Upon learning that her peasant subjects had no bread, a great princess apparently said, "Let them eat cake (brioche)." Such a story, amongst other stories, led to the disdain of the elites of society as oblivious and selfish, ultimately leading to a princess' beheading.
Upon learning that Covid-19 was declared a pandemic, AirBNB said, "Let the guests cancel (freely, without restriction, and receiving 100% refunds)." Such a reality, amongst other realities, may perhaps lead to the same one day for AirBNB.
I do not knock the fact that the Covid-19 crisis is unprecedented and requires a strong community response to support each other - guests, hosts and AirBNB itself - the COMMUNITY AS A WHOLE pulling together and understanding that there will be losers on all sides and we need to help each other out as best we can, and therefore working out an equitable Extenuating Circumstances policy, not taking the expedient route as AirBNB has done.
"If in some smothering dreams you too could pace
Behind the AirBNB bus that ran over the hosts,
And watch the white eyes writhing in the faces of the broken hosts,
Their hanging faces, as they stare at the ruin of their dreams and futures;
If you could hear, at every jolt over a host, the blood
Come gargling from their hearts broken by a betrayed trust,
Obscene as cancer, bitter as the cud
Of vile, incurable sores on innocent tongues,—
Lizzie, you would not tell with such high zest
To hosts ardent for some show of support,
The oft-proven Lie:
Dulce et decorum est pro AirBNB mori."
- Dulce et decorum est by Wilfred Owen, paraphrased.
Remember the thousands that have been sacrificed for the sake of AirBNB's sustenance.
