Yesterday I discovered that my vacation rental neighbor (Condo complex) has continued to rent through Airbnb and VRBO. He has reviews like, “thank you for the fabulous quarantine getaway! We enjoyed relaxing and looking at the lake” and “we enjoyed our quarantine honeymoon!” So, obviously not travelers who fall into the allowed categories like medical personnel, first responders, etc. He has also dropped his rates to roach motel level for our town, and has IB turned on so I assume he isn’t screening guests either, and we’re supposedly under a strict no out of state traveler rule.
Is this common right now? I was shocked, as I just assumed we were all following the rules.
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I have been astounded at the amount of inquiries I have gotten in the last two weeks. At least three a day!
It absolutely sucks to have to say no, because we were booked solid before this, but there is no way I am putting my neighbors and caretaker at risk. It is disheartening that some people are taking this seriously and others are quarantining in style. I have been saying no, and telling guests that there is a travel ban in our county until at least 5/4 but from looking at Airbnb’s metrics page, it looks like other “places like mine” are booking.
(Note: I’m a remote single family home, and I understand we all have different setups).
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@Dawn1, it seems right to me that you report this vacation rental neighbor. Airbnb says this:
"Call the Neighborhood Support team at +1 (855) 635-7754 to report an issue.”
I would do that.
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Well, our rules aren’t as strict. But people are breaking them too. STRs are not shut down but there is 14-day quarantine requirement for out-of-staters. And yet a lot of my neighbors have had numerous guests from out of state in the first 18 days of April - that doesn’t add up to anyone doing their quarantine. Sure, some of them may have already quarantined or not updated their location but there is a lot of them, too many.
It’s friggin ridiculous. I put our studio back up to offer it to responders that might need it or locals for working at home. After a week of 3-4 inquiries a day that I felt were inappropriate (“we want to get out of the city for awhile,” etc) I blocked off the calendar again.
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I would report it to the city and the county. We can’t rent at the moment unless they are 60+ days and even those are discouraged. I see a lot of properties in violation posted on Airbnb. I wonder why the city isn’t going to those properties and seeing if they are rented and taking the $5,000 penalty from each one? I would be if I were in charge of the program.
Did you reach out to the neighbor and tell them you’re aware of the situation?
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Our complex is a mixture of vacation rentals, weekenders/summer homes, and a few who live there full time so it would be difficult to drive through and know which cars are travelers.
I haven’t said anything to the owner (who is notorious for not following POA rules) because I don’t know his last name or anything, but I reported it to the POA president yesterday and he works for the state’s attorney general’s office.
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@Dawn1 I think it would be pointless to talk to the neighbor himself- he obviously doesn’t care about violating the directives. Sounds like you reported it to the right person if they work for the att.general’s office. I might call the health dept. as well.
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Someone in my town has been reporting everybody who has a listing up.
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I haven’t seen that message but I will do that now. Thanks!
My home county & city in NC have a “report violations form” on the county & city government websites. The violations can be anything from too many people/parties, rentals, inappropriate business practices, etc. They really want large parties to be reported to the police.
My rental property area has a toll-free “report a violation” number.
I’m not a fan of being a tattletale BUT when someone is violating public safety ordinances: it has the potential to be life threatening for many people and gives people who want to legislate STRs out of their area fuel for the fire.
Yes report locally and to Airbnb. Include screen shot grabs of reviews in your complaint.
Opinion: makes me angry that I’m trying to do the right thing and some jackass thinks the rules don’t apply to them.
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For those of us who would like to continue doing this someday this might be the biggest concern.
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Exactly our situation! We drove to NC for the week back in March before the bans started so that we could close the house up, update things, etc. I was going to block it off the platform for bit but then they started the responders program so I left it up for that. I have been flooded with requests from newbies and old accounts alike. At first I thought I was our tourism board testing people and we later saw that the county and the newspapers had been sending booking inquiries to see who would take the bait, but this is beyond that now. I fell silly bc we still haven’t gotten a response request but I have been saying no, nope, nada to so many others. I want to quote Jackson’s recent book reading “Stay the f*** at home!”
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@Annet3176 - we are NC too! Are you mtns, flatlands or beach? I’ve been proud of the way it’s been handled by Roy. We have a call line with our county. I sure don’t want to be on the bad side of that. It’s home! 
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They might be from in-state? Who knows. Regardless, this is where the law in some cases has just taken things too far. We are 100% for public safety, social distancing, masks, etc.
Law aside, what is the practical difference if people are “staying at that condo instead of their own house”? How hard is it to “keep distance” and “have no contact”? People need to practice safety standards, period.
There are far too many who are still not compliant. Frankly, we are getting pretty tee’d off about it.
Perfect example: workers at our local Amish market are still not wearing F*ing masks and gloves! Even the person working the cash register. Seriously! We emailed our board of health. Ridiculous.
Sorry for the rant.
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I wish there was a way to show that you were just open for the responders program. If I got reported by some one who blindly was checking listings, I’d be pissed. I’m following the rules to the letter, and beyond. Just staying “open” hoping I get a passel of medical personnel I can help since we are near quite a few medical facilities.
“I wish there was a way to show that you were just open for the responders program”
Can’t you put that in the opening words of your listing?
Yes, but I was meaning more of a search function that ABB could have done for their program. I doubt anyone who is being such a busy-body to report others is also being considerate enough to check each listing they are tattling on.
That’s what I did. I think you can list with the Airbnb program too so your listing it appears in searches whether you are donating or must get fee.
“4/1 - 5/15/2020, RENTAL only to COVID-19 government and healthcare support staff.”
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So many booking inquiries here too from people who “need to get away from this madness”, etc. The calendar is closed until July 15, so they have to send an inquiry to try to get the closer dates they want. “Do you happen to have an opening this weekend?”
Thank goodness I live in a rural community where the neighbours, in a flash, would report to the authorities that a car was sitting in my guest driveway. If I wasn’t already firm, myself, about not hosting right now, Dorothy-keeping-an-eye-on-me cinches it.
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I changed my listing name to:
1st responders and essential workers
Then I changed the description to suit these circumstances. I think this is the reason mine was not flagged, many people on FB reporting they had been reported even with closed calendars .
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