Flawed Superhost Relief Fund

[Bobbiecool0]

I posted this in another thread earlier-

Unfortunately the greatest financial need and income are two completely different things. For example, if I have lost £10,000 from the result of cancellations and no future bookings from the coronavirus but have made £50,000 in the year prior does that make me financially vulnerable? These large amounts suggest I have a rather nice property or two to rent out, to me one would assume i was never that financially in need in the first place. On the flip side someone who has lost £1500 and makes about £15000 a year would suggest more of a reliance on Airbnb as an income. OR this could be all relative and no one would truly know for sure who is most in need. 

One piece of criteria to obtain the grant is to show a reliance on Airbnb being a major income. But how can one prove that? By having the advantage of having a nice property or two where one can charge a large amount does not show that host of being more reliant compared to someone with 1 property who earns a lot less. How can it? "Hey, this host has just lost £15000 in earnings in the same period compared to this guy who has lost just £1500, therefore the higher earner needs this grant the most!", errrr, no. That's not how it works.

The more I think of the grant the more flawed I think it is. If Airbnb truly wants to know who is in financial need the most going by how much a host has lost this is not the way to go about it.  I fear many hosts truly in need are about to be greatly disappointed. 

[Stephanie]

Hiya @Bobbiecool0 ,

Thanks for sharing your feedback on the superhost relief fund. We know that this type of information is complex and sensitive—that’s why we’ve put together specific criteria to make it more objective.

We start by looking at hosts’ earning trends to invite those whose earnings have decreased the most when compared to last year and who have had a long tenure as Superhosts. Then we use hosts’ responses in their applications to better understand how that decrease has affected their ability to make ends meet.

I hope this helps clarify some of your points but do let me know if you have any other questions.

Thanks,

Stephanie

[Bobbiecool0]

Hi Stephanie 

Thanks for your response but my original post still stands as a host can embellish facts to obtain the grant, no problem. I, for example, have lost around £2500 in earnings so far, that money pays the monthly bills, which I'm now struggling to pay.How can you say that a different host who earns twice that is more in need than me? Sorry, but like I said, the superhost grant scheme is severely flawed and Airbnb know this.

When all of this has died down and guests are booking again I will be leaving Airbnb, I'm fed up with the way you treat hosts, totally sick of it. Phone representatives rarely give me facts I can rely on. It's not their fault as I believe their poor knowledge stems from the management, but it only serves to wind me up even more. As an example I'm still waiting for an answer to a basic question I asked nearly 72hrs ago, yet they told me it would take no longer than 24hrs.  As my confidence in Airbnb is do low I didn't expect anything different from them tbh. Very sad.