Hosts & Vaccination Requirements

[Anonymous]

Now that the Covid vaccine is being rolled out, we're seeing a lot of hosts asking questions about how to make vaccination a condition of entry. I'm not personally in favor of hosts asking for private medical documents, and in many jurisdictions it would be illegal to do so, but these are exceptional times and it's understandable that in-home hosts are trying to find a way to host safely again. As long as Airbnb grants an exemption to the cancellation policy when guests say they've tested positive, hosts have every reason to prefer guests who aren't at risk of this.

So far, the vast majority of people who are able to travel have not had access to the vaccine, but this will hopefully change over the next months. And even though it's a thorny topic, this is the time that hosts really need Airbnb to issue some guidance about how hosts can set requirements here. Can hosts request medical documents, even if they're not qualified to authenticate them? Will the Non-Discrimination Policy be applied to hosts who discriminate against unvaccinated guests? 

@Catherine-Powell I hope this is addressed in the next policy update from Airbnb, because it's increasingly clear that most in-home hosts have no real intention of adhering to the "protocol" that they were aggressively bullied into saying they would follow. If Airbnb is willing to allow people to require guests to be vaccinated, I hope we'll have an on-platform format for guests to enter their data without compromising their medical privacy. But otherwise, I hope we can at least have a loud and clear announcement of what hosts can and can't ask for, so we don't have people's businesses destroyed weeks later by a complaint that they fell afoul of a policy that didn't exist yet.

[Linda108]

If a host feels compelled to require proof of vaccination, then that host should not continue with hosting as this time.  I have a home share listing and will not resume hosting until I feel safe.  In my city, home share listings are not allowed to accept reservations at this time.  There are many communicable diseases that the public might bring to any accommodation so proof of being germ/virus free is not a good direction to go.  Very slippery slope here.

[Sean95]

Must be nice to have the financial stability such that AirBnB income is "nice to have" and not "need to have". If I had to stop hosting, I'd have to leave my city. That means quitting my job.

[Sarah977]

@Sean95  Well, that's the reality for a lot of people these days. Some places are very expensive to live and people may move to a less expensive area so they don't have to struggle so hard to make ends meet. 

Just because someone isn't totally dependent on their Airbnb income to pay the bills doesn't mean they are well-off. They may have had to make the tough choice to move from where they would really prefer to live, so that their lives are financially less stressful.

[Kitty-and-Creek0]

@Sarah977 @Sean95 

Our county is still in the "red" tier with double digits of new cases per day. Our hospitals are filled, and surgeries are not happening unless it is a total emergency. Hospitals in several local counties are shuttling and trading patients to maintain a level of safety and service. Medical staffers are exhausted from this marathon that seems never ending. We are definitely not out of the woods here. 

[Sarah977]

@Kitty-and-Creek0  I think that very few places are "out-of-the-woods", even though people would like to pretend that is so and start ignoring precautions. 

And the main reason this is definitely not over is exactly because of that attitude. The  powers that be see the numbers go down, succumb to public and political pressure,  lift restrictions, then have to do it all over again when the case rate goes up again.

Can you imagine if all the countries in the world had been able to work together to implement a worldwide plan to quell a disease that doesn't recognize borders or politics?

If there had been a worldwide lockdown and enforced masking for 1 month, back in March 2020, this would have been over more than a year ago. It frustrates me no end how such a practical solution couldn't have been implemented. Humans don't use the brains they were born with.

[Kitty-and-Creek0]

@Sarah977 

We have a lot of people here who have not been vaccinated, and will not. Most of them have a really negative attitude about anything medical. It is sad, and they are not helping the situation at all. They think they know better than the health professionals, and think that they have "chosen" to not get vaccinated; that this is a really good thing. They are very vocal about this and start fights on social media about it. If they would all just stay home it would help, but they don't, so everyone else has to do so. I am guessing that some of these people might by now want to be vaccinated; but feel like if they did, they would lose face, having made such a scene about it. Little do they know that if they finally got vaccinated, they would actually gain so much face, and be congratulated by everyone who has an active social conscience about this thing. It is very unfortunate, but family and friendships have been under so much stress around this. It should not be this way, and it should not be political. There are the usual things that are not discussed in polite society - sex, religion and politics. This has become another one of them, and that is tragic, imho. (end rant). 

[Mary996]

@Sarah977

Totally agree with your perspective that a worldwide lockdown, social distancing and mask wearing from the get go might have eclipsed this pandemic. 

[Sean95]

@Sarah977 

It wasn't really a comment on which hosts are wealthy and which aren't. It was more a comment on dismissing other hosts who are airbnb-dependent when you yourself are not. I've been hosting for 20 years so there was no apparent reason NOT to structure the rest of my life around this practice. It's not like I did something really risky like putting all my savings into cryptocurrency. I never would have moved to Toronto if I hadn't already accumulated 12 years of hosting experience, which enabled me to believe that I could "have a go at it" in a city I otherwise never would have considered.

I've thought about moving to a less expensive place. However, super expensive city + lower-middle-class job + airbnb is doable, while cheap town + minimum wage job + no airbnb is worse.

The alternative for my income bracket would be to rent a bedroom in a place with 3-4 other tenants, in a massive high-rise where social distancing is even more impossible when dealing with hallways and elevators. Seems even riskier than my current one-at-a-time exposure to my guests.

[Sarah977]

@Sean95  I'm actually Canadian as well, lived in Toronto back in the 70s but mostly on Vancouver Island for 30 years. So I'm well aware of how expensive it is to live in places like Toronto and Vancouver. And house prices  and rents are insane. 

My daughter and her partner who live on Van. Island in a rental house work their butts off and sock away every extra penny so they can hopefully buy a piece of land someday and not keep putting rent money in someone else's pocket, but it'll take many years for them to be able to afford something.

I guess I don't see strs as the sure thing to depend on that you did, because there are so many things out if your control that can kibosh it, like Covid, like the powers that be bringing in regulations against it. 

As a home share host myself, I agree that you are much safer renting out a private room to those who are vaxed and respect social distancing than you would be living in a communal house with roommates whose behavior you have no control over. 

[Kitty-and-Creek0]

@Linda108 

Homeshare hosts in our entire county are not allowed to host due to the health hazards of Covid, and non-essential travel is also not permitted. I have felt safe hosting all these years because of the flu shot I get every year, and have remained healthy so far. Covid is another thing totally. The vaccination I am getting may be just fine, however the virus is mutating rapidly and we may need further vaccinations as this runs its course as a pandemic. I expect that I'll get a covid vaccine annually like we do the flu. Time will tell. 

[Anonymous]

@Kitty-and-Creek0 @Linda108  I totally agree with both of you, and what a lot of people don't seem to understand is that we still don't know yet whether a vaccine recipient can still transmit the virus to others. I don't think we're anywhere near the conditions under which  anyone should host at all unless they could safely host a contagious carrier, and it's extremely premature to think the vaccine will change that overnight.

But a lot of people have tethered their concepts of microbiology to their politics, and this topic can very quickly turn into a party-line-vote. I don't want to get into those weeds, I just want Airbnb to make a definitive statement on whether it's allowed on their platform for hosts to impose medical requirements in their listings. 

[Kitty-and-Creek0]

@Anonymous @Linda108

Thanks as usual, Andrew. I agree that we know too little. Being cautious is vital, especially for many of us who are over 70 with "circumstances". I would have appreciated that, under pre Covid, people who were contagious with anything not stay in my home. Now that we have a pandemic that is evolving, mutating, and ubiquitous, it would be decent for any of us to scrupulously avoid passing on this thing to anyone else. 

How can we best support this? We cannot, ask, require, or certify as to anyone's health, so we remain vulnerable in the least attractive manner. I trust my guests, however right now with so little information and so few facts, trusting each other on Covid is not such a good idea. As you know already, I am aware that we cannot buy good health.  No money is enough to make that gamble. We are therefore prevented from hosting, in good health, while this pandemic is ongoing. Such a pity, we miss it on so many levels!

[Tueykay0]

@Anonymous 
Moderna or Pfizer vaccine in the United States at 94.1% /95% effectiveness. A vaccinated person can still get COVID-19, however, it will not be as serious and can recover quicker than a person without vaccination. And yes, it’s possible that one can be a carrier. That’s why we tell people to keep wearing a mask, wash hands and stand apart. Also, get tested every week. 

[Terrill0]

I reached out to Airbnb today and was told hosts can request proof of vaccination in order to book. I myself recently provided my vaccination card and ID in order to eat at a very popular small restaurant. I have also read that one reason people change their mind and get vaccinated is so they can take part in travel again….I need to protect my family. I’m going to continue to host carefully to people I feel comfortable, safe and welcoming . 
I’m not just a host I’m a guest and I feel WAY more comfortable in a situation where my host demonstrates their caution for both their health and mine.

I have begun asking guests to provide proof of vaccination and had good reception.