Covid Response - A request to the community

[Alex-And-Marcus0]

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.

[J-Renato0]

@ Alex-And-Marcus0

As for your request in your last post, here goes - Ideias to help you to have positive ROI:

1-I suggest that you offer alcohol hand gel, mouth mask and disposable doctor gloves to your guests. They will feel safe to manipulate the  x boxes, poker chips and whatsoever you offer to your guests.

2- To attract more guests, offer free cancellation policy and free isurance in case they get infected when staying in your listings. 

You also said - "For example, we have noticed that families that have been cooped up in their homes are starting to book as a get away within the city. So these are guests that want to abide by stay at home orders, just in someone elses home if they can..."

Well, here goes more suggestions!

3- Do not change the name of your listing for "Corona Virus short break holiday in the same city" - You should have known that Airbnb wants  people to stay safe in their homes.  So it is not a good idea.

What Airbnb wants is that you rent long term or host doctor and nurses that are in the front line. 

4- Why do not you start an internet shop that deliver  x boxes, poker chips and whatsoever to people that are staying at home. It is not necessary to move to another house to have x boxes, poker chips and whatsoever. It is just necessary to call some shop that deliver this type of things.

I hope it helps!

[Susan17]

Don't be daft, @J-Renato0 - successful business people and upwardly-mobile "entrepreneurs" would (apparently) never let silly little trivialities like the spread of the coronavirus or the violation of stay at home orders get in the way of their profitability and grand ambitions!

@Alex-And-Marcus0 

I do believe you've just scored the most spectacular own-goal in the entire history of the Community Centre. You can climb down from your moral high ground now.

[Alex-And-Marcus0]

Thank you for your input @Susan17 

For those folks in the community that have made it this far into the thread and appreciated and understood the message of my post, well, I want to do what I can to put meaning behind what I posted with action. So instead of responding directly to unhelpful comments, I have decided I will respond with something that may help to counter balance the use of your time if you happened to have read said post. 

In this edition, courtesy of @Susan17 , I think I will talk about local business partnerships. 

So many of the local businesses in your area, especially restaurants, are hurting just as bad if not worse than we are (their ability to capture demand is often more difficult than ours, in my opinion). So reach out over the phone with some local businesses and tell them that you can advertise in their delivery service for their restaurant if they give a great deal on a meal. They get incremental sales, you give value to your guests and local businesses win. Give it a try.  

Thank you to @Susan17  for the post!

[Susan17]

You're very welcome, @Alex-And-Marcus0 ! And thank you for the entertainment!

[Sarah977]

@Susan17  How does an upwardly-mobile entrepreneur commit suicide?

They climb to the top of their ego and jump.

[Alex-And-Marcus0]

Thank you @Sarah977 for your post!

In this edition I will cover some great opportunities you can help local charities that need your help. Reach out to some local hospitals and offer some of the days you have available for free to the nurses and doctors on the front lines. Show the community that the vacation rental industry cares about the community!

Thanks @Sarah977 !

[Sarah977]

@Alex-And-Marcus0  You now think being patronizing is the way to win friends and influence enemies? I have a home-share, there's no way I'm sharing my kitchen with anyone who could infect me with COVID. And there aren't any hospitals in my town. But thanks for the useless tips.

[Alex-And-Marcus0]

Thank you @J-Renato0 for your post. 

In this edition, I'd like to talk about standards of cleanliness for you properties.

So we have decided to make it a 3 day gap between any stays. We also have each cleaner go through a CDC training on how to clean a home. This has the obvious advantages of being socially responsible, but also something that will make your guests feel more comfortable, whether they are traveling nurses, family stuck in the city to be close to at risk family, or otherwise.

Take a look at the CDC guidelines and the Airbnb Guidelines and make sure you are implementing!

[J-Renato0]

@ Alex-And-Marcus0

While the c-virus attacks the lungs of most of people, I suspect that in your case, c-virus has attacked your brain.

 @Sarah977  @Sarah977 

It is serious!  Alarming!

Have you heard of some case of c-virus affecting the brain of pacients?

[Victor656]

Hi, My name is Victor and I'm the founder of a free app FriendlyHost. Thanks to Airbnb Hosts, we closed our round of investments and continue to develop FriendlyHost. We would like to keep you updated. Please leave your e-mail. I can share with you more information if you want. Thanks! https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSd_cFrfXq2bLq-6lCMdm-7l3Z_LX0bcXHkahoFBrHwmj-d2_Q/alreadyre...

[Sarah977]

@Alex-And-Marcus0 While I appreciated the tone and content of your OP, now I'm a bit disgusted to read that you are continuing to host regular guests and encouraging them to ignore directives to stay home. The longer people think they are somehow special and interpret that advice to stay home to their own convenience, the longer everyone will have to stay at home.

[Sarah977]

@Alex-And-Marcus0   "So reach out over the phone with some local businesses and tell them that you can advertise in their delivery service for their restaurant if they give a great deal on a meal. They get incremental sales, you give value to your guests and local businesses win. "

You mean the guests you're not supposed to be hosting because everyone should be following the COVID directives and STAY HOME? Not your home, their home. 

[Rodney11]

Here's something to consider and hopefully change the tone of conversation on this thread:

Once travel restrictions have been eased and hopefully leisure travel starts returning (hopefully we have all survived to earn income again), I believe there is an opportunity for AirBnB hosts to come up with a strategy for collectively mitigating the effects of a sudden market downturn. This may be something like a co-op of hosts where you can opt in by directing 1% of your revenue to a fund that is then invested by a board, elected by the co-op members. Members experiencing significant income loss due to events out of their control could then be compensated from this fund, as long as they meet the criteria developed by the board, as directed by the co-op members. The advantage to this is there would be no force majeure clause as would exist in an insurance policy, and it would be directed by the AirBnB hosts themselves, not by AirBnB management. The downside is AirBnB may look at this as a backstop for hosts and not offer any compensation in the event of another COVID like event, though some may not see this as a downside.

[Alex-And-Marcus0]

@Rodney11 I think you make a really good point on mitigating the effects of this type of event in the future. My opinion is that legally and logistically, that type of solution seems like it would be tough to manage. It just feels like the variety of situations that can be classified as out of our control is too wide (this is the same problem/loophole that insurance programs have). So if somebody is paying in, and say a hurricane hits their town, does that have the same payout consideration as a ski town with an unusually hot winter? I think that realistically, running that type of fund would just be a legal nightmare. On top of that, at a 1% buy in annually, we have to assume that the fund would not go very far in helping participants in a case like we are seeing now. 1% of annual revenue is, with even distribution for easy math, about 1/8th of a month of revenue, so obviously there isn't a way to build enough funds in any reasonable amount of time to significantly help in this type of scenario. Honestly, I think our only real option is hope that our governments step up to help small businesses in these situations. 

With that said, I think you are definitely on the right proactively thinking about things track. I am kind of curious to know what insurance options are out there for interruption of business and if they cover these situations and what exactly the cost/payout would be.....because you are essentially talking about insurance, and I think that is a very good topic to explore going forward. 

[Ms--Kendra-A0]

Well said!  Prayers, Peace & Health to our World!