A message from the beleaguered and forgotten UK Homestay hosts

[John1902]

Hi to all

I will defend Airbnb to the hilt to anyone who moans and everyone has an opinion of course.  They enabled me to move to a great home and manage the bills by creating a business for me immediately and for what they charge we get a good deal.   Even though the assistance programmes could have been a bit more inclusive, and I've received nothing even though I was eligible for the superhost programme, Airbnb have worked hard to do something which most companies I know of have not tried to do relying on the government instead. I appreciate the updates and the transparency.

I do however need to just fly a white flag on behalf of us who offer home stay accommodation here in the UK.  There will be others like me that have lost all their business and as I have flexible policies and my bookings come at relatively short notice, I have no Income since February and nothing from the assistance programmes. I am not classified by HMRC as a business and am then not eligible for the UK self employed grant programme and because I own a property I am outside the scope of universal credit as it's means tested with the limit being £16k of savings which includes the value of property you own.    There is a **bleep** of light as the government have given funds to councils to give discretionary funds and one of the key industries to be considered are those offering b&b accommodation that pay council tax.   But I cannot be the only one in this position.   Those companies operating holiday lets and anyone that HMRC treats as operating a business are able to access various government schemes to keep their businesses going . We have so far nothing. Im lucky to be able to keep going but there will be many struggling to pay their mortgages and bills or are panicking about having no income when payment holidays are over.  

I've been now through the current Airbnb advice and I realise when I am back in business I have to reduce my offering from three to two rooms to avoid sharing of bathroom facilities.  I am concerned that people will resist homestays for safety reasons so I was encouraged to see there was a cleaning protocol coming up that would enable us to show we were taking this seriously.   

I then read that we are being excluded from this programme due to the social distancing side. Also it requires 24 hours between stays as a minimum.   

I remember recently Brian saying that Airbnb was going back to its roots and focusing on people offering accommodation in their own homes.  But excluding this now makes us look like second class citizens.  If guests have the choice of a certified whole flat or a non certified homestay, guests won't be coming here. 

I urge please Airbnb come up with a private room protocol quickly. We will need to get up and running urgently.   Personally I estimate I am £7,500 down during the last couple of months.  If others like me have similar losses this may result in people losing their homes.  And we won't be able to keep 24 hours gals between guests.  Most of my business is one night stays as we take all the business and offer cheaper stays for those that are coming for events or just overnights.    If you are serious about focusing back to your roots and supporting homestay hosts then please do something with this .

I hope this is seen by someone who can make a difference as I fear we are a forgotten community within both Airbnb and UK tourism.

When it's all over, come to the beautiful Suffolk Coast for a perfect socially distant holiday and support UK tourism !!!

John

[Anonymous]

@John1902  As a fellow homestay I can certainly empathize with your predicament. However, I think Airbnb is correct in excluding shared homes from its Covid cleaning guidelines. Based on the currently available research, the risk of transmission between people being in a shared household for several hours are more is vastly higher than the risk of surface transmission from a self-contained property that wasn't cleaned properly. 

Everybody knows that Airbnb is not actually monitoring the cleaning routines of hosts who claim to have followed the guidelines, so it's not a 100% safety guarantee they're offering. But to somehow "support" homestay hosts by labeling their homes as Covid-safe would be irresponsible and dishonest.

We're far from alone in the misfortune of having entire business models that are simply not viable in the context of a pandemic - and particularly one with the specific qualities of Coronavirus.  Even if Airbnb and your local laws permit you to open your shared home to guests again, I'm afraid the market will still leave you behind, as the culture that made it appealing for travelers to bunk in a stranger's home is functionally dead now, in a time when even having friends over for dinner is fraught with risk. Whatever guests might feel like throwing caution to the wind on this one are not people I'd trust with the keys to my house or the opportunity to shed a deadly disease in it.

Airbnb has made a lot of huge mistakes through this crisis to be sure, but I don't think a third-party vendor can take the blame when the customers have good reason not to want your product.

[John1902]

@Anonymous To be clear from the outset,  I am happy to debate things if done in a supportive environment but not if I receive comments using that sort of negative tone and especially not if you are going to misinterpret what I have written in order to make your point. Maybe others will put up with you writing like that but I will not.  Given how bad a time we have all had then it would achieve more if hosts supported each other, showed some solidarity and acted nicely towards each other. 

For clarity I am asking for nothing more than an opportunity to operating on a level playing field.  If there was a different set of criteria we could use to work towards doing the best possible job we could then get acknowledgement of that, it wouldn't automatically put us at a disadvantage.   I don't blame Airbnb for my situation but I do think they could think this one through better, give us the opportunity to succeed and let the best arbiter of all, the guest, make an informed decision.

Having announced that Airbnb is going back to focusing on their original business of people offering stays in their homes it doesn't look like Airbnb are quite as negative as you are about homestays and if what you say were actually the case then no hotel or guest house could be opened nor any shop or restaurant.

Re covid 19 transmission, the facts from scientists I have seen on our BBC news are that the vast majority of transmissions are from touching surfaces with the virus on and then touching your face.   Only a small amountof transmission is by aerosol and for that you need to be in the same room as someone for around 3o minutes before the risk is serious.  This could be 95% touch and 5% aerosol.  Hence why science is sitting on the fence about masks and seem to indicate the main reason for using masks is to prevent touching your face.  Our guidance says also if someone has symptoms you don't have to all move out for the time they have the symptoms you can stay in the house as long as you sleep in different rooms, dont prepare food at the same time and wash shared bathrooms after each use.  My guests have their own rooms, they do not share bathrooms and do not  prepare food here. 

As the pandemic retreats eventually I hope to be able to credit people with the sense and the ability to make their own risk decisions.  Whilst our behaviours may never go back to what they were, I expect they will relax a bit as time goes on.  I will also never insult a person who tries to become a guest here.  If I don't want them to stay for whatever reason I will decline and thank them for their good taste. Too much negativity does not help anything especially in this moment.    

I wish you and your business all the best

[Gordon0]

I fear we're in for a rough ride, @John1902, especially those of us who host a room in our houses. While the room I list (an en-suite) is very private (on the ground floor, whereas I live on the first) I'm stuck with these new exclusions too. Thankfully this isn't my only income, but I think of those who are now struggling without any cash coming in. 

On a (possibly) brighter note, I imagine UK destinations will see an influx of tourists once we're into the summer and I - for one - could think of nothing nicer than fish and chips on Alderburgh beach. 

[John1902]

Thanks @Gordon0 it will be a tough ride for all of us I'm sure but if the hotels and guest houses can do it then so can we, Thinking it through logically, they have all the same barriers we have.  It's worth staying shut until it's really safe to open I'm in no hurry to reopen but when we do it would be nice to be not starting at a disadvantage.

Well the chip shop in Aldeburgh is now open again and I hope we see you here on the lovely Suffolk coast very soon.