Coronavirus concerns taking effect

[Jenny1069]

My recent guests were from Germany and the last ones that checked out Sunday, were from Kuwait. My cleaning crew who I rely much of my success on, just quit on me after a year because they do not want to clean the home after these last guests checked out.

Luckily, I don’t have a checkin until Friday so, I have a couple days to do this turnover myself until I find a new crew. Living with a father that has MS (weak immune system) does concern me at the possibility of bringing any infections back with me. I know this is a bit paranoid but dang, my cleaning crew quitting really has me questioning the validity of their concerns.

What really concerns me is that I had a two week booking coming from New Zealand that just cancelled with less than seven days until their checkin. 4K+ lost and unlikely to be recovered with only six days to find new bookings to replace them. I have two back to back guests coming from Germany for first half of March. Will I just continue to get hit by cancellations from guests outside of America?!

How can I protect my listing from their last minute cancellations that would have cost me other Potential bookings from inside America, for their days?! Airbnb does not have a no cancellations option, if I’m not mistaken?! Or maybe not for superhosts which, I would not want to forfeit. I would be interested in the possible option for international bookings only though, during this increasing health issue. 

So, any options for Airbnb hosts to not be victims of these bookings that will end up as last minute cancellations?! That is my question really. 🙂

Thanks in advance,

JJ

[Connor30]

One thing I know from working in health care and what I’m reading is that the virus doesn’t live on surfaces or non-human material for longer than 2 hours. So perhaps communicating that to cleaning crews, delaying entry to the home post guest check-out and communicating with guests. 

One thought I’ve  had regarding the potential outbreak in America and looking at where travelers are coming from is communicating delayed check-ins for cleaning crew turn-around should that issue arise. Letting guests know to protect everyone in the home were setting up precautions and just explain. I personally believe over communicating and setting expectations is important. 

perhaps go back to your crew who quit to and give them medical data stating they are protected based on timing or offer mass, gloves and other other personal protective equipment. 

[Branka-and-Silvia0]

@Jenny1069 @Connor30  in fact it seems it can survive on metal surfaces for up to 12 hours.

I totally understand your cleaning crew. Just keep in mind that doctors and nurses get infected despite wearing a disposable protective suit from head to toe, 3 pairs of rubber gloves, sealed eyeglasses and Tripple face masks (taped and sealed from all sides)

[Anonymous]

@Jenny1069   Regarding protection against major losses like the one you experienced with the NZ guests, the first thing you can do is change your cancellation policy to "Strict." With the Moderate policy that your listing currently has, guests are completely within their rights to cancel a week before check-in for a 100% refund.  Of course, changing your cancellation policy for future bookings does not affect your current upcoming stays.

Beyond that, you have the Extenuating Circumstances that can override your cancellation policy. Airbnb has posted a breakdown of the eligibility criteria related to COVID-19 here: https://www.airbnb.co.uk/help/article/2701/  . There's not really a way to protect yourself against these circumstances in the long term, because the next outbreak that mandates travel restrictions could happen anywhere. 

Differentiating US guests from international guests in this regard is not a useful distinction. I'm guessing a lot of your guests go to Disneyland or arrive by plane, so no matter what country they come from they will have been exposed to a very diverse collection of pathogens. If your cleaning crew refuses to clean up after foreigners, it's time to replace them with people who are better trained. For what it's worth, coronaviruses can remain active on surfaces for several days if the temperature is favorable, but virtually all known cases of infection are associated with direct person-to-person contact. In a time like this it's important to step up your game on surface disinfection, gloves, hand-washing, etc, but singling out international bookings is about the worst possible response.

[Sandra126]

I don't think it's known how long it is surviving on surfaces,  which I guess is why they have been burning and quarantining  paper currency in China. Definitely longer than a couple of hours. I think best to be prepared for some losses coming up, but you might increase domestic visitors as overseas travel become  less tempting.