COVID 19 vaccinated vs unvaccinated guests - part 2

So I asked this question the other day and it seams unclear. Today I was contacted by Airbnb about a guest (I’s assuming complaining) about my question if they re vaccinated and if not, that they have to wear a mask when they enter the shared front door and until they are in their suite.

I thought this would be a great chance to find out what the rules are. Well of course the conversation did not go the way I expected. Nor am I any clearer about the rules but I do think to cover yourself, you do have to list your rules about COVID in your house rules.

Check out this conversation for Airbnb Support.

Airbnb Support9:49 AM

This is XXX, one of the Resolutions Support Ambassador from Airbnb. I hope this message finds you well. I am reaching out to you about this reservation code HMXWXXXX with your guest XXX. The guest contacted us to confirm if the proof of COVID 19. Unfortunately, we can’t see that house rule in your listing description. If that is the case, you may need to host the guest without submiting the said requirement. Otherwise, you can give us a proof that the guest’s expectation was set correctly about it prior booking.

Hope to hear back from you soon.

Best Regards,
XXX

FROM ME:
Hello XXX, I am not sure what you are asking me in regard to Proof of Covid 19. What do you mean by this?

Airbnb Support9:53 AM
Hi Lynn. I’m sorry I mean proof of COVID 19 vaccine.

Lynn9:55 AM
Again, I still don’t understand. Are you asking me if I have proof that I have been vaccinated? And if so, how would one go about proving this? I do have my vaccination card but given the one of the people is vaccinated in the group and one is not (I am taking their word not asking for proof). What is the issue?

Airbnb Support9:57 AM
I mean, do you require the guest to provide you a proof that they are COVID19 vaccinated? I’m sorry for the confusion Lynn.

Lynn10:01 AM
No, I just asked the guests if they were and will be taking people’s word for it. I told them that the one person that is not vaccinated needed to wear a mask when entering the common area of the front door and hallway but can remove once she is in her suite. Is that not permitted?

I did not think I have the right to deny guests if they were not vaccinated but thought I have the right to ask non-vaccinated people to wear a mask in a shared common area. I live in the same building in a separate unit as described in the listing.

Airbnb Support10:09 AM
Hi Lynn,

I understand. Thank you very much for clarifying this, Lynn. We appreciate you immediate response. You’re truly a superhost.

Thank you for helping us.

Best regards,
XXX

Lynn10:13 AM
So, I’m ok to request this?

Also, I just made it clearer in my rules.

Finally, If I wanted to, am I permitted to only allow vaccinated people?
Message from Lynn

Lynn11:13 AM
Please see my question from 10:13. Thank you.

It’s now 12:06 AND JUST CRICKETS.

Typical Airbnb NON-support

Note - If I do get an answer - I’ll update.

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Yeah, all this confirms is the worthlessness of Airbnb customer service. Thanks for keeping us updated. So glad my space was separated back in 2016. Sometimes its better to be lucky than good.

So I hear back from them and this is I believe the definitive answer on if you can accept non-vaccinated guests.

Airbnb Support12:32 PM

We understand that safety purposes, you preferred to accept vaccinated people in your listing. However, we do have a nondiscrimination policy that states all should be treated equal and be given a chance. For more information, you may visit:

We hope that you understand that it is important for us to uphold our policy and standards that protect our community. Should you have any further concern, feel free to respond to my message.

Sidebar - I read through the Nondisrimination policy and there is nothing that applies to COVID. URGH!

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There is nothing in that policy which prohibits a host saying they want to only host vaccinated guests. It’s a public health precaution, not discrimination.

Also, if you read the click through information on the Enchanced cleaning, which I presume you have on your listing, it states that both guests and hosts need to wear masks and distance in common areas. These are Airbnb’s own rules.

The CS reps are know-nothings, they are useless.

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I’m requiring that guests be vaccinated and see what the f*$% happens. It’s obvious that Chesky’s trying to avoid dealing with this problem, which is a real problem for hosts.

AirBnB needs to adopt very specific rules on this and then actually inform their horrible contract customer disservice workers, and hell, maybe even give them written copies of the rules? At the very least, some training followed by tests to see if they give correct answers.

Chesky apparently is just waiting for the window to open on sale of his pre-IPO stock. I wouldn’t be surprised to see him cash out and start a rocket company.

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That is so refreshing, a non-discrimination policy for allowing people to inhabit your space with something that could kill you. This company really is pathetic when it comes to anything that’s important.

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This seems to be the same pattern as their definition of assistance animal, guest-centric. Quelle surprise.

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So, here’s more feedback from support. Based on how it’s worded (carefully) I suspect that they know they can’t prevent us from denying non-vacicnated guest.

HI XXX,

  1. Thank you for that information but there is NOTHING that I can see in the link you provided that specifically addresses COVID nor anything that implies that I can or can not.

Not taking the vaccine in most cases is a choice. Can you show me specifically in the link where not permitted unvaccinated guest applies?

  1. Also, you did no answer one of my questions but I’m not sure if I was clear: Am I permitted to request guests while in a shared common area to wear a mask?

Thank you.

Airbnb Support4:46 PM

Yes you can request for the guests to wear face mask so long as you put it on the listing description.

COVID 19 doesn’t specifically written in the nondiscriminatory policy. However, Airbnb’s goal is to treat everyone fairly. With that being said, we don’t recommend our host to accept only vaccinated people. We hope that you extend your kindness and consideration.

Should you have any further concern, feel free to respond to my message.

They don’t want to get specific about masks or vaccines, but lay it on thick about what the host is supposed to do for cleaning for Covid. Wonder if they’ll ever remove all of those requirements or are we stuck with them.

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Hi Muddy,

I looked through the Enhanced Cleaning and didn’t see this mentioned. Do you know where in the info it’s found?

It’s probably me. The interface has changed a bit since I last visited.

Lynn

I just saw a news article yesterday that said 99.2% of covid deaths are unvaccinated people. Stupid is as stupid does.

RR

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I’m not fully open but the idea of housing disease spreaders really irks me. I have no intention of extending “kindness and consideration” to nut job anti vaxxers or people who don’t care about me or can’t be bothered to get jabbed. I have made it clear in my listing what is important to me so hoping they choose another place.

When winter comes and delta variant or epsilon, zeta, etc are spreading, I’ll just close.

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Me too. The thing is we really do not know. People lie. Like I tell my kids, the best thing we can do is protect ourselves.

RR

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In a shared listing, that means closing to all but people I know and trust.

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Yeah, I’m playing this by ear. The only issue is that the only insurance that I can purchase is Proper. All else is not available in my state or when out of business. My normal home owners insurance is $1200 and Proper is $3000 so it’s a big commitment and I’m moving into my slower season. If the variant becomes an issue, I’m going to leave a week in-between bookings. It’s my slow season so I’m not as worried. I also raised my rates 3 x what is was before pandemic and increased cleaning.

Just like they say in stores, people that have been vaccinated don’t have to wear a mask. And, of course you can trust that all the non-maskers have been vaccinated, not.
I’m fortunate in that the rental is part of my house, but so far have mostly had no contact. I block a day or two between renters and because I’m new here I wasn’t that busy, but it’s heating up. If there are solo guests and they’re interested, we can converse on the porch.
Maybe I should post on my listing, “Nuts jobs need not apply.”

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This is an infuriating vacuous response on the part of AirBnB. I have an issue regarding two international guests who have not been vaccinated from a country that has the vaccine and is rated Level 4 (bad!). The parent, who registered for his 30-yr old daughter and her partner, told me on 7/1 that the women would be vaccinated and on 7/2 said they wanted to get the vaccine when they got here, i.e. to my AirBnB. The story is more complicated but - bottom line — I do request test results (“request” vaccine or COVID test results) in my house rules and am extremely annoyed with AirBnB in supporting the guests. I want to cancel them if they are not vaccinated by two weeks prior to arrival. It’s one thing for guests who are traveling domestically from areas with low COVID rates and another entirely from a country where the pandemic is increasing. If I cancel Air BnB will of course penalize me for doing the safe and sane thing in the midst of a global pandemic that threatens my Superhost status. What a stupid game!
What is going on with this company? Is Brian Chesky sending down this irresponsible message for financial reasons? Very discouraging and sad. Is he selling his soul?
And btw, they need to write a separate policy for global pandemics. This is not an issue of discrimination!

The parent booked for his daughter and her partner? That’s a third party booking and against Airbnb’d TOS. Call Aiebnb and cancel it on that basis. Make sure it’s a neutral cancellation with no penalties to you.

Why did you accept a third party boooking anyway? A 30 year old can’t book for themself, why?

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Apparently, AirBnB allows parents to book for their “children” and vice-versa, at least in that country. The whole thing started when a woman tried to book on her ex-boyfriend’s account (dated 2016 with no reviews) for her and her “sister.” I denied the booking. Then the father and mother (joint account?) wrote and said they wanted to book for their daughter and her friend (not sisters), the woman who initially tried to book. I made a huge error in accepting them without asking if they had first read all my house rules first. I immediately got in touch with AirBnB about it — no vaccines, third party, etc. (there are other details but, if you’re still following me, I’ll spare you).
Just let me say, at this point, I’ve spoken and/or communicated with at least three different people and they concluded that I can’t cancel because I “knew” there was a third party.
Did I mention that the parent in this country is also a superhost and in charge of the AirBnB FB page? With more than one property? Hmmm.
And their 30 year old daughter who has her own account? Oh, father says she can’t use her account. It’s one of the reasons I tried to cancel their reservation— don’t trust this situation at all. They all make me uncomfortable.
It’s not over. I tried to tell BNB that I wanted to give them time to make another reservation but, as I mentioned, they are being really nasty. They’ve gone corporate. Big lawyers. I’m just a little superhost. I do not deserve this treatment.

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BS. Air’s WRITTEN policy is they do not cover 3rd party bookings. Put your foot down and demand that they cancel it. Post DAILY on Air’s Twitter and FB pages. Do not allow some untrained jerkoff in the Philipines etc to boss you around. It is YOUR PROPERTY. Not theirs!
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Tell the “so called Air agent” that under no circumstances will you permit a 3rd party booking to gain entry to YOUR PROPERTY - as it would be a violation of Air policies AND - your INSURANCE policy. They can not ask you to violate it or provide a copy.
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It is irrelevant that “mommy is a superhost” or whatever. Nothing to do with the price of tea, as they say.
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You are letting the tail wag the dog.

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