My opinion has shifted as well. Last month, I thought hosts were overreacting to fear getting sick from guests. Now, my listing is paused. Here in the US-epicenter (Seattle), many hosts have switched to LTR. That option doesn’t work for me because I would share some common space with the tenant, and I don’t know if they’d be practicing social distancing. The hosts who are still doing STR are reporting only locals are staying and they’ve had to drop their prices to the point they’re allegedly attracting locals seeking to conduct illegal activity.
fyi, not as of the weekend. I think Seattle would be the US start (is there a word for such a place?) but NY is the new epicenter.
I’ve no doubt that hosts switch to LTR, my doubt was that there was an instant flood of rentals with the accompanying instant lower prices all due to Airbnb. People not having jobs and a general recession will also lead to lower prices. I’m not an Airbnb defender but blaming Airbnb alone for rental shortage is easy and probably false.
As someone not in a position to do LTR due to lack of kitchen and lounge space I’ll be very happy to see the exodus of people from the STR space.
Why not start a message dialogue with the guests booked for May and get a read on what they’re thinking about their reservation? Let them know the restrictions on movement and stays where you live, express your hesitancy to host while COVID is an issue and see what kind of response you get. I had an upcoming booking for April 5 and had been expecting the guest to cancel, but 2 days after California (where she lives) announced lock-down, she still hadn’t. I messaged her, expressed my concerns about travel at this time and keeping both herself and myself safe (I home-share), didn’t even mention anything about cancelling from my end if she didn’t, and she wrote back and agreed that it wasn’t a good idea and proceeded to cancel. Her dates fell under the EC from March 14-April 14, so she got full refund, no muss, no fuss, no hard feelings.
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I just received a request for later this week. I questioned (myself) whether I should take this 3 day booking but decided to decline. Having no reviews, ratings, or description, and questionable grammar didn’t help. But the reality is I’m feeling a bit anxious to continue, with what was typical AirBNB business, while a quarantine is being asked of all of us.
I’m keeping my listing open should there prior guests, family / friends, or something of a more pressing nature (health care workers, someone addressing family needs, etc) who need a place to stay.
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Now if you get a warning from Airbnb that you are declining too many bookings, I’ll be pissed on your behalf.
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Add Dr. Rand Paul to that list.
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AMEN to that! What a d**k.
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NYC recently passed Seattle in infections and deaths, but we were the first community to circulate the infection as far as we know.
Yes. I didn’t realize epicenter means first. I thought it meant the place with the most cases.
Spoken by someone who has never lived in California! 
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Ha, I actually know what it means in context of an earthquake. But when in this context of a disease I don’t know.
And a friend who has been delivering herbal immune boosters and vitamins to people sick with coronavirus in the next little town to mine here in Mexico has more or less traced the beginning of the cases there back to a couple from Seattle who was visiting local friends here. The couple from Seattle got sick while they were here, as did the friends they were staying with. Then it just started spreading. That’s exactly how it gets everywhere in the world in a short period of time.
I’ve deactivated the listing that I had on here and now have someone that is a friend of ours that needed a place to stay, staying with us. We were going to be in a huge bind because of no reservations. Airbnb needs to do something for us hosts. We bring in a lot of money for Airbnb and this is the time to step up.
What exactly as you expecting them to do? - they are one (usually of a number) of marketing channels that hosts use @Mfl62.
Who knows whether and how many of these STR marketing channels will weather the pandemic.
As small business owners we need to put measures in place to cover bad times as well as good but this pandemic is like nothing that any of us have experienced… All small business owners around the world are in the same boat.
Over here in the UK increasingly building societies and banks are offering mortgage breaks. There is also some relief on business rates and the government is putting some measures in place to help small businesses/the self employed.
What measures is your government putting in place to help small businesses?
Glad you have a friend staying that can help with your Airbnb costs.
Аіrbnb hаѕ mаdе а wеаlth сrеаtіоn wоrth оf $4 bіllіоn аѕ оf Маrсh 2020. Тhе hоѕріtаlіtу ѕеrvісе brоkеrаgе соmраnу іn Ѕаn Frаnсіѕо hаѕ ѕіnсе bееn ѕuссеѕѕful аnd mоѕt rесеntlу асquіrеd НоtеlТоnіght fоr оvеr $400 mіllіоn. Вrіаn іѕ undоubtеdlу оnе оf thе со-fоundеrѕ оf Аіrbnb, drаwіng hіѕ ѕаlаrу іn mоrе thаn fіvе-fіgurе dіgіtѕ.
Airbnb has made a lot of money from all of us hosts. They should be stepping up and helping us out.
This isn’t directed only at you, @Mfl62, but many of us have been on this forum for many months or many years. We’ve read hundreds (thousands) of posts about what Airbnb “should” do. You’ve been on this forum for 8 days. There is undoubtedly a wealth of information here that you haven’t yet read.
First of all, Airbnb hosts’ opinions about “should” mean nothing. Nothing at all.
Secondly, I think Airbnb has done what they’ve done to try to preserve the company. If they were bleeding money now on behalf of the hosts, they would rapidly be entirely out of business. Is that what we want?
I suggest you read this forum to see how many times this precise topic has been discussed.
Nothing we say here will change Airbnb.
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Here is a compilation of resources to help people who are in a bind. It is a work in progress, as are the various forms of assistance being developed around the world. COVID-19 Aid and Assistance
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Your use of “on here” makes me think that you believe this forum to be part of Airbnb, but we are not. This forum is completely independent of the Company.
And you haven’t made any money off the back of Airbnb?
Folks keep banging on about how much money Airbnb has made from hosts, but nobody ever mentions how much money they’ve made from Airbnb. They advertise your property, allow guests to book and then deal with the payments. All for 3%.
I curious, in what way do you want them to “step up”? Do you want paid for stays that didn’t happen? Do you want them to just give you money?
I’m not Airbnb’s biggest fan, but during a global pandemic tough decisions have had to be taken. Only time will tell if those decisions taken by Airbnb were correct, or not.
JF
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omg did you not watch the news in Jan like at all -
or maybe the idea it was in china you thought it wouldnt reach you
when the first cases appeared outside China ie Tiawan Japan and they shut 23rd Jan
no eurika moment since china makes up 45% of airbnb’s clients
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