Maybe we should all consider a move to HomeAway/VRBO. Obviously Airbnb doesn't give a $hit about us.

[Carlos---Steven---Cooper0]

I am curious as to what the “balance” is you refer to below.  Currently, guests get a 100% refund for cancellations and homeowners are left carrying 100% of the loss.  That doesn’t seem very balanced.

Maybe the refund could be in the form of a rescheduling, or a credit with the same host.  Maybe Airbnb could cover a percentage of the loss.  Right now, you offer nothing to help those providing 100% of your product - housing.  Your company has literally NOTHING to offer without us.  

How, exactly, is that demonstrate any sort of balance or fairness?

SINCERELY,

Steven Fiske

On Mar 14, 2020, at 10:37 PM, Airbnb <discover@airbnb.com> wrote:

Carlos + Steven + Cooper,

New information is coming out about the coronavirus (COVID-19) every day, and we’ve talked with thousands of you who have been impacted personally or professionally. Many of us are hosts ourselves, and we understand this is a challenging time for members of our community.

On March 11th, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared a global pandemic, and our customer support specialists have been overwhelmed with calls from people with flight cancellations, travel restrictions, and questions about whether it’s safe to open their homes or travel abroad. The world is worried, and we know that many of you are too.

We’ve worked hard to find a balance between supporting your hosting business and protecting the well-being of our collective community. This is a difficult time, and millions aren’t able to make their trips or welcome their guests. For the rest, it’s clear that no one should feel obligated to host or travel if they don’t feel comfortable right now.

For that reason, our extenuating circumstances policy will now apply globally* to eligible reservations booked on or before March 14th, and with at least one night between March 14th and April 14th.

In simple terms, this means that for eligible reservations:

You can cancel reservations without worrying about cancellation charges or impact to your Superhost status

Guests have the option to cancel reservations for a full refund

Our service fees will be refunded in full for every cancellation

This was a difficult decision, but the declaration of a global pandemic made it clear. Many of you may have cancellations that affect your earnings, but this is the right thing to do to prioritize our community’s health—and we believe it’s the right decision for your hosting business in the long term. We also want to clarify that Airbnb won’t benefit from any reservations canceled under this policy. We're in this together.

We want you to know that we’re working on more ways to support you, and we’re committed to helping your business recover as quickly as possible. We’ll continue to reach out with new ways we’re fulfilling that commitment, and you can check Airbnb.com/COVID19 for regular updates.

Lastly, lean on this community. We’ve seen the way you’ve supported one another in the last few weeks, and in isolating moments like these, we need those connections even more.

We hope you and your families are staying healthy, and we’ll check in later this week.

With gratitude,

Greg Greeley

President, Airbnb

*This does not apply to domestic travel in mainland China. Please check here for more information.

[Mike-And-Jane0]

@Carlos---Steven---Cooper0 

Whilst I object to the extenuating circumstances policy as it doesn't allow hosts to cover ANY of their fixed costs I have some sympathy for Airbnb as they are also setting their revenues to zero.

so Hosts = stuffed, Airbnb= stuffed, guests who may have insurance = fine.

All a bit dumb really

[Ange2]

@Mike-And-Jane0    Airbnb may have 'business disruption' insurance, which covers all its losses. Many businesses do have it to avoid bankruptcy in emergency situations.  (There is no policy available for small hosts).  Question is, if  Airbnb do have it,  did it negotiate to cover hosts,  i.e pay them in full for loss of business based on last years receipts?  Airbnb is known for pushing the envelope to get what it wants, including breaking laws in order to have them revisited, rewrittten or with addenda, and asking hosts to support it in these endeavors. Would be interesting to know how the land lies in this regard.

[Susan17]

@Ange2 

Exactly this! It's probably a safe bet that Airbnb do indeed have Disaster/Catastrophe protection cover (and if not, why not??)  and will no doubt avail of the government bailouts that the hospitality, insurance and airline behemoths are pleading for, if and when they come. 

But even if they do eventually throw a few crumbs from the table to devastated hosts who are losing their livelihoods and their homes, solely as a consequence of Airbnb's  forced, arbitrary (and almost certainly unlawful) 100% refund policy - by then for most, sadly, it will be far too little, far too late. 

Branson Now Milking Coronavirus For All It's Worth

https://www.thecanary.co/trending/2020/03/15/branson-is-now-literally-milking-coronavirus-for-all-it...

[Michael4841]

Hi our building owner said he still expects me to pay the rent because we signed the lease!

We didn’t know Covid would happen!
Can we just tell our landlord to refund 100%  of our rent for this month since all of our guests cancelled - even ones that booked months ago. Airbnb says we can override any contract agreements right? Can you please speak with our building owner about the rent? Also please send me my 50% host cancellation payout that you stole from me without my approval.  Thank you 

[Adriano78]

@Mike-And-Jane0  Airbnb is stuffed because they want to be stuffed! no one forces them to refund travelers at  100%.

[Mike-And-Jane0]

@Ange2 

No insurance company I know would pay out to Airbnb as they have voluntarily refunded their service charges. They may have insurance for loss of future bookings but I doubt it as this would be prohibitively expensive

[Ange2]

@Mike-And-Jane0   

Maybe the voluntary refund  means Airbnb did not take out business disruption insurance.

Wonder if its investors will bail it out if needed.  Its valuation (internal)  is 38 billion.

[Mike-And-Jane0]

@Carlos---Steven---Cooper0 @Lizzie 

We currently have one listing live and are preparing two further apartments for rent in the future.

Given the behaviour of Airbnb the next apartments will be with Homeaway and maybe Booking dot com.

Depending on how they go we will then move fully away from Airbnb. Sad as we've been quite successful so far with Airbnb.

[Sarah977]

@Carlos---Steven---Cooper0  "We" can't "all" consider a move to VRBO/Homeaway. They only accept entire home listings.

[Adriano78]

@Carlos---Steven---Cooper0  when this SHAME company say " We’ve worked hard to find a balance between supporting your hosting business and protecting the well-being of our collective community. "

You have any balance! and you have 0 support for hosts, Airbnb is stealing the hosts, with massive advertising campaigns they encourage guests to get reimbursed at 100%,
they forget to tell travelers that it is the host that refunds the money and not them!
All this disgusting masquerade is only for the purpose of advertising to make travelers believe that Airbnb is a big community and that they are so generous