I feel that my situation may be similar to that of other hosts. I'd love to explain my personal situation and hear from others who find themselves trapped by all this.
A little background...
I and my father have run a family Airbnb business for the past 5 years together. We've been superhosts from day 1. At one point, we hosted 17 listings in Nashville, as well as having a few of our listings promoted to Airbnb Plus. All of our listings have maintained a 4.8 or 4.9 out of 5.0-star rating since the beginning. For years, I've been one of the highest-rated multi-listing hosts in Nashville. We've provided employment for roughly 10 people in the Nashville area during the last 5 years. I've been a loyal Airbnb guest for the past 9 years and I've traveled the world, staying in Airbnb's wherever possible. I've always felt that Airbnb was a company, among very few, that I could trust to do the right thing.
Then... the pandemic hit. The whole world has changed. But still, I knew Airbnb would be on my side. My business would survive to see another day.
When Airbnb created a $250 million policy for hosts, with an additional $10 million for superhosts, I immediately felt relieved. I understood from a business perspective the moral obligation that Airbnb had to refund guests, and I felt that my needs would be covered under this policy. I should have read the fine print...
We've had a moderate cancellation policy for as long as I can remember. We've always felt that it was fair to guests and fair to our business. It gave us the opportunity to re-book a cancellation in a meaningful amount of time. The flexibility that it offered guests was far more important than the money we would lose to not re-booking reservations. It's been a policy that our guests have appreciated, but has allowed our business to thrive - and quite frankly, I've never thought twice about it.
Airbnb's "policy"
I read your policy. I called your help center multiple times. I reached out to your Airbnb hosting community website. I watched Brian Chesky's live streams. I scoured the Internet for research. I did everything I could to become informed.
Ultimately I came to the conclusion that this policy would really only benefit hosts with a "strict" cancellation policy. In other words, hosts that are the LEAST accommodating to guests' needs. Naturally, I felt devastated by this. Brian Chesky even had the audacity to say he was going to "help" hosts with flexible policies by artificially boosting their listings in search results. However, nothing is said about moderate policy hosts, and quite frankly, being boosted in search results doesn't do a thing.
Here's the reality:
- Starting in early March, I had $3,000 in my bank account... and I hadn't paid rent yet. I've always paid rent from my own pocket and then reimbursed myself as the month goes along. It's not normal, nor is it practical, for a business of my size to have $100,000 on hand in the event we lose all our revenue. I run a small business and simply don't have the financial padding to support myself otherwise.
- I had gone from starting the month with 60% occupancy down to 0% in a matter of 2 weeks.
- Because I cannot pay any rent, I have been forced to early terminate all of my leases, which incurs a penalty of 2 months worth of rent, plus an additional fee, for EACH of my 11 remaining apartments. This comes to a cost of around $60,000 in rent owed.
- I have fired all of my staff without notice and without pay. All of my employees were 1099 contract because we never had enough money to make them full-time employees, nor is that terribly practical in this type of business.
- Because my employees were 1099, and therefore I did not have anyone on payroll, I will not qualify for any federal aid or loans with the SBA. Believe me, I've asked many accountants and lawyers about this possibility. It's not going to happen.
I've been given 3 months to pay back a little north of $60,000 without any government assistance, no savings, and no revenue. To be frank Mr. Chesky, your "search result boost" isn't just unhelpful, it's actually incredibly insulting. I have no idea where I will come up with that life-altering amount of money.
The whole world is hurting from this pandemic, thousands have died, and I recognize there are many in far more unfortunate situations than myself. But right now, I feel personally cheated by Airbnb. I feel like this company that I've worked alongside for years has decided to fend for themselves. I also feel like Airbnb is helping the wrong hosts. Those of us with more empathetic cancellation policies are essentially told: "keep hosting for us, we're going to help you get your business back on track, but try not to pay attention as we put $250 million in multi-national vacation rental corporations with strict cancellation policies... oh yeah, and good luck with rent next month".
Is there anything Airbnb will do to help the actual life-blood of their business going?
Please don't give me the same lip service as before. Are you doing something to actually help your hosts? Or do you just want another participation medal for your marketing department?
Sincerely,
Patrick Cason
Superhost in Nashville
