Clearly, the world knows airbnb hosts are hurting, but we have been BOMBARDED by what I'd call bad actors who are trying to take advantage of the situation. We've had guests negotiate longterm rates and then ask for only 5 days with the same rate, guests flat out asking for us to cut our rates even more (we're down to 25% of regular rates).
Thankfully, we are positioned to weather this storm and don't rely on airbnb as our primary income source, but we're trying to do whatever we can to help our cleaning teams stay working because they do rely on this income. We're willing to lose some money (and have discounted our properties to the point where we won't make a dime and typically will lose money) to ensure they have work, but some of the requests we've gotten have been outlandish! One guest requesting $1500/month on a property that normally rents for over $4000. Keep in mind we'd already reduced it to $2,000 (already at a significant loss) and marketed it directly to nurses or doctors because the home is located near a major university health system hospital.
We will 100% lose money in the coming months, and I'm okay with that to help our cleaning and maintenance folks, but does anyone else think some guests are trying to take advantage of vulnerable hosts? Not all hosts can say no to these extreme requests, but I feel badly for those that are getting taken advantage of. I hope airbnb actually reads the reports on guests who are quite literally spamming tons of hosts to see who will cave and give them the best deal. Kicking people when they're down is NOT a good look.
