Image added by OCM
This was a post I made on a social media platform that had really positive response. So I am thought I would share with this community in hopes that its helpful and resonates with this group as well.
Its been a few weeks of the complete chaos that ensued after travel started being shut down across the globe, which cumulated in cities across the world being locked down. I’ve leaned a lot over such a short time about not only this vacation rental industry we all play in, but about the general danger of loud and angry voices overtaking reason and the narrative of a crises.
When this corona stuff first came up, I thought it was ridiculous. I am not going to lie, I thought it was overblown and for a virus that wasn’t all that deadly, that people were just being scared of their own shadow. However, as I learned more, I realized that the true threat was the collapse of the healthcare system that would essentially send everyone into a hellish scenario where there simply wasn’t enough medical capacity to facilitate any sort of fundamental care for the entire country. So, I started taking it seriously, and I think I was late to understand how scary close we have been to a complete disaster that would cost countless lives.
So I was wrong, and I’ll admit that I mistakenly let my vacation rental business and the impact to my profitability and my clients profitability keep me on the “its not a big deal” track for too long. The fact is, that this thing is serious, and most of us were in denial for quite some time, which had the unfortunate side effect of leading us to find someone or something to blame. “If this shouldn’t be happening, if this isn’t a big deal, then I am losing money because of FILL IN THE BLANK”…Well the obvious choice to fill this gap seemed to be Airbnb. “They were the ones that decided to send refunds back to guests. They are the reason I am losing money right now….Airbnb is clearly just trying to screw over hosts.” Well I am here to say that Airbnb did the right thing, We are the ones who were wrong, biased by our survival instincts for our businesses.
Guests who decided not to travel because traveling as normal would literally kill people should not be penalized for that decision. They should not have been pressured into using the reservation either. It is objectively unethical to encourage and/or facilitate behavior that puts millions of lives at risk. We drew a bad hand, sure. Its not fair that the travel industry got completely shut down, but at a certain point, as business people, we have to suck it up and recognize that despite the situation being unfair, the world continues to move and you have to continue to adjust and plan to be successful.
Sadly, I have seen much more of the anger and hosts vs. Airbnb leading to hosts vs hosts and hosts vs. guests. The thing is, if you don’t blame the real culprit here, which is a virus that literally shut down the entire global economy in a couple weeks, then no matter where the finger pointing is directed, it eventually will turn to eachother. As a community of entrepreneurs, this should be our shining moment. A time where the community pulls together and does some amazing things in the face of insane and unprecedented circumstances. Its been awesome seeing some of that the last 2 weeks, but more often than not its been more about how to sue Airbnb, how terrible Airbnb is, and just general complaining about cancellations.
I think its normal to go through that type of phase after such a huge shock to the system, but its time to move on for those who want to be apart of what this industry looks like after this is all over. I propose that if you really want to keep complaining about cancellations and how unfair OTAs are being, and how we should be working towards a lawsuit, then go do it somewhere that isn’t meant to be a forum for business owners and entrepreneurs to collectively work towards being better at owning and/or operating vacation rentals.
Fat will be shed during this crises. There is no shame in this not being the space for you anymore if that’s where you feel you’ve landed. I just ask that those who are more focused on complaining than figuring out business solutions (and no, suing Airbnb is not a solution) just stop with the spread of unhelpful rhetoric.. I think there are lots of very bright people in here that would thrive in the new VR world after Corona, but are being directed to instead focus on complaining and being angry vs. proactive and thoughtful about what’s next.
I am looking forward to scrolling through my feed again and seeing great dialogue being exchanged between bright entrepreneurs more than what I have seen the last few weeks. Hopefully that day will be very soon.