Boycott Russian Users in Solidarity with Ukraine

[Nino381]

We urge Airbnb to announce boycott against Russia over its invasion of Ukraine! Similar to many international organisations that have pulled out of Russia in solidarity with Ukraine, we ask Airbnb to oppose this unacceptable situation and block Russian users from its services!

[Andrew2632]

Discriminating against the Russian people won't do anything to stop their government. This is just ignorant.

[Kate867]

@Andrew2632   This is not about discrimination as pointed out earlier, it is about geography.   Due to all the sanctions on both Russia and Belarus it is almost impossible for Airbnb to facilitate payments to and from Hosts and Guests alike making it extremely difficult to operate their Business there.   We are all hoping for peace to return soon 

[Jamie893]

@Kate867 

This is not clear in any of the statements. We need them to be explicit if they are banning all passport holders of Russia and Belarus even if they are outside of those countries. People have fled. They need access to shelter. 

[Andrew2632]

There are many Russians living outside of Russia who have non-russian bank accounts. It's not right for Airbnb to barr them from the service just for having a Russian passport. There is a better way to do this. 

[Helen744]

@ Andrew2632 Maybe get a different form of ID as a back up but that should not be a problem at all ,having a russian passport H

[Abraham168]

This policy is racist and xenophobic! This comes straight out of 1930s Germany and has no place in modern society! Disgusting AirBnB! Shame on you! 

[Sebastian1017]

I fail to see how AirBnBs current policy would have anything to do with Germany. Shame on you sir, for making your point by prejudicing others. 

[Emilie]

Hi @Mitch294, @Jamie893, @Abraham168 and all, 

As I had mentioned earlier on, Airbnb has suspended operations in Russia and Belarus and no users located in those countries will be able to use Airbnb to make new reservations. That is however based on geography only, not nationality. If you could point me towards where you saw conflicting information in that regards, that would be really useful!

Thanks, 

Emilie

[Mitch294]

Here is your Russian-language press release:

https://www.airbnb.ru/help/article/3211/приостановка-деятельности-airbnb-в-россии-и-беларуси

The sentence "Гостям из России и Беларуси больше не доступно оформление бронирований на Airbnb." Russian speakers have understood this sentence to mean that Russian and Belarussians cannot make reservations anywhere in the world. 

Just a couple of examples of journalists with hundreds of thousands of followers:

https://twitter.com/KevinRothrock/status/1511083797344710663

https://twitter.com/HannaLiubakova/status/1511281557528616960

If you actually allow Russian and Belarussian users in other countries to use the service, then your press release needs to be clarified.

[Helen3]

As you know the person you have linked to in your post Kevin; is a pro-Russian former editor of the Moscow Times so hardly surprising he has a pro-Russian stance @Mitch294. 

Is there a particular reason you decided to promote links to their pro Russian social media accounts here?????

Why is this relevant to a community set up to discuss Airbnb Mitch.

You are neither a host or a guest on Airbnb so it appears you have joined just to make pro Russian political points. 

[Mitch294]

See here:

https://twitter.com/KevinRothrock/status/1511262273133760514

"Airbnb is indeed atuomatically refusing service to anyone who has verified their identity using Russian documents, regardless of where they live now" 

[Yulia114]

Hi,

I have been living in Austria for two years now, but I still have a Russian passport. My husband is Austrian. I'm renting out my apartment in Budapest, but Airbnb has blocked all rent payments. But tourists with confirmed bookings keep coming. I don't get paid for these bookings and I can't cancel them. I have already written a lot of appeals to the support service to explain to me what to do with tourists who come and they answer me nothing, do not offer any solutions, just ignore my appeals. I write to tourists that I do not receive money for their reservations. They write to the support service and they assure them that I get everything. In relation to me, as a host, as a member of your so-called community, this is just a betrayal. You have abandoned not only me, but all your tourists. My Airbnb account was opened in 2017, when I was still living in Russia and I can't enter information about the fact that I don't live in Russia now without losing all my bookings. To do this, I will have to open a new account and everything I did as a super host, all reviews, all information will be reset to zero. All I ask from the support service is to help me switch to a new account linked to my current location with the reservation information saved. But all my requests are ignored. How can this be called, if not discrimination based on nationality?? And if we are already talking about nationalities now, then my nationality is Ukrainian. My parents are from Ukraine, my relatives live in Ukraine and I am helping them now in any way I can. But I was born in Russia, lived in Russia and have a Russian passport from birth. I don't believe in any airbnb message after that, because with such actions you undermine the essence of Airbnb policy. Support and participation is just for show. Many times Airbnb has already abandoned me in difficult situations. Airbnb took away the status of a super host during the pandemic, when Hungary was closed for almost 2 years for tourists and much more. Now that Airbnb has stopped paying for tourists at all, all these superhost statuses have no meaning for me. The only answer I got to my questions about payments is that I will get some bonuses instead of money. This is just a mockery! Do I have to pay for laundry, cleaning, taxes and utilities with bonuses from Airbnb? I simply have no words for such hypocrisy.

Yulia 

[Katia437]

Dear Emilie,

You are wrong - the airbnb actions are based completely on nationality and their own benefits. They are using the current situation very well by stealing the money form Russian hosts. it could be honest if airbnb sent out emails advising that Russian nationals should turn off their listings because they would no longer be paid. But they only mentioned that would not pay to some of Russian banks. Thus, many Russian hosts carried on listing their properties and accepting guest, relying on this information and feeling safe as they have accounts in banks outside of Russia. They spent on cleaning, water, electricity and other supplies for their airbnb homes, helping the Airbnb staff to get paid and getting nothing for themselves but a vague promise that "maybe sometime Airbnb will release their payouts, which our pending at the moment".

What a hypocrisy!

[Alexey87]

Why Airbnb didn't block all russians when russian air forces killed syrian people? Why there are only one active bank account in Russia? Putin's account which get 1 billion dollars for gas every day from western democaties? Such a shame Airbnb.

[Mike-And-Jane0]

@Alexey87 Indeed Russia has got away with its aggression for too long. Pressure is building in Europe to stop all fuel imports from Russia so hopefully this revenue stream will be cut soon.