https://www.airbnb.com/openhomes/medical
Perhaps I am hard-hearted and lacking in any kind of compassion, but this sounds like a bad idea all around. Anyone, help me understand who would really want to do this?
We get requests ALL THE TIME since we are close to a major research hospital. The last one, a woman said she and her husband needed a place to stay while he was recovering from open-heart surgery. We live in an, old, historic home, have a dog, no TV, don't allow cooking and have only ONE bed - there is no way someone recovering from this type of surgery should be staying with us. Seriously, was she going to go out and pick up lunch and dinner for several weeks?
We've had guests who stayed with us who simply had bad colds and they were miserable to deal with while ill. We're in-home hosts forced to roll out more tissues, getting juice (and requests for medication!), and sanitizing everything after they left! I can't imagine the laundry, garbage and smell after someone has had surgery or chemo or had a medical emergency while staying in my home where EMTs need to be called.
For those of you who host near major attractions like Disney World, Disney Land, or other "Make-A-Wish" destination - just how often do you think you'll be approached by someone wanting a free stay because their kid is sick? It doesn't look like you can even put a limit on the amount of stays you may want to take.
Does this secondary "profile" count against you or for you in regards to search results? What about with regards to Superhost status? Do you get Superhost Medical Status?!
Why doesn't Airbnb pay a host their normal nightly rate to take the tax write off for a donation to any one of these charities? Why are they asking hosts to give up their space for free for up to 2 weeks? And what, exactly will a "coordinator" do when the sick person's "care giver" fails to clean up bio-hazard, complains about some cleanliness issue, or breaks the washer/dryer doing laundry - Airbnb already has a poor track record with paying for broken anything, let alone a guest staying FOR FREE through a non-profit?
Maybe I slept poorly so I cannot see any benefit to doing this, so please show me the way. Right now, even if I thought that it would make my inner care-giver and psyche feel good, this whole idea turns my stomach. This makes me more fearful of difficult and challenging guests and angry at Airbnb for asking us to do something else that benefits ONLY THEM!
Love to hear all perspectives, for and against, creating a Medical Stay profile. #changemymind
