Long term stay with legal exemption

[Emma2274]

The email we received today about hosting restrictions and calendar blocking from airbnb states

"Guests who are booking stays of 28 days or more that are legally exempt will still be able to book during this time" 

Can anyone expand on this and explain how this works in practice ?  

Thank you 

[Mike-And-Jane0]

@Emma2274 we got the same email although so far our calendars are still open.

For whole home bookings there are actually many exemptions that would allow us to host and, if Airbnb do block the calendars, we will list on other sites that understand English law better.

my guess re the 28 days is that this is deemed effectively moving house rather than going on a trip but that is a guess

[Mike-And-Jane0]

Having said our calendar is open it doesn't appear in search results for November (although some properties do. Go figure

[Helen350]

I agree that the logic re 28 days is that that is akin to moving house, not a trip @Mike-And-Jane0 

A perusal of my own listings and others round about, shows that home share hosts have all dates fogged = blocked till 3 Dec, but entire place listings still have dates available prior to 3 Dec in bold, so  bookable - BUT when you click on them a pop up appears saying 28 day bookings only.

So guests can book entire places, but only for 28 days, but can not book private rooms at all!

As @Helen3 said, it does not make sense, because our government has said people may travel for work.

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/new-national-restrictions-from-5-november 

@Emma2274 

[Helen350]

.... Forget my home share theory, I was wrong! - just looked at ones with dates blocked by host, so no 28 day run, looks like ALL listings are open - for 28 day bookings only! 

[Helen3]

the email Airbnb sent to UK hosts yesterday makes no sense @Emma2274 

In England hosts are still able to host in a range of circumstances including guests moving to our area to work or study and hosting those moving home.

That being the case they have no reason to block our calendars. 

I don’t understand why they think one month bookings should be exempt. 

[Emma2274]

Thanks Helen, that is helpful,  our listing is  not an entire home, it is private rooms with a private entrance within our home, guests have their own bed, bath and kitchen and don't need to use the same entrance, but it is all within the same building. I don't know if that makes a difference. 

Emma 

[Helen350]

@Emma2274 

It appears all private rooms are blocked whereas 'entire places' and 'entire guest suites' are permitted to host 28 day bookings...

So, if YOUR guests have private entrance, bathroom & kitchen, you COULD change the listing to 'entire guest suite'.... Maybe the dates will then re-appear automatically; if not I hope Airbnb CS would change it once you'd explained? (I doubt they'll let you host a private room, as it's a blanket ban, but obviously 'entire guest suites' are allowed... for 28 day bookings!

[Helen350]

SCRAP THAT THEORY!! - I was wrong there! The private rooms I looked at only seemed blocked due to no full run of 28 days available! Looks like ALL listings are open - providing guests book for 28 days!

@Emma2274 @Mike-And-Jane0 

[Emma-and-Mark0]

We haven't received any email and our calendar looks open but we don't appear when we do a search with November dates. We've been on chat with Airbnb for 2 hrs 20 minutes now regarding this and they have interpreted the rules to mean we can only host certain stays if they are for 28 days or longer. We have asked for the matter to be escalated. I'd encourage everyone to contact Airbnb about this as well. 

[Emma2274]

Thank you both, I will contact them too, I think we have realised it isn't a good move to only list with air bnb and will be listing with other sites.  Let me know how you get on 

[Emma-and-Mark0]

Thanks. Fingers crossed they'll get back to us soon.

[Josh190]

@Airbnb I spent 3 hours on the phone with your help desk yesterday and got nowhere with all of the above points. Most, if not all, of my bookings are for work purposes, so why block all calendars?