The money $250m paid for Host Support is mostly funded by guests' Service Fees NOT by Airbnb funds.
Airbnb is giving 2 options to Guests that want to cancel:
1. Cash refund: In this case they loose the Service Fee (around 12%) which they have paid.
2. Voucer: Book another Airbnb Stay or Experience. In this case Airbnb charges the Service Fee of around 12%
3. The vast majority of Cancelations that are eligible for Host Support are the ones that had a Strict Cancelation Policy in which case the penalty would have been 25% of half of the booking amount i.e. around 12.5% of the booking amount (if the cancelation was made 7 nights before arrival). Which means basically all bookings that were between 21st March to 31st May. Those that were cancelled between 14-21 March the cancelation cost would be 100% so the Host support would be 25% of the booking amount.
In other words Airbnb has received or withheld a service fee from the guest that more or less covers the money given to hosts under the $250m Host Support. This is forgone income it's not money that came out own their pocket.
Once again Airbnb is using our money for a clever publicity campaign.
On the one hand they giving guest refunds which they would not be eligible to take otherwise. But they are keeping the servicce fee.
On the other hand they start by giving nothing back to the owners so that later when the give the $250m hosts are gratefull for receiveing something instead of nothing at all.
All the above without taking an extra dollar out of their own reserves but just using the service fee.
Thank you for reading.
