Does anyone know if guests are acknowledging mask policy for shared spaces?

[Lori2240]

Does anyone know if guests are required to acknowledge the shared space policy of mask wearing and have to agree to this policy?  Do hosts have to provide the masks? 

[Kath9]

@Lori2240, apparently, guests are also required to wear masks (see screenshot below), but my current guest (my first for ages) knew nothing about this. I'm not concerned because we have no community transmission here anyway, but it seems that guests have not been made to sign a contract like hosts have. Of course, it may just be that he just missed it, but I'm interested in whether we (and they) will be asked in the review whether the guest/host wore a mask.

[Marg11]

@Kathy9, @Lori2240,

We had a surprise today when 3 rural guests arrived wearing masks as Airbnb had instructed them to do so. We replied we would get ours from behind the front door if they preferred but they took theirs off!

Also when showing guests around our flat it is impossible to keep 2 metres distance and we apologised but they said it was ok as they needed to know where everything is. 

Because of our age and his health we're not taking quarantine guests but with no community transmission we feel safe as do our guests.

[Lori2240]

This guest was coming back to the US from a high Covid rate country and I asked if he knew about mask policy and he said yes. I did ask him if he has been safe, social distancing and wore masks but he didn’t answer. I ran out of time trying to find the policies AirBnB has for guests. I did email AirBnB but haven’t heard back yet. I am wondering if guests that come in from out of country are just lookin mg to find a place to isolate before they go back home and ensure they don’t bring Covid home. I guess that worries me with a short term guest when you are sharing a space. Food for thought...

[Anonymous]

@Lori2240  I'm perplexed by: "coming back to the US from a high Covid rate country."  There is no country with as many active Covid cases as the US, so it's hard to see how domestic travelers would somehow be safer for you to host.

There's not much point in asking people if they've been safe - if you're considering sharing a living space with guests at this treacherous phase of the pandemic, you have to assume that any of them could be contagious carriers regardless of where they're coming from. If that worries you, it would be crazy to host in-home right now!

People who are actually being cautious about their transmission risk are not going to  be renting a room in a shared house with a stranger in Florida, regardless of what Airbnb does or doesn't ask them to agree to.

[Kath9]

@Anonymous  I'm continually perplexed by US hosts who are seemingly more concerned about guests arriving from overseas. Have they not watched the news? I also don't understand hosts continuing to accept guests, especially into their own homes, if they are worried about COVID. Here, we don't even have community transmission or international travellers, but now that Western Australia has opened its borders to other Australian states for the first time since March, I've decided to snooze my listing until further notice. Even though the risk is low, the last thing I want is for some disease-carrying stranger to bring a potentially deadly virus into my home. If I were an American host, there's absolutely no way I'd be accepting guests right now.

[Lori2240]

@Anonymous thank you for your input and noted. I am still pretty new to hosting and have only had long term guests. The last one came in from the UK before lockdown.  He was here for 6 months. I am looking to learn about others experiences with guests and how they handle shared spaces and Covid so I can learn and not necessarily to hear about the US Covid rate, but thank you for the information. 

[Helen350]

@Lori2240 I hosted an American couple in October, who knew about the then yet-to-come mask thing... I think they said they'd signed it... (But arrived without masks. It was only October!)

Since the new mask rule was introduced, I've hosted 2 separate guests. (1 night & 3 nights.) Neither of them wore masks, neither on arrival, nor in our brief encounters, nor did they make any mention of the subject, ever. I never thought to wear one either! - 5 stars from Guest 1, and Guest 2 has yet to review, but intends to come back. 

[Lori2240]

Thank you @Helen350! Did you share common space? 

[Helen350]

The 1 nighter stayed in his room apart from me welcoming him by opening the door. The 3 nighter helped himself to morning coffee in my kitchen whilst I was still in bed. We had a couple of short conversations from opposite sides of the dining room = 2+ meters. The bathroom is shared. 

Interestingly, UK rules for self-isolating following contact with an infected person say you only need to isolate if within 2 metres for 15 mins....... So on that basis, low risk, even if someone was infected.

I'm not saying 'Do as I do' @Lori2240 , just saying that in 2 December hostings, I completely forgot about masks, and so did the guests! (Many summer guests DID arrive masked, till I told them no need.) 

[Kia272]

@Lori2240  It's entirely up to you to set health and safety policy and procedures in your own home. You don't passively ask what AirBnB is doing, and then wonder if  guests have seen AirBnB's policy and agreed to it! You need to make your expectations clear to potential guests, especially if you are sharing common space! Being new to hosting has nothing to do with this. Common sense has everything to do with it. Guests need to know what your expectations are. You can make that clear in your messaging with them. Feel people out that way. If you are sharing space, I'd be very proactive about your own health and safety. It's not worth any amount of money to put your health at risk. 

[Lori2240]

Thank you @Helen350 ! I appreciate the information.  It helps me! 

[Sarah977]

Home share host here. Haven't taken any bookings since March. Not at all willing to take the risk, as guests share my kitchen. I do miss hosting and will get right back into it again when things are safe to do so, but my life and health are more important. @Lori2240

[Lori2240]

Wow! I am actually surprised at some of the comments. I appreciate the input but I really thought people would be less critical, less harsh than people are on social media platforms. Please if you don’t have anything you can share about your experience and you just want to judge or be critical, take it elsewhere. Find another post to sit on your soap box and preach. For those that did share information regarding your experiences, thank you. It really is appreciated. Now I know not to post in this community. Shame we can’t be less critical of others. 

[Sarah977]

I don't see any of the replies you have gotten as critical or harsh. They are statements of fact and you asked how others with shared home listings are dealing with it. You got on-point answers, as far as I can see.

And this is a public forum. Neither you nor I get to tell others to "take it elsewhere" just because we don't like the answers we received. In fact, your original post here was quite discriminatory, acting as if people from other countries are a big risk while ignoring the fact that your own country has the highest number of COVID infections of any country in the world.

@Lori2240