Throw the hosts a few peanuts and then screw them by extending the EC policy to May 31st. Thanks.

[James207]

Hosts with strict policies now get 12.5% of the rental (25% of 50%). This is about the same amount as the Airbnb fee which they kept (while refunding ALL of the host's money) and issued guests a 'voucher'. So essentially we're getting the voucher money, which costs Airbnb nothing. So generous of you to give us the money you didn't refund to the guests. Great, that'll pay about 15% of my mortgage.

And you couldn't scrounge up more than $10m out of your $3 Billion dollar cash hoard? I wonder how many superhosts will even qualify given the restrictions. And I'm guessing 'up to $5,000' means a couple people will get $5000 and the rest of us will get 500.

The rest of the 'benefits' are meaningless.

The EC policy is devastating to hosts. By extending it to May 31st you're showing once again how little you care or value hosts. Not surprising but it shows your true character.

[Mimi50]

The restrictions say you can only have 4 listings, WTF? I am a Super Host with over 700 reviews, but because I rent more than one room on my property I don’t qualify? This really sucks. 

[Helen3]

I too am glad that Airbnb has extended it's EC policy till May @James207 

Before all you haters jump in and crucify me I will explain why.

I work for the NHS - our national health service and we have seen first hand every day the impact of the spread of the virus.  We will only get the virus under control if people continue to self-isolate and do not travel.

Just look at happens in countries like the US when proper controls are not put in place either at all or in the case of the UK not quickly enough.

We shouldn't be encouraging guests to come and stay with us with the potential to spread the virus in our communities.

Anything that encourages guests to stay at home is a good thing. 

And in many areas now there are no travel orders in place that ban travel to a country or within a country or area.

We cannot expect guests to pay for a stay that we cannot provide.

[Sam397]

@Helen3 I think you are missing the point, people are not saying that the guest shouldnt cancel their stays and people should be traveling, what they are saying is they shouldnt be the one to pay for it. There are options that would be fair to both sides and acceptable for the majority of host and guest. A 50% refund in cash and a voucher for the other 50% will allow the host to make something without asking for handouts (as some people has said)and the guest will still be refunded their money and will not have to pay for services not received. I think the reason for people getting butt hurt is not necessarily the fact they BnB is giving the refunds but more that they are not only putting it on the host completely but continue to do so  once it has come out to be whats causing the problems. Promising to give refunds that wont amount to anything and begging on the host behalf isnt going to do anything, address the problem if you really do want to help.

[Mark396]

Helen and Sarah,

I apologize to you both if I have in any way offended either of you. I am simply asking that we keep our minds open and our hearts open so we can truly understand what is happening in these challenging times, and to work together toward rebuilding our businesses in an ethical and rational way. So...in that regard, and as I promised, here are two small documented points (among many many others) that can perhaps shed some light, I hope:

1. Please don’t believe me….please watch this national reporter, reporting about her investigation into a questionable account of an infant death in her home state, Connecticut:

Candace Owens was live.

The headline from Facebook reads:

"BREAKING NEWS!! Office of Governor Ned Lamont LIED about the infant death in Connecticut. He should be forced to resign!"

This was posted about noon CDT on 4 3 2020: please watch her livestream report and please form your own opinions:

https://www.facebook.com/pg/realCandaceOwens/posts/

2. While many of us in the travel industry, including us AirBnB hosts, have seen our income nearly evaporate, other parts of the economy are flourishing:

NHS is now going to get a large reward for their efforts to fight covit-19:

"Budget: Extra £5 Billion for the NHS to Combat COVID-19"

https://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/926631

PLEASE Don’t misunderstand me: any death is a sad event and millions of people die every year from infectious diseases, long before covid came along. All of those deaths are personal and all of them cause personal and emotional and financial implications for those who are left behind to mourn their passing, including me, in my personal experiences.

I’m simply trying to say that when deaths are blamed on the wrong cause for the sake of money while the rest of us are left in the cold without income because the machine says we have to shut our businesses down, there’s seriously something wrong. That’s it.

It doesn’t make someone’s death more meaningful if people misrepresent the facts and the cause for political and / or monetary purposes. It is a double tragedy and maybe (according to Candice Owens) even a crime. It is certainly a disservice to those who have passed on.

I am simply trying to appeal to all of us in this community to try to stay informed, keep level heads, and make decisions based on facts and common sense. If we can do that I think we will all be better off, and we can get back to the business that we’re here for. That’s all.

[Mark396]

Since you work at he NHS can you answer me a few questions:

1.  How is this different from the "normal" influenza that kills tens thousands of Americans every year, and why aren't we excited about that phenomenon, or closing our entire economy down because of it?

2.  What "cause of death" restrictions are placed on coroners or physicians when penning death certificates?  In other words if a patient smoked for 30 years, had liver disease and a heart condition and was diabetic, if he just happened to contract this "new" virus just before he died, would Covid-19 be listed as the "cause of death"?  If no, ARE YOU ABSOLUTELY sure, and WHY are you so sure? 

3.  Isn't it profitable for States and Countries, Like the two most dire EU nations--Spain and Italy--the recipient of Federal or EU or other forms of aid ($) the more cases they report?

4.  Are we really having a pandemic or an economic meltdown based on histeria and false reports of overcrowding?  Notice that the Leeds Physician interviewed via telefeed a couple of days ago, which was BARELY audible, BTW, was a VAST downgrade from his previous estimates of Death and Illness that created all these draconian "measures" in the first place? 

5.  Are we really SAFER to shut down our economy or are more people going to choose to end their own lives, and is it possible that we'll see more suicides than anything approaching the actual "deaths" from Covid Virus, vs Covid Virus "presense" in the actual mix of surely deadly diseases like cirrhosis, emphasema or even accidental death in a car accident?  

I've heard reports that some countries in Europe are actually testing car accident victims for the presense of the virus postmortem.

I've also heard that the reported "cases" of covid-19 victims "overwhealming medical facilities" are specious in many cases, which have been documented by independent reporters who actually went to the hospitals, clinics and facilities which in many cases were actually empty.

Is any of that true?

Thanks and I appreciate your response, and will provide links for you if you like.  Thanks!!

[Sarah977]

Wow, @Mark396, maybe you should stick to right wing conspiracy theory forums.

[Mark396]

Good idea Sarah, maybe you should try answering a few questions instead of changing the subject or calling people names, which I think is rude.

[Sarah977]

@Mark396  What's rude is posting this sort of nonsense when people are suffering and dying and hospitals, nurses and doctors are working around the clock with limited medical supplies and falling sick themselves. And the numbers of infected and dead from this virus rise every day.

[Mark396]

Sarah,  thanks for your opinion.  Are you a health-care worker?  Have you visited hospitals or clinics yourself to verify the reports we have all seen on mainstream media?  How many deaths have you actually seen yourself or do you obtain all your information from television and major news outlets? 

Again...."nonsense".....is that your opinion or are you sure everything you see on TV is true?  Maybe you could consider taking your own advice and not "waste brain cells" voicing opinions on things that you "aren't qualified" to comment on.  *offensive comment removed*

Please review the community guidelines for future posts: Community Guildelines*

[Sarah977]

@Mark396  I don't watch TV or mainstream news. I read medical and scientific reports from reliable sources without a political axe to grind. I also know nurses on the front lines.

[Helen3]

I don't live in your country so I can't comment on how your health policies work.

1. Flu and the Co-vid spread in similar ways but we have a vaccine for the flu which in the UK at least all health and care workers and vulnerable groups receive free of charge. There is no vaccine for the Co-vid virus.

2. I don't how it works in your country. Often you will have patients who have multiple conditions but the one the die of is listed on their death certificate.

3. In what way would it be more 'profitable' and what do you mean by 'profitable'.

4. The WHO announce the Co-vid as a pandemic over a month ago

5. The safest and only way to stop the spread of the disease is to stop all but essential travel by key workers and for everyone to self-isolate keeping to safe practices around hand washing etc.  I can't comment on any speculation you have heard about hospital resources being overwhelmed or not. We are building new hospital facilities all over our country because we need them.

If you want authoritative data look at John Hopkins University or WHO.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/apr/04/rural-resort-towns-coronavirus-covid-19-holiday

[J-Renato0]

Hey @Sarah977     It is not cos I do not agree with @Mark396 that I should think he was rude.

His post is not offensive, he was polite when expressing his opinion and questions. 

He has a different opinion and are raising some questions. 

It can be somewhat unpalatable to most of us. However, he was not rude.

[James207]

@Helen3 That's awesome. You should totally be allowed to do that. And I should be allowed to enforce my cancellation policy as I see fit.

I don't what kind of place you have, maybe you just rent a room for extra money. Perhaps, you own your place and don't have a mortgage.

You really shouldn't use your own experience to justify what happens to other hosts. We all have very different situations and business models.

I've got two condos in Maui. I spent $13,000 late last year to prepare them for Maui's high season (which is now: Dec-April). This was a bit higher than usual (don't buy a condo with central A/C... f'ing HVAC costs), but on average I spend $8-10K with upgrades and repairs. To say nothing of the $5500 in mortgage payments I have. I devote a lot of time, energy and money to make sure my guests have the best vacation possible. It's unfair, IMO, to shift the entire financial burden of these cancellations to the hosts. This sucks for everyone and if this were actually a community, then we'd share the costs. On other platforms I'm offering a 65% refund or the option to reschedule any time through 2021. This strikes a reasonable balance between giving guests fair options, while not bankrupting me.

Also, guests have the ability to take out travel insurance. Hosts can't. I can not provide free travel insurance for guests. Airbnb is now forcing me to do so.

It's great you have the flexibility to be so generous. My business is different. The ongoing costs of keeping condos in good shape in a tropical environment make that harder. So I have to have a stricter cancellation policy.

[Helen3]

What's with all these men on this community forum assuming the woman who host are just doing this for 'pin money' @James207 . You are the fourth bloke on here to make that (false) assumption.

I am glad that you make enough profit to be able to plough thousands into your properties. Hopefully you also kept some profit in your business to be able to keep you afloat for the time it takes to get this virus under control.

Honestly I really don't understand why are you expecting someone else to subsidise the costs of you running your business in the bad times. I bet you don't share your profits in the good times 🙂

[James207]

@Helen3 I said 'I don't know' what your business model was. The 'maybes' came from the fact I looked at your listing and you're renting a room in your house. I would've said the same thing if you were a man renting a room in his house. It's VERY different from renting a standalone condo that I don't live in.

But you're utterly missing the point. We have VERY different situations and business models. I was trying to illustrate why that's the case.

Most of the cashflow goes back into the condos. So, yes, I do give the profit back in terms of keeping the place exactly the way guests expect it to be.  It's expensive to do that and it sounds like it's not as expensive for you to do that (i.e. we have very different situations). There really isn't that much profit after that other than the mortgage getting paid. That is profit, but it's relatively illiquid.

I don't expect anyone to 'subsidize' my business. I expect them to abide by the contracts they sign. Just as I have to do. And if they can't, then to have a discussion about the best way to move forward instead of just tearing up the contract.

If you don't understand that, fine, but don't accuse me of sexism just because you don't get it.