Key takeaways from CEO Brian Chesky’s message to our hosts

[Airbnb]

Over the past three weeks, we've held more than 50 online listening sessions with hosts from around the world, tracking every suggestion to learn where you’re hurting the most and how Airbnb can support you. 

Speaking from his home in San Francisco on Monday, CEO Brian Chesky announced three key initiatives and programs aimed specifically at helping our hosts:

1. We’re investing $250 million USD to share in the cost of COVID-19 cancellations.

We’re providing updated coverage under our extenuating circumstances policy for accommodation reservations booked on or before March 14 and with a check-in between March 14 and May 31, 2020. If a guest cancels an eligible reservation in this window, we’ll pay you 25% of what you would normally receive through your cancellation policy. For example, if you would’ve received $400 USD for a normal cancellation, we'll pay you 25% of that—or $100 USD. This cost will be covered entirely by Airbnb, with no impact to the guest. We view this as an investment in our future together.

Reservations booked after March 14 will not qualify for the COVID-19-related extenuating circumstances cancellations. Learn more at Airbnb.com/250MSupport.

2. We’re creating a $10 million USD relief fund for Superhosts and Airbnb Experiences hosts.

We know some of you are facing serious financial hardships, and we want to help. This fund will offer grants to Superhosts and Experiences hosts who need money to stay in the homes they live in. 

Our employees started the fund by raising the first $1 million USD, and our founders contributed the additional $9 million USD. Learn more about who is eligible at Airbnb.com/superhostrelief.

3. We’re making it easy for your previous guests to add contributions that go to you directly.

Just a few weeks ago, our global community was bringing more than 2 million people together every day. Collectively, you've made many millions of people feel at home. And thousands of them have told us how grateful they are for your flexibility—so we’re making it easy for them to help. We'll reach out to guests who’ve stayed with you recently and left 5-star reviews to ask if they want to send a note and a contribution in connection with a previous reservation. You will receive 100% of any guest contributions. 

This is just a start

We know many of you want—or need—to host right now, whether on the front lines or for people who live nearby. To help further support you, we’re also working on the following:

• Insurance options for you and your guests
• Programs to drive demand during the recovery period
• Airbnb housing for COVID-19 responders
• Cleaning guidelines and protocols informed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

 We will get through this together

Airbnb and our community are facing this challenging time together. We’ll continue working day and night toward solutions, and we’ll communicate regularly and transparently on the steps we’re taking to help you. We’re adapting in real time to the changing situation, but what doesn’t change is that when travel returns, your homes are the places where people want to stay.

At the core of our business is what is core to the human experience—that fundamental desire to connect and explore. It will take time to bounce back, but we will bounce back together. As always, thank you for being part of the Airbnb community, and thank you for all that you do to help us create a world where anyone can belong anywhere. 

[Fred13]

I do think many here forgot what Airbnb is and isn't: it is simply a booking agency that only charges hosts roughly 3% and is extremely successful at filling your rental places and with a few costs/risks; namely - it is exhaustingly Politically Correct ad nasueum, it is a slave to the guest not the host, and it has always held the Extenuating Circumtances axe over everyone's head and used it to cancel certain reservations on a whim and look like the good guy with the guest. The above has been patently obvious since about 2015. It has been discussed exhaustingly on this board for years. Perhaps the recent good times camouflaged these stark realities.

No host is really making a commitment to Airbnb, instead they hope to fill their calendars with Airbnb guests but they certainly not reserving time slots just for Airbnb. The relationship is a parallel one, it has never has had the commitment of a true dedicated partnership, which is two sides totally committed to each other. 

As for these times, these are extraordinary times, extenuating if you will; heck, people can't even get to their reservation if they wanted to. Of course, they qualify for Airbnb's right to cancel all reservations as they see fit; they are returning their guest fees, their true bread & butter, so it is not like they are keeping them and not loosing also. 

Having said all that, I would NOT have made nor continue to make such an 'easy to cancel' invitation Airbnb to millions of guests, but rather encourage them to rebook since next time they may not book with Airbnb at all, so why go there in the first place. And come up with some strong enough scheme to keep their hosts afloat, where there is a will, there always is a way.

Personally, I am grabbing the opportunity to upgrade my place and be that much more prepare to continue to have direct bookings (35%) and from Airbnb (60%) and from VRBO (5%), just in case. In the future, I will diverse even more.

[Jude7]

@Fred13 Well said!  My sentiments exactly.

[Lisa1964]

Stop penalizing your partners! Cancellation penalties on hosts during this time are a ridiculous added expense to those of us who just lost an income stream. Your policy adds insult to injury! Do the right thing. Remove these penalties so hosts don’t have to bog down support trying to get individual situations handled under the regular extenuating circumstances policy. 

[Margaret903]

Thank you Brian! Very sincere and helpful. 

[Christopher995]

I really hope that “According to a host existing cancellation policy“ is just a misprint.  I was very shocked when I saw how guests could cancel the reservation without any fees or penalties. I understood why it had to be done, to protect the traveler who is the person that is making Airbnb work. But there could have been thought put into making the traveler rebook with the same host in the future. It is very concerning however that because I chose a moderate cancellation policy that Airbnb would not include me in the 25% refund policy. In the Dominican Republic the winter and Easter are really the only times that you make money.  Would I like to receive 25% on the reservations that canceled? YES. Would I be grateful for receiving the money? YES.  Am I facing a significant hardship if I don’t receive the money? YES.  Will I feel that Airbnb has not lived up to its side of the deal if I do not receive AT LEAST the 25%?  YES.

What isn’t being considered is that regardless of the cancellation policy on my listings, I have to pay a $255 monthly condo association dues, a $1000 special assessment, loan payments, and $950 a month rent where I live. And I now have no income for 3 months at the very least.

What also isn’t being considered are the other people that have been hurt. Not just hosts. My cleaning girl is a single mom that hopped on a bus for an hour and ½ to get to my condo to clean. Who’s going to support her and her child? I will because it is the right thing to do. But for at least the next 3 months she has no work and no money. At least I have a credit card. Who knows what the Dominican Republic will look like in 3 months? Is Airbnb going to help then?

My other concern is about the grants that are being given. When you read about them, they say that Airbnb will contact you if you qualify. I’ve been a superposed for several years. But a year ago I stopped hosting for 6 months, because I believe my condo had been sold. When the sale didn’t go through, I renovated the condo and made it into 2 living spaces. This was done at significant expense and I took a $10,000 loan to do it. It seemed like a great idea at the time. Now, not so much.  So how do I know that Airbnb is even going to consider me because for a period of 6 months during the past year I wasn’t a Superhost? There should be some sort of application to make sure that these extenuating circumstances are considered.

I honestly don’t know if I can continue hosting without this help. But in the case of the 25% refund and the $5000 grant, I don’t know that I will receive either. Anybody want to buy a beach condo in Punta Cana, DR?  I am now forced to consider the following.  Withdraw from Airbnb, live in my condo, and sell it at a tremendous loss.

Chris, SUPERHOST, 4.9 Star Rating, 100% Response Rate

[Jonathan-and-Sarah0]

As a superhost with a flexible policy, I am also disgusted with Airbnb's choice to leave us out as we were following one of their recommendations. Shame on you Airbnb. 

[Huma0]

So, I just got my first cancellation under the new EC policy. I was fully expecting her to cancel once the dates were extended, but wow, she was quick off the bat.

I got a message from Airbnb CS saying that the guest had cancelled and been issued a full refund under COVID-19 EC and the case would be closed. No mention at all of the 25% payout to me. When I go into the booking, it shows the payout as £0.

So, this new policy IS being implemented, in that it extends the EC policy for guests after 14th April, but NOT yet being implemented in terms of any payment to the host, meaning that we will have to continue to go back and forth with CS, who are not even aware of the new policy, battling and begging for our measely share...

Mr Chesky, if you are going to make announcements and change up policies, then at least first get your ship in order so we don't have to spend even more of our (unpaid) time trying to clear up the mess.

In my recent experience, it is almost impossible to get Airbnb CS to alter anything they have already done, even if they admit it was a mistake. They just don't do it.

[Huma0]

So, I heard back remarkably quickly from CS on this (seems responses are swift when the guest, not the host, opens a case). They said that they would be in touch from April onwards RE the reimbursement to hosts.

Please people, keep a very close eye on this to make sure you get what is due. I already have three open cases where guests were wrongfully refunded and/or overcharged. Some cases are more than two weeks old and I am getting no answers. Seems once CS make a mistake, they are incapable of, or are simply refusing to put it right. 

No more mistakes please. I am not even talking about COVID-19 cancellations, but CS making mistake after mistake in all this confusion. 

[Annie1167]

I would be wary of insurance for cancellations.  I have 3 small cottages arranged around a courtyard at home by the edge of Dartmoor in Devon.  I have used an agent to help me market them for 8 years and have paid the agent a cancellation premium of between £10 and £25 on every booking.  We were told that we would receive the income in the event that the booking was cancelled.  The only caveat was that the property had to be available for rental.  Over the years I have paid about £3,000 in premiums.  Guess what I got for all the recent cancellations?  Nothing.  Yup - they say that my properties are not available to rent as people are advised to stay in doors.   So I am grateful for anything from Airbnb, thank you.

[Christopher995]

There is one other thing that wasn't addressed by Brian.  Airbnb seams like it will stand to receive MILLIONS of dollars from the $2.2 billion dollar stimulus bill.  Will there be transparency if money is received??   Where will this money go??  To hosts that have been hurt the most?? or to corporate??? 

[Alice-and-Jeff0]

@Christopher995 - EXACTLY!  And guess what, they will be able to write off that they paid out $250M to hosts so they can pay LESS corporate tax. 

[Wendy1071]

@Christopher995 Where is your evidence of this?  Stimulus funding is meant to be allotted to corps able to pass a means test.. ie without any reserves.  

[Christopher995]

@Wendy1071 you didn't read my post.  It is a question.  Not an accusation. And a stimulus is not just for corps without reserves.  Its about dumping tax money into a broken economy.

[Ben172]

This superhost grant stuff is totally arbitrary and doesn't make any sense. I have a primary and secondary property that would qualify me, but because the secondary property is a duplex and I rent out both sides, it would put me over the 2 listing maximum threshold. It hardly seems fair that I would be excluded on that kind of technicality. These policies need a lot more clarification 

[Ian-And-Anne-Marie0]

Much is mentioned about the 14th April being a date specified by the W.H.O. Has the W.H.O. now specified 31st May?

Only, if they haven't, Extenuating Circumstances Corvid-19 will only apply to 14th April still. The additional 6 weeks are just a made up period without substance. What is the designated Extenuating Circumstances for this period as in the contracted EC there needs to be a specified period for handling 'disease' and that date is based on advice of the W.H.O. 

How are cancellations by hosts handled up until the 31st May? Are they with or without penalties? Is this still 'Covid-19' policy or now 'Covid-19, made up policy'?