Hi All,
I was really happy when the CEO of airbnb announced the financial aid they were creating to help hosts during these difficult times.
Then yesterday I started to look into the fine print. I realized that I won't receive the 25% of my cancelled bookings, since my cancellation policy was not strict. That was my first surprise, since I am hosting in Budapest. I became a host exactly 5 years ago, and after my first 3 months I achieved the Superhost status and kept it ever since. So my guests are mostly coming for 3-5 days and book 1-2 weeks, maybe a month in advance. So in my opinion having strict cancellation policy discourages potential guests to book my place and makes them look for other homes.
No problem, I have 2 listings only, I am a Superhost, so i should be eligible to the Superhost Relief Fund. Then I read in the fine print again that they are comparing the earnings in Q1 2019 with Q1 2020. I was shocked again. This year started great, 2020 should have been a great year for all Toursim Industry workers in Hungary, everybody was expecting to work a lot - I work as a local tour guide for multiple companies as my full time job, and my calendar was full for the whole season already by the end of February (now it is empty).
So comparing the two Q1s I lost around 700 euros. Not that much money. Comparing Q2s, I will lose around 7000. Wow. I will miss that money for sure. I have no idea why airbnb decided to give out funds based on months when everything seemed to be ok (January and February). So though I have not received the email invitation to the problem, even if I do and even if I get some financial aid based on the facts above, it won't be able to convince me to stay part of airbnb as a host.
I know it must be really difficult to satisfy everyone, and it is something never can be achieved. But who benefits from these funds? Why seasonality was not taken into consideration when creating these reliefs and funds?
On the top of all this, many listings in Budapest, Hungary are still doing short term rentals illegally. I know that for a fact. I estimate around 30-40% minimum. Though I got in touch dozens of times with airbnb and gave feedback through the years, they haven't changed the system and still everyone can upload a listing from Budapest. So there is a good chance that a considerable amount of financial aid will go to people who made their living by cheating the system and avoid taxation. For them it will be a great business I guess, but I am not sure I want to be the part of that business anymore...
Please share your story. How you feel these financial aids could have been spread more efficiently. Are you disappointed with the current method? Are you going to recuperate from this? Will you stay as a host in the future?
Thanks for reading this and cheers,
László
