This forum is dedicated to connecting hosts with other hosts. Sign up to get the latest updates and news just for AirBnb hosts! Note that we are not affiliated with Airbnb - we are just passionate hosts!
A loan was the first thing I got offered by my bank. I refused, I do not need another loan. A loan is just filling one hole with another.
I asked them to freeze payments on my existing loans for 6 months. They agreed.
Meanwhile I went trough all my fixed expenses and managed to cut, cancel or freeze nearly all of them.
With the amount we made this winter we should be able to make it until next winter. Some income would be nice this summer but I do not count on it.
In the four years I have been on the platform, there have always been endless strategies for improving performance, like the promotions and discounts which I participated in this past winter.
I think that in these circumstances a formal letter from management to its stakeholders was called for. Something like we appreciate your efforts, and we’re working to see how we all get over this hump together etc.
Why not a promotion for canceling guests to bank the reservation or a portion of it at a discount to be shared between management and hosts.
It’s astonishing that so many of you replied so quickly and with such venom yet seem incapable of imagining that it is part of management’s role to come up with solutions and to communicate them with their stakeholders: their hosts and employees.
c
Many of us don’t see ourselves as “stakeholders.” Airbnb worked for me, not I for them, I paid it a fee to connect me with people to stay here. They also processed payments. Occasionally they helped me with another issue but I mostly found myself dealing with problems on my own.
I never swooned as they whispered sweet nothings in my ear. I can see why others are hurt though.
That’s exactly why so many hosts are saying this is going to financially ruin them- they have been living beyond their means on borrowed money, with no nest egg. Mortgages could be paid with the money they would have saved by not indulging themselves in a couple of Starbucks coffees every day and the rest of their non-essential impulse buying, and believing their ten year old needs a $600 iphone.
So another thing that Airbnb is now doing is that after they ask if I would be okay with refunding the rest of the payouts from reservations cancelled, they are issuing payouts anyway?? Why would they ask me if they are going to charge me after I get paid?
Have these happened to you all?
This brings up a thought that I’ve had in my mind since I was a latchkey kid who constantly heard about how it required 2 parents to work to maintain a household unlike in the bygone era that my parents grew up in.
However, we live a very different lifestyle than our grandparents did and that is why it takes two incomes. If we only had one phone, one car, one modest house, one pair of jeans, no vidya games, no Netflix accounts, no internet bills to pay, and so on and so on… many could live very comfortably on one income.
Many people will need to make hard choices that will include cutting some of the first world luxuries we take for granted in order to weather this. Time to differentiate between needs and wants.
I encourage members to visit and follow this thread if they need help right now and invite you to add to the collection of resources. I try to search for a few minutes each day and keep adding when I find new resources:
Getrealk
I have not been asked that question. I collected a partial payment only for one of several cancellations so far.
Hi Colleague, Airbnb asked me that question and asked about refunding the partial payment. It seems that they are refunding those out of my account even though I’ve been paid out without my knowing.
Stakeholders are not necessarily employees.
I know that. But I think of Airbnb as working for me. It’s just a different approach than yours. It worked well for me and I don’t know what the future holds. I’m truly sorry for everyone who is going to suffer and is suffering now. It’s perfectly normal for people to want to blame Airbnb or someone.
Be well.
Whenever I hear people claim that both parents need to work to make ends meet, I always wonder how true that really is. When both work outside the home, they each generally need a work wardrobe, a vehicle (cost of vehicle, maintenance, gas and oil, insurance and registration, perhaps parking fees) , day care or after-school care if there are children involved, they spend more money on food and drink (think Starbucks coffees on a daily basis, restaurant lunches with co-workers, take-out meals because they don’t have the time or energy to cook, etc.), they may employ a housekeeper since they are too busy to clean regularly themselves, they tend to buy their kids more stuff to make up for the fact that they don’t have much time to spend with them.
This pandemic is going to be a big wake up call for those who have been living beyond their means, or indulging themselves in buying whatever strikes their fancy. At least it will for the smart ones. I’m sure many will simply go back to their old ways once things are “normal” again, assuming it was just an inconvenient blip in their lifestyle.
@colleague, I don’t get the point of the post. You must’ve received the e-mail from Airbnb on March 17 titled “A Message From our Founders” saying this:
It’s been 1 week. It will take some time to come up with a plan. Longer to come up with a good plan.
Hi Brian,
I have not received that email but thank you for sending it to me. It is reassuring to know that they contacted us about the situation.
They get up to 20% from GUESTS, they change us 3% - Guests are the cash cow, of course they are going to look after the guests, because they want the guest to have confidence to book again. Hosts will line up anyway and are easily replaced.
To AirBNB you are not a stakeholder, you are just a resource. Don’t be fooled that they care about you.
It’s wise to have a Personal Line of Credit or Home Equity Line of Credit for situations like these and for those times in which you need/want to make a capital improvement on your home or rental. If you don’t have one it’s not too late. A local bank or credit union is a good place to go to open a credit line and rates are low right now. This is where your good credit history will help you. But don’t use the credit line for general living expenses like a credit card. You will get buried and the funds won’t be there for emergencies.
Thank you Robert.
I am thinking over my options and that certainly is one of them.
Best regards,
Margaret
I’ve totally changed my booking strategy and I’m getting some bookings that will help me get through this time. I don’t want anything from air apart from sticking to their updated cancellation policy. Adapt or die.
Guilty as charged 
But I also paid down a significant chunk of my loan and I have radically changed my spending habits over the last few weeks. As they say fail to prepare - prepare to fail.