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.

[Sarah977]

@Juan63  "You have a strong immune system and you don't catch it, or you get sick and become immune!"

Or you get sick and DIE. And it's people with attitudes like yours who are causing older people to be exposed (and there's younger ones getting severly ill, too) and to die from this. It's unconscionable.

Yes, people need to go out. And should only be doing so for essential items. And taking utmost precautions if they do have to go out, both when they are out and when they return home.

Yes, you could have an unknowingly sick person staying home with an elderly person and passing it to them. But if both of those people STAY HOME they aren't passing it to anyone else. 

[Juan63]

@Sarah977 you are so black and white...its quite amazing. No, I'm not killing old people Sarah....lol I will make sure a drone delivers me food and medicine next time. From available information, healthy people are not DYING! Even of those that are dying, the percentage is TINY!

[Sarah977]

@Juan63 What's amazing is that so many people don't get it. At all. A 39 year old perfectly healthy woman died this week after developing symptoms only a few days before.. Her partner found her dead on the kitchen floor.

At a 2% mortality rate and the prediction of millions of people contracting the virus if people like you don't take it seriously and comply with lockdowns, that TINY percentage you talk about will amount to a million or more deaths. Apparently you think that's ok.

[Sandra126]

@Juan63 , look at vo, Italy. So far a success in the middle of the red zone.

[Sarah977]

@Juan63   "Of course there are a few cases, elderly, pregnant women, etc. that need to be more cautious".

No Juan, everyone needs to be cautious. Those in low risk demographics may not get demonstrably ill, but they are spreading this to people in high risk groups. 

[Juan63]

@Sarah977  Who said low risk people are not being careful? 

[Sandra126]

Actually there seems so be no low risk, the millennials are hitting the intensive care rooms hard in Italy. 

[Bruce-And-Patty0]

@Branka-and-Silvia0  You are not alone in not wanting to host during this pandemic!  We live in Massachusetts where the virus is rapidly spreading.  Businesses, restaurants, and now retail stores are closing.  Three days ago on March 16, we got an instant book from someone, also from Massachusetts, who wanted to check in on March 18 for a week’s stay because she and her kids had cabin fever and they “just needed to get away!”  I could not believe what she had done, and I canceled her instant book.  I explained that we could not accept any reservations until the virus has cleared.  We are superhosts, and canceling on a guest can cost you that status for a year.  I canceled her reservation anyway.  I have contacted Airbnb three times asking if we would be penalized for canceling, and I have not heard a peep.  (Their policy states there would be no penalty for canceling on a guest who booked before March 14 for a stay that started before April 14.  This woman booked on March 16).  I am STILL shaking my head at the nerve of this woman.  Our home is in a beach community, and we never thought anyone would book this time of year.  

So no, you are definitely not alone.

[Jessica-and-Henry0]

@Bruce-And-Patty0 

As a host who has always gone with the strict cancellation policy I would be fuming if Airbnb did not give me what was owed for a * guest "change of heart" cancellation* but I think people need to realize covid-19 is NOT A JOKE and the situation is way beyond an agreement between 2 people. 

People should not be traveling. Period. 

Also, I suggest that you change booking settings to "all guests must send a reservation request" for the time being if you don't want to host during the pandemic - it's what I did because I didn't want to block all future dates indefinitely and wanted to be able to receive inquiries 🙂 

[Bruce-And-Patty0]

@Jessica-and-Henry0 Excellent idea to change booking settings, which I will do ASAP.  Bruce and I had had to travel to Burlington, Vermont last weekend because my father lay dying in a nursing home.  He passed away peacefully in his sleep on March 17.  As I am sure you can imagine, changing Airbnb settings or blocking dates on the calendar in the event someone with “cabin fever” who selfishly and with no consideration “just wanted to get away” to a beach community in March in the midst of a pandemic was the furthest thing from my mind.  Still shaking my head over that.

EDIT:  I have changed my booking settings so that for now, no one can instant book.  Thanks again for the suggestion.

[Branka-and-Silvia0]

@Bruce-And-Patty0  I am sorry for your father, my condolences 😞

you did the right thing by canceling, you / we would lose our SH status anyway because we will not have enough bookings in this quarter. I believe Airbnb will do the right thing and make an exception this quarter.

We changed our availability to " blocked by default" for all future dates. We hope this mess will be over in a few months but it could take a year, nobody knows.

[Jessica-and-Henry0]

@Bruce-And-Patty0 

So sorry for your loss.

And while it can be frustrating, please don't give up on getting Airbnb to make that cancellation penalty-free for you. Good luck~☆☆☆

[Patricia2604]

I turned my instant book off and got a message saying how my listing is now going to miss out on so many advantages and it would be placed further down the listing page....Really?

Like that bothers me at the moment. We are loosing our lively hood due to airbnb over riding our cancellation policies with consultations with hosts first.

I also got a questionnaire asking me questions on how much i understand about instant bookings. I got 5/5.  Yes i do understand and still want to be able to assess a booking prior to accepting it.  Thank you for caring about your hosts airbnb. 

[Juan63]

@Sandra126 I didn't define low risk as only the young. You assumed that. Plus you have no idea of their health history,

[Anthony1092]

You realize that the qualm isn’t that the guests are allowed to cancel, it’s that Airbnb should be the one who pays for it since they are modifying the standard cancellation policy.  

All the same social benefits would apply if the refund came out of their coffers instead of forcing the hosts to carry the losses.