Those of us who are home share listings in which we live in the home as well, much like a B&B, are you still taking bookings? And are you limiting those bookings to medical personnel and COVID-19-related travel only?
You are joking, right? So much for social distancing …
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My listing are all entire homes. I just had a vision of greeting someone for home share in this virus environment -
Here is your disposable full body suit, mask and gloves. Please wear this at all times.
These are your areas, dont trespass anywhere else - here is your atomic blast sanitiser, please use it on every surface you touch, breathe on or look at…
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We have a home share and we are currently renting to a health care professional who will be checking out tomorrow. She has been offered free accomodations - not Airbnb related. When she leaves, our listing will be blocked for a min. of 3 weeks. I will keep an eye on the situation and decide week to week if the blocked time needs to be extended. My husband and I are both over 60 but are in good health. My thoughts now are when we do reopen - remove kitchen use and hold off on our nightly invitation to tea with guests. Been trying to come up with a way to offer coffee/snacks but the room is in a downstairs area that has wall to wall carpeting and spills would be a problem.
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Is this guest on the front lines of the virus? If so you need to isolate until you are 100% sure that you don’t have the virus. You know about being a “carrier”, I assume.
Unless you can totally isolate yourselves from any guest then you should not rent to anyone. I wouldn’t worry about what snacks to offer.
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@Josiah Of course you can’t be hosting now in a home share, unless the guest quarters are completely separate from yours, has a private entrance, and you wait a week between bookings to get in there to clean. But none of us, whether we have a home share or an entire place listing, should be adding to the problem of clueless people traveling at this time.
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She works in a rehab center that is - so far - untouched by the virus.
Yeah - the snack thing is just my wishful thinking wanting to get back to “normal”. Probably will be closed for quite a while.
How do you know that the rehab center is untouched by the virus? Has everyone there been tested? And even if they didn’t have it yesterday, they could have it today.
Not a chance I would take with a home share.
People are contagious before they show symptoms- that’s how this virus has managed to become a pandemic of outrageous proportions. Both the health care worker and you and your husband are now potential carriers, even if you don’t get sick. Please don’t expose anyone else.
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Everyone in the world are potential carriers. We are maintaining seperate spaces from our guest. She is not on the front lines of the virus. She is working in a rehab center working with people who are need physical therapy - not dealing with illnesses. After she leaves, I’ll wait a week or more before cleaning the room and bathroom. I’ve continously wiped down surfaces in the home and the door handles/stair rails etc. My husband is telecomuting, I only go out when we need groceries (planned meals for the next 2 to 3 weeks), wear gloves when shopping, shower when I get home from the store. Health care workers need a place to stay. Reasonable precautions have been taken. That said, once she has another place I plan to close and I would encourage all in-home hosts to do the same. Suprisingly, almost all of our local Airbnbs remain open. I’ll probably drop to the bottom of the list by the time things settle down but so be it.
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We’ve been turning down requests. People are still traveling. The governor’s order was clear that all STRs are for medical professionals, military and other travel directly related to COVID-19 is only allowed. It just wasn’t clear on owner-occupied STRs, like small B&Bs. I guess I am not sure how hotels are dealing with this.
I guess we will be pausing our listing based on the governor’s orders and keeping Instant Book turned off for Inquiries and Requests in the future - if people are even planning ahead.
I have one reservation near the end of May booked back in January. No word from the guests yet. I guess we’re both waiting to see what happens.
I switched my listing to “entire place” so I could qualify for the Airbnb program. The space is separate from me and there are no shared spaces indoors. The only “shared” space is the front porch. I don’t expect anyone to book anytime soon unless they are traveling to a hotspot from somewhere else. I’m not interested in hosting any vacationers. I also allow pets and I know some travel medical folks do have pets. I would hope with their long hours they have made other arrangements rather than take their pets with them.
If the impacted areas move around as the rolling shutdowns continue there may be travel professionals that end up here and I’m a half mile from a hospital.
I rent out a room upstairs but haven’t had any guests since mid January. I’m only open to medical professionals, and I’m sad yet thankful that nobody has requested that room so far. (30 day min). I’m torn between being able to help house someone and not wanting to expose myself here.
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If there are shared spaces, even a common entrance, you shouldn’t be hosting anyone.
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We’re a shared space listing. Private bedroom, but shared bath, entrance, kitchen and other common spaces. We have blocked the calendar until May 4 - the state recommended stay-at-home order. I have turned Instant Book off and will screen any future Inquiries or Requests, with the expectation that either party could cancel. We employ the Flexible cancellation policy, so any kind of Extenuating Circumstance is rather moot unless a guest needs to cancel within 24 hours of check-in, at which point I might press for our cancellation policy to stay in enforced.
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I don’t think I’m going to get any bookings in the next few months (in Seattle) and obv could be longer. Long term rental here I come.
When your guest leaves you should self-isolate for at least 14 days, just in case.
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