years that we know nothing about. Scientists are started to sound the alarm on this..

[Kath9]

@Sarah977, I know. The World Health Organization has listed climate change as the number one threat to humanity, partly because of this. The risks are exponential. For example, Australia's devastating bushfires, which are the direct result of climate change, have released millions of tonnes of carbon into the atmosphere, driving further climate change. It's tragic on every level, and the loss to our land is simply heartbreaking.

[Colleen253]

"How could they implement the policy so stiffly"? @Joy298  Very good question! When you look at the big picture, and not just this one issue (which is actually quite a big issue)...for all the blathering on about being 'strictly a booking platform' it's quite stunning how much control Airbnb exerts over how hosts run their business on this platform.   @Robin4  @Rowena29 @Lana15  @Kath9  

[Olga6]

@Robin4 @Joy298 @Helen427 

I have a surge of Chinese guests, ALL of them quote just China as residence.

There are 3 flights a day from Wuhan to London. 

The airport measures are pathetic, they would only catch (and that maybe) acute cases, not incubation stage. 

The incubation period is 2 weeks!

In my household there are sensitive individuals that would definitely not survive infection. 

Airbnb should display the exact area. 

[Helen350]

@Olga6 "(UK) airport measures are pathetic." - No change there! Weren't they always! What a contrast from Australia!

[Olga6]

There seem to be a resolution in a different thread. Look for "Guest from China and Corona virus": people are actually cancelling penalty free.

I have Chinese guests as we speak, and new round coming in couple of days. 

I feel awful to cancel.....but then again, should I put my family at risk? 

[Joy298]

Hi @Olga6 @Kath9 @Robin4 

I just found a reverse lookup engine for Chinese mobile numbers. As you must register your real ID when you sign up for a mobile number in China. And when you move to another city, you also need to transfer your number to the local mobile service. So actually there is residential information bonded with the mobile number.

https://www.emobiletracker.com/free-trace-china.html

Input the number and press “Track Now”, you'll be transferred to a page with the location information showing at "Country".

I've tested it with several numbers from my previous Chinese guests and they are all accurate.

Hope this can help! Stay safe!

[Airbnb]

Airbnb understands your concerns regarding the coronavirus, and we want you to know that we’re currently extending our Extenuating Circumstances Policy to hosts and guests who are being impacted. This penalty-free cancellation policy applies to:

• Any hosts or guests diagnosed with or suspected to have coronavirus
• Any hosts or guests who must change or cancel their reservation in order to comply with disease control and/or travel restrictions implemented by the Chinese government or to perform medical or disease control duties
• Any hosts or guests with January 21-February 8, 2020 reservations in China’s Hubei province, which includes the city of Wuhan
• Any hosts with guests traveling from Hubei province from January 21 to February 8. At this time, our penalty-free cancellation policy won’t cover hosts who cancel reservations by guests in or traveling from other parts of China (unless one of the above situations applies).
  
  

We’ll be closely following further instructions from the World Health Organization (WHO) and Chinese authorities, and we’ll update this special cancellation policy as needed.

[Joy298]

Hi Admin @Airbnb 

Thank you for this official response. I have the guests canceled from their side. However they chose "other reasons" when they were asked for the reason for cancellation. Later some friend of mine who was also doing ABB told me that I'll still be penalized for this. The only penalty-free option was the guests chose "change travel plan".

Would you please confirm with me if this is true? Thank you

[Robin4]

@Airbnb 

So in other words you have done nothing further to help protect hosts from this current outbreak.

A host or a guest must be diagnosed with symptoms before it becomes an 'Extenuating Circumstance.....great! To your bullet points.

1/......They have to be at our properties and have infected us (or likely to infect us by diagnosis) for us to claim extenuating circumstances! Has the incubation period been taken into account here?

2/..... We can't cancel them unless the Chinese government says we can....great, that worked a treat during the SARS virus in 2002-3, didn't it.....NOT!

3/......We still have to accept guests within 50 Kms of the affected city....as long as it's not within the boundaries of that particular Hubei province. I was personally not aware that viruses respected province boundaries!

Admin, we bend over backwards for you! We take all sorts of risks with very little complaint. We try to be exemplary hosts, all we ask is for a little bit of support in times of crisis!

When one of your recommended and verified guests has a party and creates a few thousand dollars in damage in our listing, we don't want to get thrown to the wolves because we didn't submit a claim with comprehensive restoration quotes between the required 11.00am check-out when that guest left, and 2.30pm on the same day check-in before the next guest arrives!

If you are not going to cover us and protect us, fine, remove all aspects of host protection coverage from the platform and let us take care of ourselves! Don't tell us you are protecting us and then walk away from us.

I have 4 guests of Chinese origin with reservations to stay in my listing over the next month. I don't know where they come from any more! I used to know they came from Shanghai, Shandong, Guangxi,Jiangsu, Sichuan, province.....now I don't, all their profiles say is they come from China!!!!!

The day before yesterday there was 1 confirmed death from the Caronavirus and 100 confirmed infected. Yesterday there were 17 confimed dead and 600 infected. Today there are 45 confirmed dead and 1,280 confirmed infected including some in GB, US, Japan, Korea, Thailand and Australia.

Please don't tell us that travelers from China are safe, it is being conclusively proved by the hour they are not.

Your update of a few hours ago changes nothing from your stance on this issue a week ago, and yet this situation is changing hourly. 

We look to you to keep on  providing guests that make us money, and you money but, please consider, you sitting in those offices in Brannan St in San Francisco are not exposing yourselves to risk......we as hosts, are!

We ask you to consider that what we are seeing here is a virulent epidemic, and I am sure Airbnb are not going to accept any responsibility if a host becomes infected by your failure to protect us....or even inform us. 

As a company you need to become a bit proactive here! Would you please rework that statement above to at least give us a bit more protection!

Cheers.......Rob

[Carol302]

Why can't Airbnb help us to temperature test potential guests on our doorstep? This is ridiculous and, as usual, Airbnb disregards the safety and security of hosts.

[Sarah977]

@Airbnb  How are hosts supposed to know what province in China a guest is from?- you are purposely hiding that information!

[Joy298]

Hi @Olga6 @Robin4 @Kath9 

Chinese citizens are obliged to transfer their mobile numbers to a local service provider when they move to another city. So there is residential location information bonded with the number.

I just found a reverse phone number lookup engine for Chinese mobile numbers.

https://www.emobiletracker.com/free-trace-china.html

I've tested it with several numbers of my previous Chinese guests and they were all accurate.

Hope this can help! Stay safe!

[Joy298]

Hi @Olga6 @Robin4 @Kath9 

Sorry if you receive multiple notifications that I was @ you. Seemed like this community will automatically remove any post with URL outside ABB. I just edited my text and hope this time it can be seen.

Chinese citizens are obliged to transfer their numbers to a local service provider when they relocate to another city. So there is actually residential information bonded with the number.

I just found a reverse lookup engine for Chinese mobile numbers. (Sorry can't have direct URL here otherwise the post is removed)

I've tested it with several numbers of my previous Chinese guests and they were all accurate.

Hope this can help! Stay safe!

[Cathie19]

With respect to everyone involved in this thread @Joy298 , @Olga6 , @Helen350 , @Helen427 , @Rowena29, @Robin4 , and others not mentioned, or @Sarah977 and others who are viewing it.

Although there has been panic in and out of China, we all need to remain real about any new and possibly evolving viruses or bacteria.

I travelled during the major SARS outbreak to a number of countries and found stringent procedures in place. Everyone had their temperature taken before being allowed OFF a plane into China. It was like a scene from a disaster movie with everyone coming on board in hazmat PPE and full face masks. How many of us walked through airports where body temp heats were registered?

The “village” is generally, no longer isolated in this day and age of global interaction and immediate travel.

But we also need to be realistic here..... measles and other highly contagious diseases have similar incubation periods which will not show symptoms before they “show themselves”. 

So without making light of the subject matter, let’s  all follow and practise great hygiene protocols for all our guests, ourselves and our spaces. This includes keeping air con filters etc cleaned, using disinfectants and wearing gloves etc. whatever’s needed for the job at hand!

I’ve got really sick walking past someone in a supermarket who sneezed as I turned the corner into their path. So you have it, short of total hibernation, ideally, if we advocate and maintain vaccinations for everything that is suitably available for our bodies,  and continue to maintain them, we are ideally, on the right track. 

This will give us and vulnerable members of our societies, the best chance for more general protection. That includes getting annual anti influenza vaccinations. The herd theoretically, should protect the herd...... so we can all live without fear.

🙂