Tips on Hosting Covid 19 Responders & Essential Workers

[Jillie1]

Hello Fellow Hosts,

With just over 3 weeks to go before the UK Government allow AirBnB's to possibly open up to general travellers in the UK on July 4th at the earliest (still to be reviewed though),  I would be very interested to hear about anyone's experience of hosting responders and essential workers?  

Also would the discount I normally offer for weekly & monthly stays be included on top of the discount specifically offered to first responders? 

Thanks very much.

[Pat271]

I believe that the discounts are cumulative, e.g. your essential worker discount will be applied on top of any of your other discounts.

[Jillie1]

Thanks very much @Pat271 for your reply.  Take care.

[Lisa723]

@Jillie1 we hosted a few covid-19 responders over the past few months and would do it again. They were all excellent and appreciative guests. We donated the stays though so I can't comment on how discounts work.

[Jillie1]

Thanks very much @Lisa723 for your experience.  That's good to hear.

[Debra300]

@Jillie1,

Airbnb aggregates all discounts and applies the cumulatively to the base rate.  If you offer a weekly discount of 10%, a non-refundable discount of 10%, and an essential worker discount of 30%.  If the booking met all of the criteria the guest would get a 50% discount.  Unlike many merchants, Airbnb does not apply sequential discounts; 10% off the base rate; another 10% off of the first discounted rate; and then 30% off of the second discounted rate.  With this method, the overall discounted amount is less than 50%.

[Jillie1]

Thank you very much @Debra300  for the above information about extra discount for first responders, which is much appreciated.

[Helen3]

Have you registered on the Airbnb UK healthworkers scheme @Jillie1 

[Jillie1]

Not yet @Helen3  but I'm thinking about it!  Have you?

[Jillie1]

Hello again @Debra300   I've just been looking at the discount elements for essential workers and it rather looks like they don't include the other normal discounts in the overall figure.

[Debra300]

@Jillie1,

Thanks for the update.  I see that the FAQ for hosting COVID-19 responders was revised today. When I last read it, it did not state that other discounts wouldn't be applied, but there probably have been multiple revisions since then.

[Jillie1]

Yes, everything seems to be changing by the minute doesn't it?  Thanks @Debra300 .   My calendar seems to be still blocked but I think I read somewhere else that any responder enquiries would still be able to book.  I'm currently doing a minimum night stay of 2 weeks so it's probably not likely that I'll get a booking but time will tell.  😉

[Lisa723]

@Jillie1 my experience was that I had to open the calendar to everyone to allow responders to inquire or book. Unless this has been changed, responders will not be able to book dates you have blocked. It was quite annoying; I had to disable instant-booking and turn down requests from a bunch of non-responders who wanted a quarantine break in violation of state stay-at-home orders-- even though I updated the first paragraph of my listings to explain and ask non-responders not to try to book.

My responder stay lengths ranged from one week (traveling nurses, reassigned) to over two months (local nursing student doing hospital rotation needing to isolate from family).

[Jillie1]

Thanks @Lisa723 .  Sorry to hear you had an annoying experience re. calendar and people trying to sneak in unofficially!  Naughty!  I think they may have improved things with the Responder booking system & calendar since the start.....I hope so.  At least I see that you can cancel if you're uncomfortable within 24 hours  without being penalised.  Sounds like you've had some good long stays though, which is great......well done.

[Mike-And-Jane0]

@Jillie1 We have hosted a couple of groups of essential (key) workers. No discount seemed appropriate as they were commercial companies installing screens in supermarkets and specialist power station workers.