Covid Response - A request to the community

Alex-And-Marcus0
Level 3
San Antonio, TX

Covid Response - A request to the community

Image added by OCMImage 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.

59 Replies 59

I'll respond to this because you bring up something the host community does need to consider going forward, just in a way that I think is coming from a position of being anti-Airbnb. 

 

First, I'd like to point out that many travelers insurance policies are not covering Covid-19 cancellations (who knows if this changes as backlash grows though). I'd like to quote Sen. Ed Markey's letter to the US Travler Insurance Association,  which reads,

 

“Too many consumers are now learning that the fine print and hidden terms of their travel insurance policies means that they have no coverage for claims caused by the coronavirus.


This is wrong, unfair, and against the public interest.

 

Travelers are discovering that — unless they fall ill from coronavirus — the travel insurance plans they purchased will not cover coronavirus-related claims....Insurance companies should not be in the business of effectively encouraging travel in this emergency situation by refusing to honor travel insurance policies when consumers wish to cancel or change travel plans because their lives, and the lives of others, depend on it.”

 

The point i'm making is that hosts need to weigh what travelers insurance companies will solve in a situation like this, because the blow back of not refunding guests for something where traveling will very literally kill people still would hit the community in a negative way even with travelers insurance companies being added into the mix. So, maybe now they will be changing their policies, and given how bad this has been for the industry, I would assume if it includes insurance against another situation like this, it would be an insanely expensive policy. 

 

I highly doubt Airbnb just overlooked travelers insurance. VRBO/Homeaway/Expedia, and basically every other travel site actually generates huge revenues from travelers insurance. Direct booking focused hosts usually make tons of money off of travelers insurance as well. Its a revenue generator for the most part. I think we all have to do you own research and consider what a travelers insurance system should look like and give that feedback to Airbnb. 

 

Regardless, I shifted the direction of what you were saying, as there's potentially  productive discussion to be had, but I think your post misses the point that travelers insurance or not, this situation is not Airbnb's fault. It sounds like you had 3 straight months booked from March 14th, so I guess you will be the exception to this, but most people have occupancy that declines the further away from the current date as you move 3 months out. Just like everyone else, most hosts would have very much lost most of their revenue even if travelers insurance was a thing for Airbnb and travelers insurance policies covered Covid cancellation. 

 

Honestly, this type of insurance should be business side insurance in my opinion. Either way, blaming Airbnb for not thinking ahead is like saying Airlines should have better prepared for this, restaurants should have seen this coming, ect....

 

So while you seem intent on blaming Airbnb still, at least you brought up a valid topic of how to insure against this, and I have a feeling that discussion is being had in insurance companies across the world right now and I am betting its more likely to cost hosts more money than the guests, so we should have discussion on how we think that should look. 

Hi Bob,
    Airbnb policy turns out to be even worse, but first to address the idea of staying open.

    I have volunteered to host medical personnel who are traveling to combat the virus. Anyone who thinks this is "endangering my community" ... I have choice words for you.

    I also think that if a household has two people working in essential services (i.e. hospitals or grocery stores), if that family chooses to drastically reduce the household exposure by splitting up into separate places, those people are just being smart.

    Following recommended protocol (72 hours wait) in addition to enhanced cleaning regimen can facilitate an important way for guests to isolate even further. And travelling in a car is contained. I am just not buying that in no way is hosting safe.
---

So Bob here is what I'm experiencing.  Of course the world has changed. Most of my guests that booked before March 14 are seeing an "ad" when they enter Airbnb encouraging them to cancel because it is free. In most cases, these guests should as they booked in a different world.

Unfortunatey, as usual, people are taking advantage. So they wait until 1 day before their trip is scheduled and cancel.  There is no way to avoid this... although I tried:

I called Airbnb to confirm first, and then I told them that I was planning to cancel my guests that were booked before March 14, but tell them to please rebook to confirm their commitment to ensure the house was available for them, and for any other people who need to book. The support engineer acknowledged this.

Here's what happened (and as this was my first cancellation I did not know it would happen): My place is now permanently blocked for that weekend. I have spent about 72 hours with tech support trying to resolve this.

 

This is a case where two incredibly malfeasant Airbnb policies come together to make the situation 10 times worse.  It's incredible that a host that decides to cancel a guest is no longer able to book that weekend- even if they had found out the guest was untrustworthy, or perhaps, even got threatened by a guest. Maybe they found out the guest said "we're having a party whether you like it or not".  You cancel that guest- you are not allowed to rebook that weekend, period. 

Couple that lousy policy with their decision to break their promise to hosts, and you get a true sh*t sandwich.

Trevor243
Level 10
England, United Kingdom


"Well I am here to say that Airbnb did the right thing"

I disagree. AirBnB were plain dishonest with guests. There is never an excuse for dishonesty. Never.

 

It is right for businesses, holiday homes, home-shares etc to close down and refuse bookings. The hosts should do this themselves. Other OTAs have encouraged guests to move their bookings to other dates later in the year - we have moved some bookings to late summer or next year. AirBnB took this option away from hosts and that too was wrong.

 

Sadly, AirBnB has too many "amateurs" who don't know the law, don't know the rules (and often don't have the legally required insurances and don't pay the legally required taxes etc), so little hope of many hosts obeying the law or doing the right thing.

 

AirBnB needs to up it's game and so do many hosts.

 

In this spirit of this post, I am only going to address that we agree on way too much for me to understand how we seemed to have arrived at very different conclusions...

 

It seems like we agree on just about everything when I take into account your last points on not being able to rely on many hosts to know the right thing to do on their own. So I am not sure how your conclusions are so different.

 

You and I agree that It is right for businesses to allow cancellations and not to encourage travel during this time (at least I think that was what you were implying). We disagree that Airbnb should just hope hosts do these things on their own, but agree that hosts wouldn't do it on their own. I think maybe its an idealistic to hope that one day everyone would do the right thing on their own (in which case the result would have been the same here). I do think its unfair to say there are too many "amateurs" on the platform as if that is inherently a negative thing....considering that amateur hosts is sort of what the platform is all about, being an amateur is strength in many ways and is weakness in other ways. 

 

It seems you want Airbnb to do a lot and nothing at the same time. You want them to be hands off on  on cancellation policies and allow hosts to retain or refund guest money for covid related cancellations, while also saying that many hosts don't know enough to do this in the right way on their own and need help upping their game in this regard (enforcing a fair cancellation policy over ride, the extenuating circumstance clause, is Airbnb doing that); you seem to want people to pay their taxes and obey the law, and while its patchwork around the USA and I am unsure how it works in England, I assume you are ok with Airbnb doing this on behalf of hosts even though paying taxes is the responsibility of the host, not Airbnb?

 

I think the point is that in the real world, where Airbnb hosts are largely not professional hosts, Airbnb has a responsibility for the interest of the guest and the broader host community to do the right thing on cancellation policies as it relates to Covid 19. My post addresses that as the right thing to do, which they did. Given your reasoning that many "amateur" hosts would have undoubtedly done the wrong thing, as they do with many other aspects of hosting, and the seriousness of this pandemic and the threat it poses to the lives of millions, again, I am confused on how we arrived at different conclusions when we agree on the fundamental parts of what we are saying. 

 

I am not here start another long debate with people on if Airbnb did the right thing and is to blame or not. I said what I believe, and the important part of the discussion now is how hosts move forward. I am only responding to this one because it honestly confused me. After typing through a response, I think its just you are actually somewhat disappointed that the host community isn't professionally developed enough to make decisions that are the right ones. So you are somewhat an idealist, and I can't hold that against anyone. I too hope that at some point hosts can be counted on to do the right things in situations like this, and with some help from the community, maybe one day we can get there. 

 

@Alex-And-Marcus0  I have to stand by what I said:

1 - AirBnB was dishonest with guests and there is never an excuse for dishonesty

2 - AirBnB should have handled everything much better

3 - AirBnB needs to do much better in future

 

Don't forget that a lot of hosts spent time, effort and money on marketing to get a good level of bookings. AirBnB simply told guests to cancel. They didn't give hosts and guests the opportunity to move bookings.

 

Take a look at what other OTAs did:

 

HomeAway kept guests and hosts informed and encouraged guests to move bookings to later dates and also allowed hosts and guests to cancel bookings - initially this was a manual process done by phone calls but they set up a cancellation process on their website, allowing hosts to cancel bookings without penalties - I posted the email that HomeAway sent to hosts at https://community.withairbnb.com/t5/COVID-19-Discussions/What-AirBnB-SHOULD-have-done-the-HomeAway-C...

 

Booking.com had a Force Majeur policy to allow free cancellations in severely affected parts of the world. They kept updating this as different parts of the world became severely affected. This policy is no longer used - they are modifying their web system to allow bookings to be moved or cancelled.

 

The situation is bad for everyone, hosts and guests, all over the world. We can't help that. But AirBnB could have handled the situation much better than they did - other OTAs handled things much better, no excuse for AirBnB to do things so badly. Sure, what the OTAs did isn't perfect, but at least they were honest and at least they tried to be fair.

 

For me, the worst thing is AirBnB's dishonesty. That is unforgivable. Chesky won't even admit it, let alone apologise.

@Trevor243  Again, I think you make some great points. I really think we agree on more than we disagree on haha. 

 

I agree that other OTAs did have policies more favorable to hosts having control over the cancellation policy, however, I think that hosts on those platforms made decisions that reflected poorly upon the platform as well as the vacation rental industry as a whole.

 

I think Airbnb was smart about this because they knew the terrible consequences it would face if their platform were to suddenly be seen as an untrustworthy place to book accommodations from. Instead of going with a strategy that gave hosts more control, but decreased consistency and customer confidence in the legality of the platform’s policies (if you are on VRBO and kept money, you already know about chargebacks by now…see this article https://onemileatatime.com/credit-card-dispute-travel-purchase/), they did what I believe was the right thing to do, which was to make the decision to not travel easy for guests and decrease the chance of their platform being a contributor to the escalating emergency.

 

On that note, I want to point out a few articles that have popped up that have had pretty scathing depictions of the OTAs that allowed hosts to decide not to refund guests who did not want to travel due to Covid 19. I don’t want it to seem like all the below links are just me trying desperately to prove a point that there is a right and wrong answer here, I just want us to imagine the damage that could have been done long term if Airbnb, the most popular vacation rental booking platform in the world, had allowed it to get to the point where articles similar to the below went mainstream. I think the industry would have been dealt a crushing blow vs. a temporary setback we face now.

https://www.chicagotribune.com/coronavirus/ct-biz-vrbo-refunds-coronavirus-0401-20200331-3x4bvhnxnzb...

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/03/travel/coronavirus-refund-travel-ota.html

https://www.phocuswire.com/Expedia-coronavirus-letter-hotels

https://www.usatoday.com/story/travel/hotels/2020/04/02/coronavirus-what-travelers-hosts-airbnb-vrbo...

https://www.baltimoresun.com/opinion/editorial/bs-ed-0330-coronavirus-united-airlines-20200330-tj6xh...

https://wgntv.com/news/wgn-investigates/chicagoans-fight-to-get-refunds-from-vacation-rentals/

 

To be 100% clear. I agree with you that it could have been handled better. Communication with hosts should have happened in some form or another, although the result should have been the same. Options for guests to be able to easily re-book dates or at least offer portions of their stay back to hosts...that should have been available. All around, in hindsight, this could have been handled in a much better way by Airbnb that would have had mutual benefit to the hosts and guests.

 

With that said, I think that we have to keep in mind that this thing caught nearly every person on the planet off guard. It was probably March 10th or so before I truly recognized the situation we were in. So, while Airbnb didn’t do it in the right way, they did what I think was the right thing, and that was to discourage travel during a time when traveling normally put everybody in danger. There’s no doubt in my mind at this poin that taking that action was the correct thing to do from an objective standpoint (remember, Airbnb allowing cancellations hurts them too…their revenue is dependent on people actually completing reservations).

 

So, while I get the frustration with the situation, I really don’t see why the conversation is still happening where people are angry at Airbnb or whatever else, when the discussion should be about how can we move forward and try to be successful at being hosts in the new world we live in post Covid 19. My frustration is less with thoughtful people like yourself, and more with the pointless complaining and trolling that some of the folks out there seem to be committed to.

 

At the end of the day, I think I have the same frustration as you do in that some of the community is not as professionally developed as I’d hoped they would be when a crises happened. I really think that this community is full of extremely talented entrepreneurs and business minded people, so its frustrating to see the loudest ones who are directing the narrative are the ones who seem to lack those qualities. 

 

I have been really excited to see the response to the message of moving on and trying to tackle this crises with innovation, creativity and problem solving skills, which is what I’ve seen many really start to focus on as of late (surprisingly posting to this board seems to have stirred up a  hornets nest of a small few really angry people…although 4 or 5 out of 1,000 people isn’t too bad I suppose). So it certainly doesn't ruin my day to see the trolls come out, I just am looking forward to the smart problem solvers of the community getting their voice back and helping me and the rest of us work through how to be successful in this environment. 

 

Either way, the best I can do is be as helpful as possible (granted, in an extremely long winded way, but hey, I never claimed to be a great writer), and give my opinion on how to think about things in a way that is hopefully helpful.

 

I have been trying to counterbalance the few, but loud angry people’s messages on here with a few examples of how we have been thinking about the challenges and potential solutions to the business problems we face today. I would be interested to hear some of your thoughts on how you are thinking about those things as well, because even though we disagree on some of the conclusions, I can tell you are at least thoughtful about how you arrive at them and I think we agree on more than we disagree on. More importantly, I am betting I can learn something from you on how you are thinking about the future, and I think that’s the kind of thing this community is all about.

Well said

Sam397
Level 10
Reno, NV

@Alex-And-Marcus0  I cant speak for anybody other than myself and my thinking on the whole thing is this. I agree that the virus is bad, its crippling the worlds economy and turning peoples lives upside down. I agree that people should not travel unless absolutely necessary. I also agree that guest should not be penalized for canceling a stay. But I do not agree with the way it was handled. Making the host be the only one who has to pay is wrong. To me it is no more the host fault than the guest, they both took risks and they both agreed to the same policy so to allow the guest to walk away with no loss and the host losing everything is just not fair. Especially since there were options that would have been acceptable to both. But according to you  life isnt fair so host should just shut up and bend over and take what is given, and on top of that they cant even complain about it on the CC because those same people like you dont want to hear it. But isnt that one of the things these forums are for, people express their feelings on a subject. But your saying that its complaining and it shouldnt be done on this forum, but yet its ok for you to do it, because that is what your doing , your complaining about the people complaining. So all the people who say stop the complaining need to stop, these people have as much right to use the forum as you do and if you dont like what they are saying simply just dont read it. Jesus let people vent for Christ sake. Contrary to what you might think this forum does not evolve around you. 

Thank you for proving my point. 

Ok, I should have taken a beat to respond to this instead of responding immediately. The point I am making in the post is to change the tone and direction of the discussion being had, and my first response, while only 6 words,  doesn't reflect that. I think this situation is one that requires a good temperament and putting yourself in other's shoes in order to best address what is happening. That wasn't a good response on my part to your comments, even if they were attacking me personally.

So I'll address what you are saying, even though I should have just one ahead and not responded at all.

First, I am honestly not sure how you could read what I posted and not see it as a positive and optimistic outlook on our situation and instead see it as an attack. Needless to say, I am not telling anyone to "shut up and bend over and take what is given"...I am encouraging the community of entrepreneurs and to accept where we are at and figure out how to be successful moving forward.

Successful hosts and property managers have been working on business plans and strategies for weeks knowing that doing so was in the best interest of their business and livelihoods. I know that many, if not most, in the community aren't all that experienced in business management, and I see that as a strength for the most part, but in these situations, as someone who does have experience and training in business management and has been successfully navigating the challenges of this business before and during the crises, I wanted to offer my thoughts on how we need to move on in order to make this a bump in the road vs. a crippling blow to folks' businesses.

As I said in the post, this was actually posted by me on a social media website, where the audience was a little different, but out of some 90 comments + the ones on here, there have been maybe 3 or 4 that were negative as this one is. The vast majority commented that they found it helpful and appreciated the perspective. So I posted this here with the intent to spread the positive and, I think, business critical message, and while I am disappointed that it was received by you in a way where you felt a "counter attack" was necessary, and am disappointed in myself for a poor initial response, its important to note that the theme of my message is not silence, its productive action and engagement with the community to find business solutions to the biggest challenge this industry has ever faced.

I don't expect you to hear what I am saying here, because based on your message, you are still in the angry and venting mode, and in that mindset you don't really hear what others are saying; but based on the response by 95% of people who have responded to this here and elsewhere, people are ready to move on and figure out business plans and solutions for their challenges. At some point you will either join that group, or I suspect you wont be in business. I hope you are able to move on sooner rather than later, as I really hope that everyone comes out of this with a profitable business still in place, even though I know that will sadly not be the case.

I wish you the best of luck in your business and life.

Alex

@Alex-And-Marcus0  I responded to comments you made by saying that according to you what people should do is shut up, bend over and take what is given to them, and basically asking who were you to say what this forum is for and to say someone couldnt use it to complain. This is what you wrote.

 

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.

 

You then replied

 

First, I am honestly not sure how you could read what I posted and not see it as a positive and optimistic outlook on our situation and instead see it as an attack. Needless to say, I am not telling anyone to "shut up and bend over and take what is given"...I am encouraging the community of entrepreneurs and to accept where we are at and figure out how to be successful moving forward.

 

Now exactly how is what you wrote  positive and optimistic?

And it also sounds like you are telling people to shut up and take what is given, and that they couldn't complain on this forum.

One last thing you say its time to move on, yet you wrote this thread. Do you think writing this wouldn't  be responded to negatively by the people who hasn't moved on. Maybe you should quit antagonizing people and they might move on. But as you say its time to move on and I am moving on from this thread.

J-Renato0
Level 10
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

Agree with @Sam397 

It is another thread where the original poster seams to be confused:

1- To be safe all the guests need to do is to stay home and not to travell.

2- Not paying  does not make anyone safer!  

 

@Alex-And-Marcus0 

If you would not mind, I have a very honest question.
Where do you want to get to by writing these long posts!

Do you want to be invited for a dinner in the headquarter of the Airbnb?

Or do you want to "purify" this forum? you said -"There is no shame in this not being the space for you anymore ..."

 

Do you think that Airbnb wants to hear only you and the ones that think the same as you?

Who are you to say this communty forum is not the right place for diversity of opinions!?


I strongly believe you are wrong. Serious entreprenieur consider feedback and criticizm very important. Unless some entrepreneuer is lunatic, then he would like to have a forum where the members could only say - "YES, I LOVE YOU! YOU ARE ALWAYS RIGHT".

 

So... You are happy because you have a loss! Good for you.

 

The great majority of guests are not happy because they are having losses and about the way it has been handled.
The great majority of guest were forced to play the "insurance company".

Anyone are entitled to have their own opinon. I think you can not change this fact.

 

For your information...  The great majority of guests are not happy like you.
However I think you have the right to post your opinion here.

 

I wish you the best of luck! However, I think you will not go far with this crusade.


PS: IF you are invited for the dinner... let us know! 🙂

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, angry, nonsensical or just trolling-like ramblings, such as what you just read from @J-Renato0  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 @J-Renato0 , I will give an example of an idea my company has used to attract more guests during the crises. 

 

We think that the key is micro targeting and shifting what is in your listing and/or highlighted in your listing to capture the demand that is still out there. 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.... In order to make ourselves more attractive to this group, we have highlighted the things they can do in the home even if they are unable to enjoy the surrounding attractions due to stay at home measures. We've even added things like x boxes, poker chips, and more streaming subscriptions to homes, and the results have been very strong so far.  I'd recommend adding amenities you would see as having positive ROI to your listing and highlighting them in the title, photos, and description. Call them out in your messaging to guests and ask them if they enjoyed them after they leave. I think you will be very happy with the results. 

 

So how have you done things to improve the attractiveness of your listing that has positive feedback from guests? Feel free to link me with a response, as I am very interested in learning more about what awesome, innovative ideas the community has come up with. 

 

Thank you for reading, and thank you to @J-Renato0 for the post. 

@ Alex-And-Marcus0

I see you do not lose any opportunity to write an advertorial !
Sorry, it is not me who will ask you what is the name of your company you want to promote.  
Again, I have to be honest, you can fool naive people with your advertorial, not me.
Please, do not use unfit language like you did in your last post.

Trust me, nobody here will ever know what my company name is. I don't consult or do anything that would be helpful to anyone here. I do understand your concern though, as all these "masterminds" and gurus have popped up lately. I am not advertising my company in any way.