The COVID-19 Parties of Chaos: HOSTS we NEED to UNITE

[Heather624]

Since my State’s stay-at-home order, the reservations in my Cleveland shared home is basically in the red, like many of yours. We all have our stories--successes and temporary biz demises. That’s just the life of an entrepreneur. We are entrepreneurs as Airbnb hosts. This is important to remember, during a pandemic. Our FUTURE success is how we weather this BLIGHT—individually and together.

True entrepreneurs do not cast blame nor do they expect another entity to bail them out. They keep going.  That being stated, I know we are all trying to find a daily recipe to $urvive.

The BRUISE of BLIGHT:

We need to be more mindful, today. Thursday through Sunday, my mobile blows-up with “requests to book.” All of the guests just joined Airbnb:  no reviews, no government id, they are all local. I am open to newbie guests, but I do ask questions for why they would need lodging if they currently reside within my municipality. Additionally, it appears that they do not take the time to actually read that my home is “shared,” so I point out that I also reside in the home when I respond. (They all withdrawal their initial request. Yep, they are looking for a place to have a party.)

There have been a lot of unauthorized parties, via Airbnb, in my community.  This past week there have been three that I have read about. One such party was shooting AK-47s. I am worried that my city will ban short-term lodging in the future because of the chaos happening, right now. It is not safe.

I know it is tempting to accept a booking request, without the extra due-diligence. God knows, we all need any kind-of income—we can get.  And it sucks that we are in this position:  Open our homes to guests who are desperate the “party” under the disguise of false reasons, in order to make a little bit of dough. I understand.

But I am urging all of you, as fellow entrepreneurs, to help stop all of the chaos of parties. Please use stricter metrics when approving your guests. Please.

The FUTURE:

I actually really like the culture Airbnb and the vehicle it has created for me to live, make money and expand my knowledge with the people I have come to know--guests and other hosts, since 2016. I have created a subculture from it, actually.  I would like it to continue on with it--that culture and expanded subculture. And I am rather certain most of you have witnessed how brilliant your lives were with Airbnb, prior to COVID-19. So we need to ban together, as hosts, to make sure our income streams are protected within our local demographics—in the foreseeable future.  We are in fact entrepreneurs. Forward thinking, even in this **bleep**-storm of Corona V.

[Heather624]

Hey, @Kath9. I have been keeping it open for my regulars. Not that they have been booking, like before! Hosted one on 31 March--he was in town for work. Have another repeat guest arriving tomorrow--to visit  her grandmother who lives near me. 

(My guest areas are on the 2nd & 3rd floors; I live on the first floor.) 

[Inna22]

@Kath9 I am getting some longer stays from construction crews, traveling nurses etc. at the prices that barely cover utilities but still. I have also gotten one or two actual birthdays where it was just the family but they wanted a change of scene from a small apartment.  If there are no guests, nothing is wrong with that. This is so hard on families in small apartments and devastating to kids. Gives my cleaner a few dollars to pay her rent too

[Fred13]

This is a subject that has come up constantly virus or no virus.

 Whenever I see a listing, that is A- a separate place (aka no one watching), B- an absentee owner (aka would take some time to get there), C - is inexpensive (as in $20 per person) and D- it allows many 'guests' (10+), a recipe for disaster in any neighborhood and in any circumstance immediately comes to mind. I have no idea why Airbnb even allows such listings, they have high-maintenance and bad publicity written all over them.. 

[Lars31]

Q. do AirBnB hosts qualify to participate in the gov't's small business loan program that Congress just authorised? Thanks.

[Heather624]

@Lars31 

Yes. But this “Q” is not relevant to this post. However, I will provide a little information. There was already one round for PPP & EIDL. We are on the second round. All you need to provide is your 1099K with a Schedule C from Airbnb from 2018. Or your current 2019 1099-K and Schedule C—this does not need to be filed with the IRS. However, you might be too late in the game, at this point if you have not applied. Word from Congress is that they are brainstorming another round. Additionally, you can file for unemployment with your state, retroactively—stating with proof when you became fiscally challenged by COVID-19; this is if they are open to 1099ers. The community forum here has not been helpful, so I have been hesitant in posting my journey—until said funds hit my account. Best wishes. FYI: Reddit might be a good resource for you as a 1099er—looking into this matter further.

[Melodie-And-John0]

Thanks for that info @Heather624 , it does seem nobody is talking about it here and thats unfortunate cause I would bet most of us could benefit from that but even the feds are silent about how it works specifically for hosts.  Im going to call our bank today and see if they can give me any assistance and insight.  I tried to sign up for an info session Airbnb was having but 20 minutes after it was opened, it was full!  Do think about writing a piece here if you could Heather, Im sure many of us would love to hear about the process, Stay well, JR    

[Katie304]

Thank you, Heather. We are also hosts in Cleveland and are getting occasional one-night requests from locals. ALWAYS A NO. We really do need to rally together to stop this from continuing. I appreciate the information you shared about the message you send to potential guests, and will consider adding further warnings and fees to our listing as well. We certainly are hurting from missing the income, but safety — for ourselves, our guests, and neighbors — comes first.

[Melodie-And-John0]

@Heather624 , great piece.   I'm sure places like @Fred13 has mentioned truly present challenges to trying to prevent these types of  flash parties.  @Inna22 , thats quite a warning, I would think twice before I tested your policies in a negative manner, 'Innas got a gun"!   

Were located in the boonies, listed as no parties and also resident Innkeepers so we don't get any flagrant requests.   We have actually only had one smaller party in hundreds of bookings in almost 4 years that spawned from "Picking up my sister at college" and he had a couple good reviews before he stayed here.  I clamped down on them a few times over the night instead of tossing them due to some sensitivities in play I didn't wish to test or confront.  Even with a solid lock on our bedroom door (if you have guests in your home, its a must have), It wasn't the best sleep night we ever had for sure but they didn't actually do any damage I couldn't undo.  He did receive a very honest review from me and likely wont be staying at an AIrbnb again.   Stay well, JR

[Alvaro312]

Hi, Airbnb's official policy is that party are not allowed, since the sooting in California in 2019. But Airbnb workflow since then, has not been updated, or what is the same, agents cannot do nothing, just call them. But if you are partying , I am pretty sure they will not pick up the phone. That's my experience as an outsorced Airbnb worker for 2 years. And it was really frustrating to deal with these situations as an agent, because we could ot help at all.

[Fred13]

   At a time in which it behooves Airbnb to have hosts that can appreciate the fact that maintaining a 'low profile' is a plus, especially when most municipalities & neighborhoods today already have their hackles up about the 'evils of STR' renting. Stands to reason, or should, not all applications to list with them need to be approach the same way and hope for the best. There is also the mainstream media, who simply loves sensational 'disaster rental stories'; just yesterday I read another Airbnb 'party' gone wrong, last week's was about a shooting in one of them and so on. 

   Any listing that has too much risk for the brand,  shouldn't be listed in the first place.

[丽萍0]

I am stopping with Airbnb. A guest (male student) had been inviting girls to our shared place and use common facilities like shower and kitchen. Upon discussion, he insisted that he didn’t see the note on the wall of entrance, nor our message prior booking, nor the house rules at listing page. He ignored and told me: “Safety is just your BS. We go to public places and we get it anyway...” Oh mine! Breaking house rules, yelling at me because I want to end this reservation. What is that attitude? Airbnb didn’t even get back to me. They said: “oh call the police.”

[Liv]

Hi @丽萍0,

I'm really sorry to hear about that situation.

I've checked on your case with the team internally and I was informed that they are currently working on it. A CS agent is going to contact you soon, so hopefully it will be resolved shortly.

Please do let me know if you have any other concerns.

I hope this helps.

Liv

[丽萍0]

Hi @Liv Thanks for your answer. The guest brought the girl on Thursday night. I opened a case on Friday night. No one has got back to me, so I called on Sunday. I came across the guest also on Sunday, in front of the building so I discussed with him to say 'Please you broke the house rule, we don't feel safe in our apartment with stranger you brought, please end this reservation. I refund you.' He started yelling and finally agreed because he indeed broke the house rule. So he willingly asked to refund until Sunday night (via message on Airbnb), but leaving on Monday at 20h00 max because he has courses to attend. I said OK, so I gave him basically all day to leave at no charges. The entire time I told him no extra charges, just leave. At 20h00 when I picked up the keys, he started yelling at me saying ' It's all your fault that you made my life hell. The next host cancelled on me, I have no where to stay and it's all because of you!' Wait, if he didn't break a house rule, bringing potential covid carrier into the house, endangering everyone else in the shared apartment... why does he make it sound like he was the innocent one? Airbnb did not respond the ENTIRE TIME.