Have any Superhosts received an invite to apply for the $5,000 grant scheme?

[Robin4]

It seems each time the CEO has a video session he has some grand offers he is so exited to share with his partners.

I believe some hosts who are active here on the CC have received the promised compensation for reservation cancellations from a $250 M  compensation fund.

I can understand that the $25-$50 offered here or there would not be too onerous for the company to honour baring in mind the claimable window was set to very narrow parameters.

What I would be interested to find out, has any Superhost received an invitation to apply for the (up to $5,000) compensation grant that the CEO went to great pains to promote back at the start of April. 

There is a certain psychology behinds words and statements and the way they are formed!

I smelled a rat when I read the first line of the eligibility criteria........

"There are hundreds of thousands of Superhosts around the world"........really!! All reliable estimates suggest their are between 650,000 and 700,000 Airbnb hosts around the world of which 10-15% are Superhosts.

Obviously an opening statement like that is designed to prime Superhosts up not to be too disappointed if that invite doesn't come.....there after all 'hundreds of thousands' of Superhosts in the mix here.

There may have been a dollar or two on offer here robbed from the employees incentive scheme but it would be really interesting to hear if any one of Superhosts who are active here on the CC have received that illusive invite! 

I am active on a couple of other sites so I will keep hosts here posted if I should actually come across anyone who has received one of these mysterious invites!

Cheers......Rob

[Donald28]

I did get $250.14 from the 250 million dollar fund for cancellations. It's better than NOTHING but still an absolute slap in the face. They're definitely not giving me the 25% they advertised. 

Also, Airbnb just cancelled a paid/scheduled experience for 5/22. The guest gets a full refund and airbnb says ...

"Hi Donald,

Due to the coronavirus (COVID-19), we’re canceling all existing experience bookings through at least May 28, 2020. This means Jessica’s reservation for Retro ARCADE Experience For 2.5 Hours!!! on May 22, 2020 has been automatically canceled. Jessica will receive a full refund, and you won’t incur any penalty." Gee, I'm glad I "won't incur any penalty"! That's so nice of airbnb not to penalize ME because they cancelled MY booking. 

And NO, I HAVE NOT GOTTEN THE GRANT INVITATION YET. Below is roughly $2000 worth of bookings I lost. There are many more that were cancelled.

Apr 17 - 18, 2020 HMT8HC3ANR - Julie - Tiny House & Huge Arcade just 5 miles To Six Flags OasisArcadeAirbnb (17170419)	$24.01
Apr 18 - 19, 2020 HM5B985ARK - Jeff - Tiny House & Huge Arcade just 5 miles To Six Flags OasisArcadeAirbnb (17170419)	$3.64
Apr 4 - 5, 2020 HMAFMNTYZ8 - Emily - Tiny House & Huge Arcade just 5 miles To Six Flags OasisArcadeAirbnb (17170419)	$21.22
Apr 6 - 7, 2020 HM99BNK4PT - Michael - Tiny House & Huge Arcade just 5 miles To Six Flags OasisArcadeAirbnb (17170419)	$22.43
Mar 27 - 29, 2020 HMAFD23EZH - Christy - Tiny House & Huge Arcade just 5 miles To Six Flags OasisArcadeAirbnb (17170419)	$47.29
Apr 3 - 4, 2020 HMAK3SKJT2 - Blaine - Tiny House & Huge Arcade just 5 miles To Six Flags OasisArcadeAirbnb (17170419)	$22.43
Apr 11 - 12, 2020 HMN9DBQF9S - Emily - Tiny House & Huge Arcade just 5 miles To Six Flags OasisArcadeAirbnb (17170419)	$24.25
Apr 12 - 13, 2020 HM8BCAXDMQ - Craig - Tiny House & Huge Arcade just 5 miles To Six Flags OasisArcadeAirbnb (17170419)	$23.64
Mar 25 - 26, 2020 HMXCPXAYRK - Nick - Tiny House & Huge Arcade just 5 miles To Six Flags OasisArcadeAirbnb (17170419)	$38.80
Apr 10 - 11, 2020 HMSS38WN98 - Amy - Tiny House & Huge Arcade just 5 miles To Six Flags OasisArcadeAirbnb (17170419)	$22.43

Total (USD)

$250.14

[Helen350]

@Donald28  Is the money now in your bank account, and if not have they said WHEN you'll be paid?

[Donald28]

No they have not disbursed the money yet and there is no indication in the email WHEN that might happen. 

[Susan17]

The most telling part of Airbnb's shady and shambolic handling of the whole COVID/EC refund debacle - and the most reliable predictor of the company’s future chances of survival - is that nobody (not hosts, not guests, not the media) believes a single word they're saying, nor trusts them not to be screwing everyone over in one way or another, with every move they make.

They may (or may not) have themselves covered every which way legally, but it's the reputational damage that will bring them tumbling down. Once trust is gone, it's gone. 

[Teresa86]

This is what I got when I vented my frustration here!

An Unexpected Error has occurred.

•  
• Your request failed. Please contact your system administrator and provide the date and time you received the error and this Exception ID: 37FF74E2.

  Click your browser's Back button to continue.

Return to my original page

[Pilar1]

I kept getting a similar sort of “unexpected error” message so I now copy my text before attempting to send. I was told after enquiring that it was because the session times out after a while so if you have been reading other posts and not realised for how long this might be the reason. 

[Stephanie]

@Teresa86 @Pilar1 

Thanks for sharing this bug. If you get it again, would you mind capturing a screenshot? Either way, I've reported it to the QA team.

Thanks

[ElenaandNick0]

I didn't receive any invites despite being a SuperHost since 2013 and lost every single booking since  February and absolutely no bookings for the future. I have a strong feeling I will never get that invite. I know many hosts who already pulled out of Airbnb and rented places for 1+ year and thats what we are trying to do as all savings are now done but bills don't stop.

[Stephanie]

Hiya @ElenaandNick0 ,

We are running slightly longer than expected so the deadline is not until May 15th. Here's the full information:

How do invites work?

We started sending out invites in mid-April and we will be sending them weekly through Mid-May to eligible hosts around the world. We’re prioritizing invitations based on a number of factors, including how long people have been a Superhost and how significantly their earnings have been impacted due to COVID-19. That means, most invitations so far have gone to people who have been Superhosts for 4+ years. All invites will be sent by mid-May, and if you’re invited to apply, you’ll get an email with a link to the application. 

A specialized team is reviewing every application and keeping hosts' information discreet. Everyone who applies will get a response within 2 weeks, and grants will range from $1,000 to $5,000.

Thanks

[Basha0]

So far, no invite for the grant and no 25% on the canceled reservations made prior to the cut off

[Basha0]

Also, if Superhosts are invited, is that based on March-April income? I’m in a summer resort area. I hardly Have any bookings until May. I make all my money from May- October. I am desperate for the income I’m about to lose. Cut off for the grant is May 15th? I’m confused and uninvited; apparently 

[Margaret107]

Hi. For those of you who think that we in the Silicone Valley get special treatment-sorry. It is not so. Neither I, nor any of the other hosts with whom I have spoken, have heard a peep. We are considering a demonstration of us-mostly LOL’s-little old ladies-on the headquarters in San Francisco. We come from a generation of demonstrators.

[Helen350]

LOL! @Margaret107 ! - (The other LOL!)

[Rebecca-and-Jonathan0]

We haven't been invited to apply. We've been superhosts 3.75 years, and have the number 2 most wish-listed tiny house in the world on the platform (per Airbnb's most recent trend report). Our listing is also the number one most popular in Nashville and the state of Tennessee. If they were targeting high-profile properties, I feel like they would have invited us already. Freaking out a bit because this has been the majority of my family's (modest) income since we started. We have two small kids, and are getting by off the stimulus, the occasional booking, and a gardening job my husband scrambled and got right when everything got canceled. Our earnings for April were down about 90%. Really hard for me to see any logic to how they're going about this. 

[Susan17]

@Stephanie 

"That means, most invitations so far have gone to people who have been Superhosts for 4+ years".

They forgot to add.. "and we're also prioritising Experiences Hosts who have been in the game for a mere 1+ years" 

Could you ask the team please Steph, to clarify the breakdown of how many of the circa lucky 15000 hosts (as per Airbnb's own stated figures) who will receive invites to apply will be in the "Superhosts with 4+ years experience category", and how many of the beneficiaries will be in the "Experiences Hosts with 1+ years experience" category. 

Doesn't have to be exact figures. (We all know Airbnb don't do exact figures) Ballpark percentages of how they plan on splitting the allocations will do, just so we have a rough idea of how many actual Superhosts will/won't be benefitting from the not-quite-correctly named Superhost Relief Fund