COVOID-19 Booking Madness

I’ve had 15 guests cancel in the last two weeks due to the virus. It’s the craziest thing I’ve ever seen and I expect it will get worse as cases in America are reported more. It hasn’t affected my booking rate at all. Most spots are re-booked as soon as the previous person cancels. But each time requires me to do the new booking/cancellation routine. It’s exhausting.

How have you all been handling the constant booking shake-ups? Do any of you use an automatic notification service of some kind to lighten the load?

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i haven’t had any cancellations yet, but bookings do seem to be slowing down. @NE10

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We started the year off to an absolute flyer, advance booking way in excess of last year.

All dried up a bit now, mostly domestic one and two nighters from BDC, but importantly, only one cancellation. That was from a domestic traveller, and it was for July so I suspect nothing to do with current situation.

My concern is the cancellation of events. If that happens here it will be a big loss as several bookings are Airbnb moderate and BDC cancelable up to seven days before.

JF

Just to add a data point here, I have seen no effects on my bookings from the virus yet. I am just as busy as ever and haven’t had any cancellations.

We also have plenty of toilet paper and hand cleaner at the stores, though they are limiting spray cleaners to two per person. :woman_shrugging:

I am sure this will change when the virus hits closer to home. I am mostly concerned about my parents and older relatives.

I agree. Started off great guns and it’s slowed, but I’m still seeing people looking in my area. Just had a woman in Switzerland whose sisters live locally book for July, so I’m hopeful that common sense will eventually prevail. And she’s older, so there’s that.

I’d already scheduled a bathroom remodel in my part of the house to begin after spring break. So if it’s slow anyway the timing might be favorable.

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A wonderful garden city to explore by bicycle! Keep Portland weird!

I’ll know how well you know your Portland when you can tell me where to go for kimchee hash for breakfast. :wink: Sorry, I haven’t spent much time on the Vancouver side…

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Kimchee hash sounds delicious. Could you tell me where I can get some? If it’s like scrapple, I’m in.:smile:

My favorite Korean restaurant is called Jang Choong Dong (JCD) in Beaverton. Honestly the best Soon Dubu Jiigae in town.

That actually brings up another good point I hadn’t thought of. A large number if people visit here for outdoors activities. Those will most likely not be cancelled.

I had to make 3 stops yesterday before I found TP … at the hardware store! There was no Lysol, hand sanitizer, nor disposable cleaning wipes to be found and water was low in stock. (in my home city west of Phoenix, not my VR.)

I have relatives doing last minute traveling who say airfare is dirt cheap right now.
Maybe brave young folks will take advantage of more affordable travel.

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I (62 years old) would jump on it in a heartbeat if I hadn’t already committed my entire discretionary budget for the year in January to other travel and a bathroom remodel before I left on my month long trip. :cry:

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I’m in Phoenix. No cancellations yet. March and April are nearly full, but no reservations at all starting April 29. May is the beginning of the slow season and I’ve got two 3-day windows blocked In May for my family and friends. I looked at my “progress” data and 30-day booking and views are normal. It sure does feel slower though.

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16th guest just cancelled. This time it was a long time repeat customer who books my place at least once per month. He said his company has restricted all work travel to Washington State until further notice.

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I’m booked solid March and April and have not had any cancellations (yet). I am however expecting it, especially if this situation continues to worsen. To be honest, I would be relieved if some opted not to travel.

I’ve also noticed that I’m taking it more seriously than others in my area, as people are still looking at me funny when I opt not to shake hands. :fist_right: :fist_left:

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It was apparent to me and the smartest person I know, my friend in New Zealand, that this was something that needed to be taken seriously. Not taking it seriously is going to make it worse than it needed to be. If the victims were limited only to those who behaved irresponsibly it would be easier to swallow.

BTW, if I could find them I’d probably also have smaller, new packages of tissue and paper towels. Thinking of someone with a virus handling the paper towel roll and tissue boxes is unpleasant.

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I really sympathize with Kirkland/Bothell/Mountlake Terrace/Shoreline &Snohomish hosts, close to the nursing homes that are so horribly infected. I stayed at several Air places in that area in November, and I really feel for my former hosts.

I stopped by my local Costco on the way home tonight (to buy TP, of course, since I have guests coming next week) and there were about a dozen cars the the parking lot at 7 pm, when there are usually about 50 or 60 at that time. One of the managers said it was manic TP and paper towel cartload time over the weekend, but fortunately freight came this morning so they were restocking. There were only about a dozen shoppers in the store and only one checkout line was open, when they usually have 3 open that time of day.

I host in NYC, and it’s been a strange week. Cancellations for the next few weeks from work travelers as events or meetings get canceled, but some Inquiries for vacationers…we’ll see what gets confirmed. I also usually see many student groups, which I’m unlikely to get as a result of many campuses now sending students home for the semester (my brother included!).
Unfortunately we’re not seeing the normal amount of bookings coming in for summertime, which is usually slammed. I suspect people are waiting to see what happens, like all of us.

I’m planning to be lenient with any cancellation requests, as I’ve been seeing in this forum that Extenuating Circumstances will always trump the cancellation policy and CS wait times are incredibly long. If we have to take financial hits, that’s fine - I’m going to be sympathetic to the panic because of the nature of the city.
A grim and unpredictable situation!

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Just got my first cancellation among the COVID-19 madness. Check-in was for Sunday Mar 15. I sent a reminder message to the guest on Mar 8 and received no response, which is not that unusual. I received the cancellation message this morning with no additional message from the guest. I have Flexible cancellation so EC is irrelevant except for the guests getting Airbnb’s fees refunded. I fully expected the cancellations to start but I’ve got mixed feelings about this one because this was my first guest that is also a host. I was hoping for some feedback from a host viewpoint. On the plus side, I’m still in Hawaii on vacation and there’s no rush to clean when I get back on Saturday.

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Are they letting in folks from Hawaii? Isn’t that a foreign country? :wink:

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We’ve got 10 Airbnb’s reserved in June for a month long trip to Poland & Czech Republic. We are holding firm and won’t cancel unless we end up not being able to get there due to flights being cancelled due to travel restrictions.

This to will pass, but I feel really bad for all the hosts and everyone relying on travel for their livelihood and having to deal with this. Hang in there!

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