Superhost Grant

[Alexandra199]

Has anyone successfully received the Superhost Grant? Does anyone, like me, think that they are eligible for the grant but have not been contacted? Any idea how to appeal this because Airbnb CS are unable to help?

[Christine615]

We do have a LTR guest now. That’s a blessing. But we almost denied it because it was a first time user requesting a same day booking and Airbnb kept deleting all of the details in their messages. Freaked my daughter (cohost) out. At one point the guest typed “me, my husband, and son) and Airbnb deleted “my son” and inserted “(website hidden by Airbnb)”. 

Then she asked to call me and Airbnb deleted her number and wouldn’t show her mine. Finally her husband suggested a trick to get the number to me and we had a long chat and agreed. 

So the family is here for six weeks at a discounted rate and we’ve met them. That’s a relief.

i did consider essential workers. My neighbors hosted someone scared to take the virus home to her family. We can’t take that risk since my husband is also an essential worker and had legit concerns about exposing our daughter who lives on the property and the two units share a common entryway.  Still, we are sanitizing like crazy to minimize her exposure.

[Kitty-and-Creek0]

@Christine615 

Thank goodness you all managed to get these excellent people there and settled. Same day bookings can be tricky and first timers so often have lots of good questions, especially if staying for the long term. Good work! 

We've not considered essential workers or long termers, since we love guests but are not seeking house mates. We are also concerned about protecting our health as seniors over 70. This is a sneaky and powerful bug, which presents an issue for our personal safety around re-opening, when the health department says it is OK to do so. We'll just have to wait for a vaccine and take this one step at a time. All together, now...

[David6824]

@Alexandra199 ** if you'd be eligible you'd be alerted by airbnb. cheers 🙂

**[Inappropriate content removed - Community Center Guidelines]

[Alexandra199]

@David6824  Im not ‘whining’ about the grants. I’m asking a perfectly legitimate question based on what we have been told by Airbnb, and what the criteria is. Your response is unhelpful and does not answer any of the questions I posed, so why bother responding. I see you spent time recently writing similarly unhelpful and rude comments and on a number of other posts. I doubt very much hosts want to hear what you have to say. This is a forum not a place for you to troll Hosts. 

[David6824]

**  Goodbye @Alexandra199 remember life is just one, have fun of it, cheers 😄

**[Inappropriate content removed - Community Center Guidelines]

[Helen3]

Wow @David6824  why the need to make such a nasty replies?

It does appear that you have joined this community too mock your fellow hosts rather than offer help and support.

[Helen350]

Not just me then, @Alexandra199 ....... - I was wondering if I was being a tad over-sensitive, but clearly you've noticed it too..... 😞

[Stephanie]

Hiya everyone, 

Thanks for sharing your thoughts on the Superhost relief fund. We have recently added a new article to the Resource center that has compiled so geo specific incentives, outside of Airbnb, that may be applicable to you if you are in need of it.

You may be eligible to receive financial assistance from your national and/or local government. We identified some of the financial relief programs that are being offered in your region. To learn more about resources you may be eligible for, check out our Financial Relief Resources for Hosts article in the resource center.

Thanks,

Stephanie

[Helen3]

Hi @Stephanie 

Thanks but as you know UK hosts are both banned from offering STRs to the beginning of July and are not entitled to any benefits at all if they are a home share host, as we don't have business rates and are not classified as self-employed.

[Christine615]

@Stephanie 

The heart of this (if you don't mind me saying as a former corporate manager) is that Airbnb is often very impulsive in its policy moves and rolls things out without thinking it through. A  gift is a gift and doesn't need justification under normal circumstances. There's no obligation to give a gift to everyone. But if Airbnb didn't have the funds to help every host that fit the criteria, it should not have rolled it out in as part of a PR stunt. It set up expectations it couldn't meet in an environment where hosts already feel like collateral damage.

So when I listen to the boards I hear pain. That there was an "invitation" but frequent contributors were not special enough to be "invited." Worse, we have a relatively new contributor who is using his time on this thread to chastise other hosts. I'm okay and had some savings to cover the past couple of months but many others are not fine.

So for what it's worth, (and I know this isn't part of your job) what Hosts most often want to see from Airbnb's corporate management is more  is "we're listening with empathy" and more willingness to say "we're sorry."

The hosts are Airbnb's strongest asset right now. They just want to feel like Airbnb knows that too.

[Pilar1]

This doesn’t answer your original question @Alexandra199  but since you started this thread you may be interested to know that although I haven’t successfully received the grant yet I have received an invitation to apply. It arrived on May 29th and there’s up to a 2 week wait to know the outcome of the application. I’m not flaunting my good luck by the way, just trying to answer your enquiry; like you I was very interested to know if anybody had got the invite but had given up all hope in spite of thinking I fit all the criteria, together with many who have posted here and in other threads. 

I don’t think there will be any way to appeal for not receiving it, as others have pointed out it’s essentially a gift (I have not heard of any other STR platform offering anything similar to their members) and who knows if Airbnb will launch any other initiative like this. Should it matter if it’s a PR stunt or not if in fact they have helped many in need? at the end of the day they could have chosen to allocate those funds to something much less charitable or do nothing at all. 

[Helen3]

Glad you have received an invite. Personally I would have prefered Airbnb to allocate their limited resources to poorer hosts in developing countries who don't have access to mortgage breaks, welfare benefits, free education, food banks, free healthcare etc.

The problem is they aren't actually helping those most in need but those in many cases who aren't, but are influential. I have seen cases where hosts have 3 - 5 properties, partners with their own businesses and other assets such as long term rentals who have been invited. 

Good luck with your grant application.

[Pilar1]

Have you considered that there are many in very developed countries that don’t have access to many of the benefits you mention either @Helen3.? I’m definitely amongst those. I don’t think of  myself influential at all, it would be interesting to know how Airbnb can benefit from helping me. 

If it’s true that hosts with more than 2 properties have been invited to benefit from these grants it will be totally wrong of course, I don’t know your source of information, is it  trustworthy? 

Thanks for your your good wishes. 

[Helen3]

I can only speak for the UK where all of us have access to the benefits I mentioned i.e. free healthcare and education, welfare benefits  and access to food banks for those on low income, the only thing you may not have access to is a mortgage break if you don't meet their criteria but the vast majority of us do @Pilar1 . In addition in the UK there were also grants for those paying business rates. And some local councils are offering other local grants.

I didn't mean that you as an individual are particularly influential but their focus  is on giving a third of their total grants across the world to hosts in the US means they are targeting those who have been most vocal about the impact the loss of income has had on hosts and who can have most influence on their brand reputation.

In terms of who has been given the grants this comes from hosts themselves reporting that they have been successful and their circumstances on other host forums.

I have my fingers crossed that your application is successful.

I am truly glad for hosts who need it who have been offered the chance to apply for a grant. However I don't feel that Airbnb in all cases has ensured it goes to those who will suffer the most.

I am not saying that no hosts in developing countries should have been invited but that their focus should have been on those with little recourse to additional support and funding through other means.