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.