Am I the only one who doesn't want to host during Coronavirus pandemic ???

[Branka-and-Silvia0]

I am very surprised to see so many angry hosts who worry about the money more than about their health and life. Do you really want to host during a pandemic? You would risk your health for a few bucks? Are you so desperate? Money means nothing if you will die or live with damaged lungs for the rest of your life. Think about it.

I really don't want to risk mine and my daughter's life and clean after potentially sick guests. I don't want us to be infected because we touched their towels and sheets and inhaled the air in the room where infected guests spent a few days. We can't protect ourselves by wearing just a pair of rubber gloves, without even a proper mask not to mention the whole protective suit. Do you?

And, no matter how much we try, we just can't sanitise and disinfect the entire apartment from top to bottom. It is not a hospital room with just a metal bed and a metal nightstand on the vinyl floor. We have carpets, upholstered furniture, curtains,  full kitchen with cutlery and plates for 12 people.... We can't wash every single item in 70% alcohol after each guest and this virus will stay on surfaces for days .

We closed our calendar for all future bookings a few weeks ago. We offered our guests a mutual cancelation and most of them already canceled. Others contacted Airbnb and we are still waiting for their answer for days. I am happy for each cancelation and I hope the rest of my bookings will be canceled as well. Maybe we will rent long term. Maybe we will keep our property empty until everything is over. We don't know yet but we plan to survive 🙂

I am happy Airbnb allows penalty-free cancelations and my opinion is - it should be free for all bookings until September so hosts can rent their places long term if they want to until this pandemic is over.

We all need money but for us, our health is the most valuable thing we have.

Be reasonable, this is not the flu, THIS IS VERY CONTAGIOUS and it can easily kill you so take care.

[Mark116]

@Branka-and-Silvia0  I would be okay with a credit that gives me 1 year to use it, that seems pretty fair, if I intended to to X and stay at Y now, why wouldn't I redo my trip after this crisis passes. 

A lot of people depend on their airbnb $ to make ends meet, and so, looking at it from that perspective, it is the host who is in more financial pain and more at risk than the guest who  had already allocated the money for a vacation, so they obviously did not need that $ for any essentials. 

[Sarah977]

@Mark116  Not everyone who travels and books Airbnbs is taking a vacation. Some travel for work, for study, etc. Someone who has booked because they are supposed to attending a conference, and that conference is cancelled, might have zero use for a voucher for a free stay in the future. They had no interest in your area as a vacation spot, they were only coming to attend the conference.

And even if someone has booked for a vacation, people's circumstances change and that may have been their one-time opportunity to take that vacation before other things in their lives take over. And at the present time, people may need to live off their savings if they are laid off work or get sick. Just because they have a voucher to stay somewhere that's valid for a year doesn't mean they'll be able to save up enough money again for the transportation and everything else involved in taking a vacation.

[Mark116]

@Sarah977  I would say that 97% of our guests have been vacationers, and if someone was attending a conference then their company would be paying, not them.  I'm  just a little surprised at how cavalier people seem to be about hosts losing thousands of dollars of their income like it doesn't matter, as if they shouldn't be upset because of course the guest should get all their money back. Circumstances have changed for everyone, but as usual, airbnb's policy rewards the guest at the host's expense.  Not everyone who hosts has deep pockets or does it just for fun and doens't need the income.

[Sarah977]

@Mark116  I was just pointing out that everyone would find a travel voucher useful. Has nothing to do with being cavalier about Airbnb giving all the guests 100% refunds. 

And no, all people who attend conferences don't work for a company who would be paying for their accomodation. Many self-employed people attend conferences that pertain to their field of work and they pay for that travel out of their own pockets.

[Sarah977]

Typo- I meant "not  everyone would find a travel voucher useful.

[Mark116]

@Sarah977  There are always outliers and people on the margins, but  the truth remains that airbnb's policy harms hosts significantly more than guests.

 A guest only has their one reservation, so a few hundred to a couple thousand dollars in most cases.  A host is losing all of their reservations so that is going to be many thousands of dollars in most cases.  Very different.  It is much easier to absorb a loss of $2K that you already allocated for your trip than $20K that you already allocated for your yearly expenses.

[Juan63]

But you are wrong @Sarah977 , they could use the voucher for  a different stay. This was a VRBO voucher not a host voucher. Just as you said, guests may need to live off their savings, what do you think certain hosts will have to do? The burden should have been shared by everyone. 

[Sarah977]

@Juan63  If they could use the voucher for a stay anywhere, that seems fair. But most hosts on the forum right now are putting forth the idea that they would want a voucher to only be good for a future stay at the place they cancelled.

[Juan63]

@Sarah977  Maybe, but the one's I've read don't specify that. Specially the one's that are referencing the VRBO policy.

[Branka-and-Silvia0]

@Mark116hm, are you sure hosts will get that money from VRBO immediately? Or will get it next year when these guests will actually stay? Maybe VRBO plan to keep those founds in the meantime. I didn't understand how VRBO intends to work this out.

Guests maybe didn't need this money for any essentials at the moment they made these bookings but now everything changed, many people already lost their jobs, businesses are closing down, unemployment is rising quickly...  here is already very chaotic despite having just 89 confirmed cases.

[Jessica-and-Henry0]

@Branka-and-Silvia0 @Mark116 @Sarah977 

FYI, in Asia a lot of flights to/from S.Korea have been completely cancelled till May~June (specific dates differ depending on airline). 

Many of our friends who had travel plans for February~March pushed them to May~June but it seems international travel in May~June will continue to be impossible. IMO 1-year valid credit is useless because we don't know how long these travel restrictions will continue. 

As a host myself, I understand and sympathize with the challenges many hosts are facing.

But it's NOT just about an agreement between 2 individuals any more. Borders have been closed. Entry is banned and visas are not issued. Emergency curfews are being imposed on entire cities. I doubt business owners, travel agencies, airlines were consulted when governments/officials made these decisions. 

https://edition.cnn.com/travel/article/coronavirus-travel-bans/index.html

[Branka-and-Silvia0]

@Jessica-and-Henry0 

Well said.

As a host myself, I understand and sympathize with the challenges many hosts are facing..... AND ... I also sympathize with guests, nobody expected such a global pandemic.

[Patricia2604]

*****They tell hosts if they can't host in this period they can cancel automatically and offer at least 50% refund to their guests. I don't know what to think about it... if I were a guest and my host cancels because he doesn't want or just can't host me due to pandemic I would expect to get 100% back, not just 50%, wouldn't you?*******

But it is OK for guests to cancel  automatically  and the host is 100% out of pocket?.

I think that neither guest nor host asked for this situation so a 50/50 is a good compromise if the guest doesn't want a credit for booking at a future date. 

It may also have been a good idea if airbnb sent out one of there surveys and asked hosts there opinion instead of dictating what we will do with our business. We pay them they don't pay us.

[Patti6]

The whole point is every situation is different and Airbnb should have left it up

to owners and their guests to decide the best course of action like any other hosting experience. If the guest and host can’t come to an agreement than Airbnb mediates. I wouldn’t want a guest sleeping in my home not knowing their background but I have individual houses . They are cleaned under cdc guidelines. There’s no community outbreak so there is no extenuating circumstance. It’s a clear breach of contract on Airbnb’s part and they should pay us for the lost income. They broke a contract with their owners.

[Denice0]

getting error messages and can not post!