Airbnb wont adhere to UK regulations

[Luke279]

I'm literally on the verge of a nervous break down due to Airbnbs lack of compliance to separate Government law/regulations.

In the UK we are now allowed to open to the public, but only to those who book under two households. 

Yet if we have instant book enabled and have a property that allows 6 guests this brings a situation that means a group can instantly book without question, advance or last minute.. 

I approached my local council which is Bristol, and I was advised that as a company we have a duty of care to the residents in the block the apartment is held in to adhere to the law/regulations set out. Failure to do so regardless of individuals/groups lying on booking we would be liable to not only fines but prosecution.

Now since we reopened to the public I've had continuous scenarios of groups trying to book or instant booked and the booking needs to be cancelled due to the regulations. Airbnb do not recognise this at all, they request proof direct from a high power for each reservation when trying to cancel which is impossible to do. Yet the law is clearly available online to view

How on earth do we as hosts keep a viable business running full well knowing deactivating instant book lowers our properties, we held to ransom at putting lifes at risk!

[Melodie-And-John0]

@Luke279 , I Guess I'm lucky (for once!!!!)  that I live in New York  (Upstate in the boondocks).  The onus of compliance with travel restrictions is on the traveler not the host in NY and USA.   I had an IB guest yesterday that hosts a place in NYC, has an address in Florida and reviews from lots of foreign and domestic locations on the globe- I can't be playing Gestapo with every guest and interviewing them and our governments should not expect to deputize us all in the name of C19 without giving us the resources and income to do so effectively (they have given us neither!).  

Im not saying I can't do things to minimize threats posed by hosting in our region

- warning potential guest in our listing of the possibility of laws that could affect their legal ability to stay here is my front line defense, total separation of guests and host suites,

-Social Distancing on our 9 acres of land and in our very large home keeps us safe while folks are here, 

-compliance with the new cleaning protocols and 24 hour cool down period is my hazmat approved bio mop-up between bookings just in case someone was infected while staying here.  That keeps us and our neighbors safer than not. 

These are the things we can properly do- playing Police, Customs, ICE, INTERPoL or surrogates for any of the above isnt by any stretch of the imagination in my job description!!!  BTW, It really isn't in Airbnb's either! Keep well, JR

[Helen3]

In the UK it is both the responsibility of the host and the guest @Melodie-And-John0 

There are some simple actions @Luke279  can take to comply with our legislation such as mentioning the regulations up front in his property management company's listing and vetting guests in advance of their stay to check how many households will be travelling.

(I notice Luke still hasn't updated his listings to highlight the current legislation, so it appears his concerns about being vulnerable to fines and prosecutions if he doesn't comply must have abated).

It is absolutely in our JD as hosts to comply with local legislation relating to STRs, just as hosts in many European countries have to collect traveller ID and sometimes a local tourism tax.

[Melodie-And-John0]

@Helen3 , I'm fine with taking measures (As I mentioned in the above response, we are proactive in many ways) to both inform guests of the possibilities of restrictions they should review and mitigate risks with tools that I own that are appropriate for the job.  Conducting verbal screening also comes with legal risk and liabilities- FERPA, HIPPA and lots of Civil rights and other regulations govern the legal right to know what is considered personal health information or even requiring a response  "where have you been" in the USA- Judging the legitimacy of someone's address, story or truthfulness of their recent travel or health disclosures seems a stretch for me given my background isn't in Law Enforcement or anything close.  Rights don't disappear because of a pandemic, they might actually be even more imperative at this moment than they have been in a very long time.  Just my 2 shillings for what thats worth, Stay well, JR

[Luke279]

@Helen3 

In terms of you saying I havnt updated my listing, if anyone tried to book the pre-message was confirming the UK legislation warning of two households. Do you mean its not in me description? 

[Helen3]

Exactly not in your description @Luke279  Easier for guests to have it there rather than wait until they go to book to find out they may not be eligible.

[Huma0]

Of course, we can take extra measures to remind guests of the restrictions (on the listing, booking message etc. etc.) and try to vet them more now than ever.

However, it would be really useful if Airbnb would at the very least get rid of the penalties for declining bookings. We all know that a lot of guests DO NOT READ the listings properly. Some don't read anything expect the price and just look at the photos. Then they send booking requests when the listing isn't suitable for them at all and go silent when you ask them to withdraw it. The host then gets pinged for declining. 

Airbnb should remove this policy. It never made sense under normal circumstances, let alone now...

Then there's having to cancel instant bookings because, again, the guest hasn't read anything or wants you to bend your rules. You have only three 'get out of jail free cards' a year on that one, which could easily get used up very quickly in the current circumstances. Right now, it's super hard to get assistance from CS. There should be an option to cancel a booking penalty free when it does not adhere to Government regulations, but I know pigs aren't going to start flying soon so I'm not holding my breath on that one. Sure, you could just disable IB but I found that my listing all but disappears in the searches if I don't use it and right now booking are already super slow.

[Helen3]

I agree @Huma0  in @Luke279 situation I would remove IB so that he doesn't have to keep cancelling bookings. 

I have a listing in Bristol for three years before I moved to IB, and certainly had all the bookings I wanted (obviously now the market has changed so it won't be so easy).

[Huma0]

@Helen3 

I didn't use IB initially and had no problem getting bookings at all but then something changed. Around the time Airbnb really started pushing IB, my listings dropped down the searches and the bookings almost ground to a halt. 

So, reluctantly, I turned IB on for the first time and the bookings came flooding in. Not that all of them, or even a very significant portion, were instant bookings, but suddenly my listings were back in the search results.

I really haven't experimented lately to see if that is still the case but, as I host long-term guests, my market is quite niche and it's quite unusual for someone to booking a long-term stay via IB. They usually have questions first.

Anyway, I leave it on just for the visibility.