Calendar finally blocked for declining to participate in covid hygiene theater

Lisa723
Level 10
Quilcene, WA

Calendar finally blocked for declining to participate in covid hygiene theater

Well, Airbnb finally got around to blocking our calendar. We didn't sign up for the ECP, because according to @Catherine-Powell it requires removing from our homes all cookware, tableware, and linens that cannot be rewashed on every turnover regardless of use. This would eliminate one of our listings' primary selling points, not to mention being entirely pointless according to current science-- especially with our four-day vacancy buffer between guests. And while we understand many hosts are taking the "let's not and say we did" approach to this, we won't advertise falsely.

 

Fortunately we're pretty fully booked through the summer and this will give us the opportunity to prove or disprove our theory that we can fill the remainder of the year with Vrbo and direct booking.

 

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159 Replies 159
Sarah977
Level 10
Sayulita, Mexico

@Lisa723  I would love to know what positive thing Ms. Powell has accomplished for hosts since assuming her position. Nor has she engaged with the hosts she supposedly is going to bat for, beyond her PR videos and the occasional response to a month old post in which she is tagged.

 

I guess I'd be hiding, too, if I hadn't managed to accomplish anything I said that I would.

 

Glad you're booked up for the summer and good luck beyond. I'll miss your always intelligent posts.

For reference, here are our two most recent reviews. This home has 77 reviews, all five stars, and a pure 5.0 for "cleanliness".

 

"This is one of the best Airbnb’s I’ve stayed at. It is a beautiful home on a beautiful property. We loved having our dogs with us and they loved having a large yard to run around in. Many Airbnb’s feel like a staged home that’s for sale, but this felt like I was at home. It had all the amenities of home and more. ❤️"

 

"This is one of the coolest AirBnBs I have ever stayed at. It was impeccably clean. It has, far and away, the most well stocked kitchen in an AirBnB I’ve ever seen. The whole house is beautiful. The lake, the canoe, badminton, bocce ball! It’s so fun! I would highly recommend to anyone"

@Sarah977 , thank you. (I'm not dead yet! 😉 )

Alon1
Level 10
London, United Kingdom

@Lisa723 @Sarah977 

 

I also got this block message today. I guess many others as well.

 

I'm only puzzled, why today?

 

Maybe the decision maker got out on the wrong side of the bed?

@Alon1 who knows. My guess is that they finally bullied enough hosts into ticking the box (whether they're actually implementing the protocol is of course another ball of wax) that they can afford to lose the rest of us.

 

Why Airbnb has chosen to plant its flag on this particular hill, when every day there is more and more science discounting the risk of surface transmission and vaccinations are on the rise, is an interesting question, though.

Alon1
Level 10
London, United Kingdom

@Lisa723 

 

Thanks for reply.

 

As a live-in Host it doesn't make a jot bit of difference as I don't intend to Airbnb host for the foreseeable future. 

 

It's just weird it happened today, because some months ago they gave us a deadline to comply or be blocked. Deadline came and went, and all there was a page warning that if you want to host you'll have to comply. But today they blocked the calendar. Don't see the purpose of it. 

 

 

Ricardo85
Level 10
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

@Lisa723 

 

Calendar block here !!!!

 

Ricardo

 

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Sarah977
Level 10
Sayulita, Mexico

@Alon1 @Lisa723  Between the hosts who have left because of the abyssmal customer service and those who will because of these blocks, I can only assume their "Host Ambassador" initiative, getting them to sign up new, unsuspecting hosts, has been successful.

 

Maybe that's why they are suddenly blocking after all this time. Gain a host, lose a host.

Alon1
Level 10
London, United Kingdom

@Sarah977 

 

I don't think the intention is to lose hosts, but to coerce, which is a waste of time in this enterprise.

They can't hope to change people's minds like this given its our properties and we can take it or leave it. 

@Alon1  I think the company mentality is so arrogant and tone deaf, they really don't think hosts will leave it, or not enough to matter. They think we're all captives, scared not to get any bookings if we leave.

Robin4
Level 10
Mount Barker, Australia

@Lisa723 

Lisa, it's a totally meaningless bit of programming, because it can't be policed!

 

What is actually happening here, hosts like you @Alon1  @Ricardo85 who are offended by this almost narcissistic approach by the company towards the pride in what we do and offer, are refusing to sign up to something that is simply not realistically deliverable and are being actually penalised by the company, despite the high standards they maintain.

Where as those hosts who don't really care, do not adhere to rigorous cleaning regimes have simply  glossed over the protocol requirements and say "Yeah we are on board" and have no intention of even attempting  to alter what they have been doing all along. It is self defeating!

 

Like you Lisa, I have always washed and sanitized everything a guest is likely to have handled or come in contact with between every stay. It didn't need COVID-19 to make me alter what I do. And for me it is doubly hard, I host in an old building which is considerably harder to give the impression of spotless cleanliness than a modern building!

The only upside of this pandemic is, it has brought onto the market a massive increased number of sanitising products for us to use. A few years ago the only proper laundry sanitiser I could buy was on Amazon.....now the supermarket isles are well stocked with them and other enhanced cleaning options.

 

I would love to think that someday Airbnb would come out with something that just simply makes sense.

 

Cheers........Rob

@Robin4 I'm not offended-- I'm just unwilling to advertise something I'm not doing, or to participate in Airbnb's deliberate CYA obfuscation about what the ECP actually entails.

Robin4
Level 10
Mount Barker, Australia

@Lisa723 

I was offended Lisa, l was offended that Airbnb should have the nerve to tell me l should clean to their standards.

I signed it and I do agree to it because the basis of it is what I have already undertaken to do when I started hosting and secondly because, there is essentially no Covid-19 here in this country. Our borders are closed to international travelers  and there are virtually no community transmission cases week after week here. This was yesterdays Dept of Health report.

current Covid 22.03.png

 

I am sure the only reason Airbnb have introduced this Covid policy is to protect themselves from any form of legal process in the event of a Covid-19 case being positively linked to an Airbnb listing.

It is once again just another attempt by Airbnb to distance themselves from any hosting issues, and if many fine hosts get trampled on in the process, well that's just tough luck.

 

Cheers.......Rob

@Robin4"I am sure the only reason Airbnb have introduced this Covid policy is to protect themselves from any form of legal process in the event of a Covid-19 case being positively linked to an Airbnb listing."

 

And they have purposefully obfuscated the requirements so they can claim the host committed to rewash every pot, pan, measuring cup and utensil in the place while most signed-up hosts have no idea that they did any such thing.

 

But still, with more and more evidence that this scenario is beyond unlikely, regardless of the host's cleaning practises, I'm still kind of mystified about why Airbnb has chosen to draw this line. It seems like a marketing gimmick run wild.