Host initiates class-action lawsuit over COVID-19 cancellations

[Lisa723]

https://www.cnbc.com/2020/11/06/airbnb-hit-with-proposed-class-action-lawsuit-from-host-missing-paym...

[Inna22]

@Sharon1014 it was not the amount. Any claim against Airbnb has to go through arbitration per TOS we agreed to

[Ian-And-Anne-Marie0]

@Sharon1014 

Great 2c!

Throw in changing the wording of contracts without notice in order to facilitate the objective they wanted to achieve and that's the whole story.

[Fred13]

Rebecca said above - "...if I am remembering correctly, hosts were also not given the opportunity to be able to work directly with their guests to offer / invite them to re-book at a later date." 

    They didn't even give any effort in that direction, heck it may not have even crossed their minds. I started working with the guests immediately to do my best to offset the coming disaster of Airbnb understandably allowing cancellations at first, but even stupidly inviting them to do so. This reality is still exists today with foreign hosts and Airbnb is still moving the goal post with them. 

   Of course, hosting is subject to physics as everything else, for each action there will be a reaction, this legal test is but one example.  Personally, I went to Plan-B long ago and is only a matter of time before it is fully implemented.

[Ute42]

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@Fred13  

There's an entire thread in the German Community Center entitled „Plan-B“ 🙂

https://community.withairbnb.com/t5/Gastgeber-unter-sich/Plan-B/m-p/1211035#M16426

While we are all having a difficult time to get airbnb to do what we ask them to do, there are decisions that will always rest with us: To list or not to list, to open the calendar or not to open the calendar. If I would open my airbnb-calendar 100% for airbnb-bookings, they would make $7k in service fees. But, unfortenately, this year they made only $300.

I'm hanging in here, let's see how things develop with airbnb.

[Rebecca181]

@Ute42 @Fred13 I also began devising a 'Plan B' beginning in January 2018, despite the fact that my rental was sold out year-round via Airbnb. Too many 'gray' areas; too many mixed messages; too many times we were addressed as dependent children and not as professionally-minded adults; too obvious that commercial entities would soon overshadow and be more highly valued than home-sharing hosts on the platform, etc, etc, etc.

I de-listed permanently November 1, 2019 - My way of protesting how Brian Chesky responded to the Orinda shooting-murders, whereby he threw hard-working Airbnb hosts under the bus for (yet another) PR score. I'm fortunate in that I have a primary career to fall back on so that I could re-set my sails and head in a new direction. Others are not so fortunate and the losses some hosts have suffered as a result of Airbnb's willy-nilly decisions are tremendous.

[Sharon1014]

@Rebecca181   I think it is in the best interests of all hosts at present to have a Plan B ready to go.  The IPO launch may well change the landscape in ways some may not expect.  And Covid doesn't appear to be going away anytime soon.

@Ute42  Ditto.  We have bookings thru to the end of our Jan summer school hols.  Luckier than many, being an island nation and having good border controls in place between states is a huge help in keeping Covid out of our lives.  Blocked my calendar from Feb 2021 onwards.  Just playing the wait and see game at present.  

[Fred13]

We should start a new thread - "What is your Plan-B?" 😉

[Jessica-and-Henry0]

Our plan B was to NEVER be reliant on Airbnb as a source for our main income in the first place.

While Henry and I took hosting responsibilities seriously, even at the best of times, being dependent on Airbnb income to pay our mortgage or utilities or basic living expenses seemed way too risky. Due to the language of the TOS and horror stories out there.... Airbnb could only ever be a source of extra income for us - nice to have but no problems surviving without it.

Hope for the best but prepare for the worst. 

[Fred13]

@Jessica-and-Henry0 Love your plan you two, analogous to mine. We have prepared the island now to day-use (bring out 10-12 for 6 hrs at $50-$60 each) and look at Airbnb income as more a bonus. Now when they pull the EC card, we lose nothing. 

[Sharon1014]

Wow @Fred13  you have such a beautiful place there ! Amazing 😀, great Plan B !  (Just googling where is "Belize" 🌎🏝 😋)

Think many hosts have already tried to exercise their initial Plan B (move the listing to the LTR market) when the first wave of the pandemic hit and AIRB's EC blanket refunds policy instantly stripped them of their STR incomes.  The LTR markets in many places now seem to be littered with unoccupied former bnb's.  Difficult to find tenants when the LTR market is flooded with former AIRB STR's. 

And the flipside is, many potential Long Term Rental tenants also would be quite wary of renting a former bnb, being worried about the owner booting them out on short notice.  

@Jessica-and-Henry0   

[Branka-and-Silvia0]

@Sharon1014  same here. It wouldn't be a problem if universities didn't go online.

@Fred13it seems like a smart move 🙂

[Fred13]

@Sharon1014 I could imagine; many would wonder if the LTR switch is just a placeholder till things go back to normal.

[Kelly149]

our plans are: A) we take care of ourselves @Jessica-and-Henry0 , I rather like hanging out in the Barn and I'm happy to have more time to do so

B) our Vrbo listing @Fred13 , here I control policies and payments and it's vastly preferable

C) ABB gets the leftovers, so their guests pay more and have less choices and I won't be a pawn in their PR stunts, so come Nov 20th we'll see if they decide to carry on or not

[Jessica-and-Henry0]

@Kelly149 

Since our listing is a private room in shared home and our target guest group was international exchange students, we've stopped hosting and don't plan on re-opening anytime soon. While we miss hosting guests, it's nice having the house to ourselves and not having to keep shared spaces neat and tidy all the time 🤣 I've gone back to being quite the slob~ 🤣

Since we've been stuck at home so much, Henry picked up a few new hobbies to pass the time......which has led to our guest room becoming our *temporary* storage area.... but I'm not sure if we'll ever manage to clear the room out for guest occupancy again. 😂

[Kelly149]

@Jessica-and-Henry0 Good for you, a new hobby right now sounds great! I think that’s one thing abb forgets (& hosts too sometimes!!), there is an opportunity cost to providing an abb space. At some point relaxing the cleaning standards, spreading out in your own space & skipping the drama is a Very good idea. Enjoy!!