Is there an alternate revenue stream for hosts that rely on Airbnb for total income, and now have no revenue due to CoronaVirus?

[Chrissy74]

I have a successful Airbnb property in the Silicon Valley. Customers frequent my location, renting rooms, to attend the San Jose Convention Center as we are within walking distance. Now, because of the virus, no one is attending conventions, groups are banned, and traveling is not recommended. I am wondering how to pay my bills now, as my income went from $6000 to $2000 because of cancelations. I support my college kids, and have a mortgage and property taxes to worry about. For the foreseeable future, it is showing ZERO income flat lined for every month. Last year I made $8000 in July, so this is not going to be easy to transition, and I will lose my home if this happens. I was just about to refinance my home as well to get a lower interest rate, and now I will not be able to show proper income. I am at a loss.

I am hoping there may be some ideas. Can Airbnb advertise to host nurses, or are they going to represent hosts to get funding from the government if we are to stop hosting for safety reasons? Please let me know if anyone has answers. The government is putting bills in place to help employees, but we hosts are not employees. Are we being represented at all? Do we have a voice?

Thank you!

[Kath9]

@Chrissy74, how about long-term rentals for the rest of the year?

[Ann489]

@Chrissy74   I'm truly sorry you are in this situation.  I hate to say this, but way too many people are putting their eggs in one basket.  Relying on Airbn/STR as your only or main source of income is a BAD idea.   

[Dimitar27]

The long-term rental is a good idea. If it's still possible, because for me it's not. Everything is closed. State of emergency for 30 days, until April 13. Only food stores, pharmacies, gas stations and banks are allowed to work. All accommodation places are warned to reduce the number of new bookings, to the lowest possible number.

[Brian1663]

Dimitar, can you still rent out or is it strictly forbidden now?

[Dimitar27]

If you mean AIRBNB-it's still possible, but I think that it will be for just few more days. Borders are closed, some roads are closed, the ski zones are closed. Most of the flights are canceled. Hotels and STR's are next. It's not a big deal for me, because I don't have active reservations to cancel.

Officially, there are only 62 cases of the virus , but they are rising with 6-10 every day. General ban for citizens of 18 countries will came into force from tomorrow.

The measures are not just hard. They are extreme. But this is the only way. We are not Canada or Germany and our healthcare system will collapse very soon if this disaster goes out of control.

[Chrissy74]

I hear you, but I had just ended 10 years of publishing a community magazine (reaching 40,000 people every other month, divorced a graphic designer husband of 20 years who had emotional challenges and addiction to marijuana and didn’t want to design anymore, survived stage 3 breast cancer (dozen surgeries/chemo/radiation/staph infection), and had to think of something quickly to keep a roof over the head of my 2 (at that time) teens.

Having an Airbnb and jumping into the hospitality industry has allowed me to pay the bills for 3 plus years now. (I had previously visited an adorable B and B in Napa, and decades ago the most charming B and B in Nantucket and always thought that would be a fun business.)

I was growing the business each year, and the plan was to finally make enough this year to refinance my mortgage (it was about to happen), improve my budget and allow me to diversify and potentially focus on packaging my home and my neighbors as we are in an opportunity zone and high rises are being built all around us, but that will take years and lots of negotiating.

In the meantime, the plan was to grow the Airbnb business which is a LOT of work, constantly cleaning and catering to others, but having 4 new people from all around the world, stay at my place everyday, made me feel like the United Nations!

I am sure the next Bill Gates or Elon Musk stayed at my place, and timidly needed information about the Silicon Valley! I met some of the most educated youth of this next generation. Young people with PhDs, incredible job opportunities, or just continuing their education came to my San Jose B and B to fulfill their dreams.

I did put an ad already to rent my rooms. That is easier as well, but then you have half the income and not sure it will cover the nut, so to speak.

Currently, because of this pandemic, it will be awhile before I receive an applicant as everyone is in lockdown.

I wasn’t comfortable putting all my eggs in one basket, but when I started this year, I had finally built up my income enough to refinance my mortgage and then it was going to give me a better budget, opening up many options.

I am staying busy though... I improved my landscape and security myself. I cleaned half my basement. I went through half my storage and donated furniture, as well as, a dozen boxes of vases, dishes, clothes, etc.

I am going to clean my attic next, then go through all my holiday storage and books, and find more items to donate. I may do some painting and if I get really ambitious, I will refinish my wood floors, while I wait for a business idea to work out (I have many ideas, but not during a pandemic. I also paint artwork, but have never tried to sell any... I can update my resume, but I have been out of the tech world for about 20 years - before networking was wireless, and don’t have the contacts I used to. Lol)

I do have writing and social skills. 😉

I am hoping things will get back to normal soon, but according to the news I am hearing, it is looking more like 3 months at least and maybe more.

[Sarah977]

Unfortunately, this is going to be a wake up call for everyone who used str as their only source of income under a platform where you ultimately have no control. One could say that about a lot of jobs where one receives a paycheck from a employer, but there are usually some benefits involved in working for someone else, medical or daycare or paid sick leave, and some severance pay if they let you go. And many employees have a union behind them.

With Airbnb, we only have the illusion that we are self-employed. They say we are not considered their employees, yet they control all the money and can bankrupt a host in a matter of a few weeks by arrogantly acting as if they are the employer.

[Mary312]

Is this true

On Brian chesky Airbnb Twitter account several people are posting screenshots that Airbnb giving guest full refund except for the booking fees they are pocketing the booking fees and issuing travel credit

[Chrissy74]

They definitely refunded all my customers- even the NONREFUNDABLE bookings. I guess they were not really NONREFUNDABLE, but we had to honor the discount so why even have that option, right?

[Chrissy74]

And yes it is odd we have no representation or even communication about this issue. I called Airbnb and they had a recording there were too many calls and they said to call back later and hung up.

i called a few days later and they had a recording suggesting you call back later and said the hold would be at least 2 hours. 
I waited for 20 minutes then hung up.