[UPDATED April 10] How hosts can provide housing for COVID-19 responders

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[UPDATED April 10] How hosts can provide housing for COVID-19 responders

Responders.jpeg

 

Many of you have expressed an interest in hosting healthcare staff, and first responders on the front lines. So we wanted to let you know about a new program we launched to help you do just that. Airbnb is partnering with our hosts to connect 100,000 COVID-19 healthcare staff and first responders with comfortable and convenient places to stay. 

 

We know you might be wondering how the Frontline Stays program works, whether or not your space is eligible, and how to apply. We’ve answered these questions and more at Airbnb.com/COVID. If you’re interested in applying for the program, you can do so using the online form at Airbnb.com/COVID19relief

 

As always, we appreciate the resilience and generosity of hosts in the Airbnb community. We know this is a challenging time for so many of you, and your desire to help others is such an inspiration. Thank you again for all you do!

 

Updated April 10, 2020

 

We’re so inspired by your enthusiasm for the new Frontline Stays program! We know you still have questions about how it works, so we wanted to take a moment to answer some of them here.

 

What kinds of guests can I expect to host as part of the Frontline Stays program?

Tens of thousands of COVID-19 responders around the world are looking for temporary housing right now. Many are nurses and doctors traveling to impacted areas to support local hospital staff, medical staff burdened by long commutes and back-to-back shifts, and relief workers who are exposed to patients every day and are concerned for the health of their families—especially those with elderly parents or infants at home. 

 

I’ve blocked off my calendar but want to help. How long should I leave my calendar open to participate in the program? 

We recommend opening up your calendar through July 31, 2020. Keep in mind that there’s only one calendar associated with your listing. Dates you make available can potentially be reserved by any guest, whether or not they’re a COVID-19 responder. If you only want to host COVID-19 responders at this time, you’ll need to turn off Instant Book so you have more control over who can reserve your space. The normal penalties associated with declining bookings don’t apply to requests from responders, so you don’t have to worry about that. 

 

Who can book through this program?

Healthcare staff and first responders must be either affiliated with partner organizations or reviewed by Airbnb prior to check-in. This process helps ensure responders have a COVID-19 work assignment and are familiar with safety protocols. If Airbnb is unable to confirm a guest's COVID-related work prior to check-in, the reservation will be canceled.  

 

How will I know if a guest is a COVID-19 responder? 

These guests will have a special COVID-19 designation on their booking requests and confirmations. So whether you have Instant Book turned on or not, you’ll be able to identify COVID-19 responders right away.

 

How should I price my space?

Many COVID-19 responders who are signing up through our program are in need of free or deeply discounted listings because they’re paying out of pocket for their stays. If you can offer COVID-19 responders a space for free, please consider doing so. 

 

If you’re not currently hosting on Airbnb but want to provide free stays for COVID-19 responders, sign up for the program here

 

If you’re already a host on Airbnb, sign up to host COVID-19 responders here—you’ll be able to set the price at your full rate, at a discount, or for free.

 

How do I set a discounted rate for COVID-19 responders?

If you’re a host with an active listing on Airbnb, you can set a discount for COVID-19 responders when you sign up to host healthcare staff and first responders. If you don’t have a listing yet but you’d like to help, create a new Airbnb listing first and then sign up to set a discounted rate for responders.

 

Once you set a discount, we’ll automatically apply it to reservations made by COVID-19 responders only, and you’ll get the price breakdown when you receive the booking request or Instant Book reservation. Please keep in mind that your calendar won’t reflect the discounted price for COVID-19 responders.

 

I’m trying to opt in with a discounted rate, and it’s not letting me. Why is that?

Thanks for your feedback on this issue. There was a technical issue with the opt-in experience for some regions, but that should be fixed now. If you’re still having trouble with this, please let us know in the comments.

 

We want to remind you that we’ve answered even more questions in our Resource Center article, so please check that out for additional information about the program.

132 Replies 132

Were you able to figure this out? I can't either

Try changing your browser.

 

I find that IE, Internet Explorer, does not have the full functionality.

 

Now I always use Chrome or Mozilla to sign into websites that I have to interact with. 

Kenneth12
Level 10
Chicago, IL

Am I the only one here that is looking this over,  and far from impressed by Airbnb's "college try" effort?   (Only five upvotes so far out of 500-hundred-ish views,  ought to send a message!).

For instance,  surely hosts and first responders can-- and will need to-- work out cleaning protocols without top-down incompetence rules from Airbnb,  which appear to have been designed without consulting either hosts or the health care professionals who will be in these situations.

"Exclusive access?"  You mean no cleaners or not?  What about laundries that are in common areas,  given that first responders may wish to clean and disinfect and sanitize their clothes as soon as they arrive?  (You really think a cleaner or host coming in when a first-responder guest is not present,  is a great idea without a lot of discussion?)

Didn't think about those things,  and a hundred others?  You just wrote "agrees to follow social distancing" because it sounded good?

 Allow me to suggest that you either need to work hard and -- gasp,  because this isn't in Airbnb's DNA-- transparently with both hosts and first responders to come up with best practice recommendationsnot top-down requirements and dictums,  or stand back and get out of the way--

that is,  just connect hosts and first responders and let them work out most of the details,    including sanitation and guest access,  with some basic groundrules in place.

Exactly. I also have to know whether they are actually employed by a hospital or are trying to get a stay free. It took me 3 days to do it, but in the meantime the offer had to be cancelled and now that week is blocked. Now I'm being punished for trying to give away my place free?

 

There is no way to qualify these ppl as health care providers until I phoned the hospital, got the names of the nurses, and their nursing IDs. Now I'm ready to book them but it is blocked. 

 

Do I have to ask them to pay the cleaner? Is this built in to this AurBnB app? This has been a lot of work to do this. Clearly AirBnB didn't put too much thought or work into it.

 

They are employed as nurses so they probably can at least pay for the cleaning.

@Bryan93  Yes, it seems it was a big PR move to make Airbnb look great and socially responsible, but they haven't bothered to implement it in a way that works for hosts.

Nurses are overworked, for sure, but they aren't underpaid- they are paid well in Canada. They can certainly afford to pay for cleaning, and I don't even see why they should get free housing, unless you just want to do your generous part to help out. I don't see anything wrong with giving them a discounted rate, and there's no reason you should be expected to shoulder the cost of the utilities and other amenities they'll consume during their stay.

Well, they are all isolating from their families, so they are just temporarily living there, so I don't mind helping with that. But in Arizona, I'll have AC charges, cleaning charges, electricity, etc. I will expect them to pay for cleaning only.

I’m not even participating in the program, and my calendar got blocked for three days after one of my repeat customers booked for Memorial weekend. And she’s not even a first responder!

 

@Airbnb you have NO right to block my calendar without my permission unless YOU are going to pay for those days of lost revenue. 

It does not take 3 days to disinfect a house, and if you are going to do this, then you need to give hosts the chance to block first responders without removing instant book. 

I would love to help these folks if I can, but I don’t have cash sitting around to pay the mortgage. Sorry, this is not a charity exercise for me. 

Debra300
Level 10
Gros Islet, Saint Lucia

@Jesse328,

 

If you contacted Airbnb Customer Service, would you please share the explanation given to you for blocking those days?

 

I believe the rationale for extended blockage after frontline stays is because hosts may wait at least 24 hours after checkout before starting to clean the space.  This is the time period that scientists have stated the virus will its potency on most surfaces. 

Yes, they said it was for safety, but its not optional. They block your calendar and you cannot unblock it. My cleaning crew disinfects every surface - all the furniture, every countertop, every doorknob, every light switch, everything... But I won’t be hosting any first responders because I can’t afford to have my calendar blocked after every stay.

 

My guest was not a first responder. She had to cancel and rebook to get those days unblocked.

 

This is not the first issue I have had with @Airbnb. They have also started blocking local guests under 25 from booking my home. But instead of telling the guests it is because of their demographics, they tell the guest the reservation is “unsafe”, and that they should book a hotel or private room instead. So I have to change the listing to a private room for the booking to go through.

Sarah977
Level 10
Sayulita, Mexico

Honestly, @Airbnb , yet another poorly-thought out initiative designed to make you look good, that you roll out with technical glitches? 

Yes, many hosts want to offer accomodation to the people working on the front lines, but why do you always have to make things so convoluted? 

Just let hosts sign up and send the list of providers to the organizations that request them. Let the hosts and the guests come to their own terms regarding pricing and other details- you don't need to create yet another click-happy interface.

Can you just stop trying to be control freaks for a change? You're a booking platform, not our parents. 

Lisa723
Level 10
Quilcene, WA

@Airbnb I’ve signed up, but since my calendar had to be reopened to make the listings available for this purpose, I’ve had to disable instant booking, update my listing description, and am now having to decline requests from people who are not the target audience. There needs to be a way to make the calendar open  only to responders.

Stephanie
Community Manager
Community Manager
London, United Kingdom

Hiya @Lisa723 @Sarah977 @Yiwei3 ,

 

Looking into this for you now, watch this space!

 

Thanks,

 

Stephanie 

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Please follow the Community Guidelines 

I'm also seeing that my reservations that have been previously booked before signing up are getting blocked off 72 hours after.   Will we be able to choose which reservations get it?  Not all are COVID-19 responders.

Hello, were you able to figure out how to choose reservations so that not all of the get blocked off for 72hrs after? 

Lizzie
Former Community Manager
Former Community Manager
London, United Kingdom

Hello @Yiwei3 and @Mauricio-and-Betsy0,

 

Thanks for highlighting the issue with reservations being blocked off 72 hours after, this has been resolved now so you shouldn't have any problems with it. 

 

Would you mind letting know if this is all sorted now on your side?

 

Thank you,

 

Lizzie


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