Newbie host and guest quarantine

[Allison449]

I'm in Canada and very new to renting our cottage as an Airbnb. How do I prevent guest from using my place as their quarantine spot?

I thought it was one of the screening questions Airbnb would ask guests and we as host would have to confirm if we would accept our place being used as a quarantine place?? Help I have a guest coming in a few days who just informed me they are quarantine, do I need to keep this booking? If I do how do I make sure they do indeed isolate while in our cottage town.

[Colleen253]

@Allison449  It's up to you as a host to ask all the questions of the guest that you can, to discover their plans before accepting their booking. If you have Instant Book on and this was an IBooking, then you have some leeway for cancelling without penalty. If it was request to book, if you cancel you will incur disastrous penalties. I'm not sure that you can control guest behavior as far as quarantining goes, but if you are keeping this booking, have a conversation with the guest to find out what their plan is and who will be supporting them in quarantine.

[M199]

Good reply Allison.  As a new host, as well, near Toronto, Ontario, about 50% of my guests have been from that area.  I have found that everyone has been very aware and cautious of concerns of the current situation.  I would, (via messaging, for record keeping) confirm with the guests their intentions and make them aware and agree to abiding by local health protocols.  As well, in order to both protect yourself, current and future guests, I would offer to assist your guests.  This would also give you the opportunity to keep an eye open.  You may also want to double check policies with Airbnb.

[Anonymous]

@Allison449 FYI, Airbnb does not ask "screening questions" to guests. They want to put as little friction into the booking process as hosts will withstand, so it's entirely up to you - as the party who absorbs almost the entirety of the risk - to establish the parameters and ask the pre-booking questions that are necessary to protect your home and your safety.

I'm sure you have your reasons, but I do have to wonder why you chose this uniquely volatile time in a deadly pandemic to debut a new listing for short-term accommodation. Even some of the most established and experienced hosts are struggling with cancellations, guests misrepresenting their intentions, and unusually high amounts of abuse of their homes - and being an unreviewed host exponentially increases your odds of being targeted for all of the above. If someone I knew was in your position, I would beg them to hold out for at least a few months, until we're fully out of the crisis period, and debut the listing when they're not fielding grave concerns about quarantine policy and virus spread. Undeniably, something going wrong with one of your first few guests will have an outsized impact on your listing's viability compared to an issue that comes up after you have dozens of positive reviews on your record.

But if you're sure this is your time, I can suggest that you set a Maximum Stay that is shorter than the required quarantine period. But if you don't think your setup allows you to safely and legally accommodate a guest who's under quarantine orders or currently infected with Covid-19, I'd only advise holding off on hosting until that changes.