Guests travelling from areas of Local Lockdown in the UK

[Alexandra1169]

As everyone is aware lots of areas in the UK have entered into what they call as 'local lockdown' these are areas where the Covid 19 virus risk is especially high.

On the Guest profile details there is no indication of where in the UK guests live. So before accepting a booking we are now having to ask guests for a full postal address to ensure that they are not travelling from such an area, many guests have refused so we have had to resort to subterfuge and request a full postal address to post out the directions to our home and the full address with a map. So far we have had to cancel a number of bookings where guests are trying to come from these high risk areas.

Why does Airbnb not insist that someone registers their home address with them when they join and insist that guest register their local area on their profile?

Why when we cancel for the above reasons will Airbnb not permit us to take alternative bookings? 

I have discussed this via email with Airbnb  via email but to no avail the answers are non committal and frankly useless

[Mike-And-Jane0]

@Alexandra1169 There is currently no law with respect to people not being allowed to travel from lockdown areas to other areas. I assume the reason Airbnb are blocking your calendar (and presumably fining you for the cancellation) is because it is your choice to cancel and not that you are legally obliged to cancel.

[Debra48]

Put in your rules that all guests from lock down areas will be required to pay for an additional three nights. (Guests almost never read all the rules.) Then, when you get their zip codes, explain there will be an additional charge and why, at which point they will be free to accept the charge or cancel their reservation. (Three days is the amount of time for virus traces to dissipate in a closed environment.)

[Debra48]

Z

[Anonymous]

@Alexandra1169  If you're required to collect guests' home addresses in order to comply with your local laws, you should state very clearly in your House Rules that this is a condition of booking, and preferably reference the law that you are upholding.

However, your policy would appear to contradict the government guidance published here: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/guidance-on-holidays-in-areas-with-local-coronavirus-covid-19-restrictio...  (my apologies if this is out of date)

• If you live inside an area with local restrictions, you can go on holiday outside that area but you should only socialise indoors with members of your own household or support bubble

• You can only stay in a private home - which includes self-catered accommodation such as holiday cottages, apartments or boats - with members of your own household or support bubble

My understanding of this is that you can host guests from a local lockdown area who are from a single household.  I haven't been able to locate any materials requiring hosts of Entire Home properties to discriminate against guests based on their postal address. You might have to collect some personal data upon arrival for contact-tracing purposes, but unless your specific locality has a separate rule for accommodation providers, it appears that you're out of your jurisdiction here and may well be violating the guests' privacy.

If this is your personal risk-management strategy - well, Neil deGrasse Tyson put it best, "it's like having a non-peeing section in the swimming pool."  If you're choosing to host in a pandemic, sorting guests based on which postcode they live in is an exercise in futility - especially considering that one's residence still doesn't tell you where else they've been in the last weeks or how strictly they've been complying with the laws themselves. What it comes down to is, your whole island is high-risk, and any guest who crosses your doorstep might be a contagious carrier of the virus, regardless of their postal address. If you don't feel that your current protocol would allow you to host an infectious person safely, it would make far more sense to suspend your hosting operation than to attempt your own foreign policy.

[Andrew1435]

The poster is in Wales and Wales has different restrictions, which do prevent going on holiday outside the area.  https://gov.wales/coronavirus-regulations-guidance#section-39239

[Helen3]

@Alexandra1169  A little confused by your post - people in local lockdown areas in England certainly (not sure about rest of the UK ) are able to travel.

I have it as part of my IB questions that guests must state what town/area in the UK or what country they are from in order for me to accept their booking,

If you want their full address on booking you need to add to your house rules or IB questions.

Airbnb does have a guests full address.

If you cancel for reasons not covered by their EC policies you will be penalised.

Far easier for you to remove IB and make it a condition of booking that you require a full address on booking.