***WE CANNOT PAY OUR RENT WITH BIG IDEAS: AN OPEN LETTER TO BRIAN CHESKY***

[Rose123]

On March 14, 2020, Airbnb changed policy to allow guests full compensation for cancelled bookings as a result of the current COVID-19 health crisis. This policy overrides existing policies hosts have in place to protect their homes and livelihoods, placing the responsibility of an entire global health pandemic on their shoulders.

Brian, you say your hosts are “heroes”, but everyday heroism can take many forms, and among these is corporate social responsibility. You tweet that Airbnb is concocting “big ideas” to help hosts, but we cannot pay our mortgages, rent, staff and bills with big ideas.

The impact of your March 14 policy change will be rapid and far-reaching. The diverse individuals who comprise your host community will face the very real prospect of eviction. This impacts individuals who may not have another source of income. Or, they may have a hosting income, but are also active participants in creative industries. They are poets, painters, artists, writers, academics, musicians, dancers, ceramicists, bloggers and others who balance the economic precarity of creative work with hosting as a matter of necessity, not luxury. They are the same individuals who, reliant on a gig economy, do not have access to health insurance, nor the protection of employer benefits and sick leave.

Your guests have a refund at stake: your hosts, their homes and livelihoods. We ask you to protect hosts as well as guests. We urge you to reimburse hosts for cancelled reservations according to their cancellation policies. We as a host community do not believe that guests should be traveling in the current health crisis. We also do not think that hosts should suffer crippling losses. We ask you to acknowledge the loyalty – and the revenue – of the hosts who built you. And we ask you to consider how to best support your most precarious hosts, those who will soon be on the verge of eviction.

*** Airbnb hosts, feel free to copy, paste and share. Use the hashtag: helpyourhosts ***

[Rogelio29]

Done! Thanks for putting it out there.

[Christy203]

I completely agree with this post! Here is the feedback I put on another conversation but will add here. 

I understand that this is a difficult time for everyone involved but putting 100% of the loss on owners versus some shared loss with vacationers was (is) wrong. Many of us have multiple properties and this is our business and income for our families. Allowing guests to cancel whenever they wish to over this period of time, even with strict cancellation plans that recommend supplemental insurance is unfair. I am now reading direct Airbnb responses where they are recommending travelers to opt out of getting their insurance money and instead taking the host money! Insanity. 

I knew we would take losses when this occurred. I have tried working with guests, asking if they plan to cancel, so I can relist and rebook what I can to help pay all the expenses but that blanket policy you put in place allows them to cancel whenever they want. This is our highest season. This month is the month that pays for the low season. I am looking at a significant loss. I am also reading on a super host community page where guests are checking into peoples home and then cancelling after staying!  That is so wrong. I called into today to check to see if that could happen. That people could take advantage of this to that level and the answer from the agent was that could happen. Someone could just check into our homes and cancel whenever you want for a refund. This is very concerning. 

I understand this is time that all of us are taking losses. I believe the fair and equitable action from Airbnb would have been a split loss for that month on strict non cancellable contracts so that owners could also still pay their bills while we shared the burden equally for this time period. I also believe that guests should have had to give owners cancellation notification with 7 days notice so we had the option to rebook . Thirdly, under no circumstances should a guest be allowed to check into a home and then just cancel while staying. That is not ethical. 

Thank you for your time, 

Christy Urban 

Woman owned small business

Urban Vacation Properties LLC

[Donald28]

Woman owned small business

Urban Vacation Properties LLC

Just by your signature I can tell you're doing airbnb wrong. It wasn't airbnbs fault that you thought you could buy (or rent) multiple properties indefinitely and without any financial risk on the airbnb platform. Airbnb wasn't meant to be a business like what you're trying to do. I'm sorry you got caught up in the seemingly "easy money" but something like this virus was bound to come along and do a "market correction" on the hosts who have been doing it wrong and screwing all of us little guys who are doing it right. 

[Thomas977]

Airbnb gave away our money and now they want Congress to take the bill. How about Airbnb taking responsibility for its own actions?

https://www.businessinsider.com/airbnb-asking-congress-give-tax-relief-and-loans-to-hosts-2020-3?r=U...

[Donald28]

and this is a bad thing? 

 The airline industry as a whole had a 15 billion dollar profit in 2019 and our government is going to immediately give them 50 million dollars for a bailout with taxpayer money?

That is absolutely crazy. But no crazier than airbnb asking congress to bail out its hosts. 

[Bradley122]

where is the class action lawsuit from hosts?

[Donald28]

everyone is waiting for you to start one. 

[Adriano78]

@Rose123 

i receive today an e-mail from VRBO/ABRITEL (France)/Homeaway

Management of cancellations due to COVID-19
Hello Adriano,
In the 25 years that Abritel has been in existence, we have never faced the challenges that our vacationers, owners, property managers and teams around the world face today. Abritel is a platform for both vacationers and homeowners. And for every holidaymaker who must now cancel a rental he has reserved, there is an owner who loses this reservation and who must also manage a large number of cancellations.

In this context, the majority of you have taken the lead in offering credits in the form of credit and / or reimbursements to vacationers. Thank you for giving this example of flexibility and hospitality, even if it forces you into financial difficulty.

Here are our emergency measures related to COVID-19, designed to help you overcome these extraordinary circumstances.

On the Abritel side, we reimburse 100% of the service charges to vacationers if they have to cancel a reservation due to COVID-19.

For your part, we ask you to cancel reservations made before March 13, 2020 for stays between March 13 and April 30, 2020, by proceeding in two possible ways (even if these stays do not fall under the as part of your cancellation policy):

    Option 1 (by default): you offer holidaymakers who must cancel their stay due to COVID-19 a credit for the amount of the reservation, for dates of stay over the coming year.
    Option 2: If a holidaymaker is not willing to accept this credit, we advise you to reimburse it. If you cannot reimburse it in full, we strongly recommend that you reimburse it at least up to 50% of the amount of your reservation.

Our intention is to reward Abritel property owners and managers who will be the most flexible with their vacationers. We will give more visibility to the owners' announcements that are the most generous (a 100% credit or refund will be better rewarded than a 50% refund for example).

Property owners and managers who do not comply with these measures will be at a disadvantage vis-à-vis those who follow our policy. Any attempt to intimidate holidaymakers (such as suggesting that traveling is safer than staying at home or disregarding the severity of this unprecedented crisis) will result in the permanent withdrawal of your advertisement from the Abritel site and from all of the HomeAway and Expedia group sites. Here are also some details on Abritel's policy in this context:

    We reimburse 100% of the service charges to holidaymakers if they cancel a reservation due to COVID-19, whether the cancellation is mandated by the government or not, for all reservations made before March 13, 2020 for stays between March 13 and April 30, 2020. Reimbursement will be made automatically in the coming weeks without the vacationer having anything to do.
    Automatic reimbursement: our teams are working to simplify the reimbursement and change of reservation dates. All details on these new processes will be communicated to you in the coming days, so in the meantime we thank you for not contacting our customer service. We emphasize that the assets / postponements of stays to later dates will have to be decided between you owners and vacationers, we advise you to indicate all these details to vacationers in writing ideally via our secure internal messaging.
    Automatic exemption from any penalty for cancellations: if you have to make a cancellation related to COVID-19, you will be automatically exempt from any penalty for these cancellations, which will not affect your ad's ranking or your status. Premium member. You do not need to contact customer service for this, you just need to select the reason COVID-19 as the reason for cancellation and make at least 50% of the refund to be eligible for this exemption.

The new policy we are implementing may not be perfect, but in this unprecedented period, we believe it offers the best balance to protect vacationers and homeowners. If you have any questions, feel free to visit our help page and / or our Discovery Center, which will be updated every 48 hours.

We have been in contact with thousands of owners over the past few days and I am impressed by your responsiveness in this difficult environment. It is certain that the situation will eventually change and that families will want to go on vacation again. Know that we will be at your side to help you provide them with the best service.

Thank you for your involvement and I express my admiration for your commitment.

Jeff Hurst, President of Abritel HomeAway

[Adriano78]

i receive today an e-mail from VRBO/ABRITEL (France)/Homeaway

Management of cancellations due to COVID-19
Hello Adriano,
In the 25 years that Abritel has been in existence, we have never faced the challenges that our vacationers, owners, property managers and teams around the world face today. Abritel is a platform for both vacationers and homeowners. And for every holidaymaker who must now cancel a rental he has reserved, there is an owner who loses this reservation and who must also manage a large number of cancellations.

In this context, the majority of you have taken the lead in offering credits in the form of credit and / or reimbursements to vacationers. Thank you for giving this example of flexibility and hospitality, even if it forces you into financial difficulty.

Here are our emergency measures related to COVID-19, designed to help you overcome these extraordinary circumstances.

On the Abritel side, we reimburse 100% of the service charges to vacationers if they have to cancel a reservation due to COVID-19.

For your part, we ask you to cancel reservations made before March 13, 2020 for stays between March 13 and April 30, 2020, by proceeding in two possible ways (even if these stays do not fall under the as part of your cancellation policy):

    Option 1 (by default): you offer holidaymakers who must cancel their stay due to COVID-19 a credit for the amount of the reservation, for dates of stay over the coming year.
    Option 2: If a holidaymaker is not willing to accept this credit, we advise you to reimburse it. If you cannot reimburse it in full, we strongly recommend that you reimburse it at least up to 50% of the amount of your reservation.

Our intention is to reward Abritel property owners and managers who will be the most flexible with their vacationers. We will give more visibility to the owners' announcements that are the most generous (a 100% credit or refund will be better rewarded than a 50% refund for example).

Property owners and managers who do not comply with these measures will be at a disadvantage vis-à-vis those who follow our policy. Any attempt to intimidate holidaymakers (such as suggesting that traveling is safer than staying at home or disregarding the severity of this unprecedented crisis) will result in the permanent withdrawal of your advertisement from the Abritel site and from all of the HomeAway and Expedia group sites. Here are also some details on Abritel's policy in this context:

    We reimburse 100% of the service charges to holidaymakers if they cancel a reservation due to COVID-19, whether the cancellation is mandated by the government or not, for all reservations made before March 13, 2020 for stays between March 13 and April 30, 2020. Reimbursement will be made automatically in the coming weeks without the vacationer having anything to do.
    Automatic reimbursement: our teams are working to simplify the reimbursement and change of reservation dates. All details on these new processes will be communicated to you in the coming days, so in the meantime we thank you for not contacting our customer service. We emphasize that the assets / postponements of stays to later dates will have to be decided between you owners and vacationers, we advise you to indicate all these details to vacationers in writing ideally via our secure internal messaging.
    Automatic exemption from any penalty for cancellations: if you have to make a cancellation related to COVID-19, you will be automatically exempt from any penalty for these cancellations, which will not affect your ad's ranking or your status. Premium member. You do not need to contact customer service for this, you just need to select the reason COVID-19 as the reason for cancellation and make at least 50% of the refund to be eligible for this exemption.

The new policy we are implementing may not be perfect, but in this unprecedented period, we believe it offers the best balance to protect vacationers and homeowners. If you have any questions, feel free to visit our help page and / or our Discovery Center, which will be updated every 48 hours.

We have been in contact with thousands of owners over the past few days and I am impressed by your responsiveness in this difficult environment. It is certain that the situation will eventually change and that families will want to go on vacation again. Know that we will be at your side to help you provide them with the best service.

Thank you for your involvement and I express my admiration for your commitment.

Jeff Hurst, President of Abritel HomeAway

[Sky13]

Good lord! So contentious! Black and white thinking abounds! 
The “gig” economy exists. For some, thank the heavens; for others, money for a vacation.

Pull it together people.

The current crisis calls the obvious into question: What responsibility does a 31 billion dollar company have toward the people who it depends upon for its very existence??

@Donald28 

[Sky13]

@Donald28, I want to thank you for gloating about how you did everything right. What a wonderful way to make a meaningful contribution to the group. Additionally, I really admire your knack for telling everyone in the most abrasive tone possible how they are doing it all wrong, and thus, deserve to be punished due to their own ineptitude. Each of us, should be measured, by the yardstick of your opinion and great success.
Way to go @Donald28!

[Jocelyn118]

What can i say...Airbnb...unacceptable that we did not recive a full overview about the change...i actually received a call from one of my guest...why...to show some support to our hosts...they knew the impact this would have on my business and was shocked that i had no idea...Airbnb...refund all of my booked cancellations or i will be unable to pay for my mortgage, my HOA fees, gas,

[Patricia-Lynn0]

I totally agree!  I have 3 properties - 3 mortgages, all of which are listed with Airbnb.  I stand to loose my properties over this if the crises continues and Airbnb continues with it's absurd 100% refund to guests policy.  I have suggested to Airbnb that they issue Interest Free loans to their hosts based on the $ amount of their coronavirus cancellations.  These loans could then be repaid to Airbnb on a small percentage basis against future bookings until the loan was repaid.  It's a win-win for everyone involved.

[Patricia-Lynn0]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D4T1k9SJFds&feature=youtu.be

[Henley0]

I know this doesn't apply to everyone and not to relieve Airbnb of their actions to minimize their losses, but we should always be preparing for times of uncertain income. Have an emergency savings that can sustain for a long period time. Don't overextend your investments. If you're living paycheck to paycheck, think about how you can change that.

We host on Airbnb to earn more than the alternatives. It's a partnership with Airbnb where we both win during economic growth and both lose during downturns. They'll naturally minimize their losses. So should we. It won't always work, but you're more likely to protect your investments.

[Anne668]

Do other hosts want to join in a class action against Airbnb over this? We had a "strict" cancellation policy, now worthless. You can contact me directly on anne@anneatkins.co.uk