Our listing prominently features this statement. We confirmed in advance with Airbnb that their is no objection to our doing this. " Guests MUST PROVIDE VAX PROOF and agree to Covid cautious rules." We are very happy with the guests who follow these requirements and refuse to accept those who disagree while politely reminding them that they will find other hosts who don’t have the same requirements.
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I had to go to Gibraltar yesterday evening, and had my QR code ready at the border.
Spanish border control leaving Spain didn’t ask for it, and the UK border didn’t either.
Returning back to Spain, at the border/customs post, the grumpy fecker didn’t even look at our ID’s!
I was slightly disappointed as I wanted to see how they scanned it.
On the other hand, I was as happy as a pig in shit to be waved through because I had a boot full of prohibited items from Morrison’s supermarket in Gibraltar 
Meat, cheese, butter, bacon, and so on, all now prohibited to be brought into Spain due to brexit.
Happy days 
JF
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Agreed. And the thing about anti-vaxxers is that they are super-proud that they haven’t been vaccinated. I don’t see them pretending/faking to be vaccinated after all of their hoopla about not getting the vaccine. Some of their friends would consider just the faking of it ‘going to the other side’
There is no reason for Airbnb to care about vaccination questions (and even if they did care, you can still ask anyway) :
- It doesn’t keep them from making their money. (e.g. it’s not a way of booking off-platform)
- It is not discriminatory. (being unvaccinated is not a protected class)
- HIPAA regulations do not apply to Airbnb hosts or Airbnb. HIPAA only applies to healthcare providers, health insurance providers and certain health data clearing houses. You have to be a HIPAA-covered entity for HIPAA to apply to you and being an Airbnb host or even Airbnb itself does not make you a covered-entity (e.g. you do not have privileged healthcare information about your guests as their healthcare provider or insurer).
Everyone should feel 100% confident in asking guests about vaccinations and Covid exposure, etc. If you would like to, there is absolutely no reason that you shouldn’t.
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In Canada a faked vaccination document can cost you $750,000.00. That’s $1.5 million in fines for a fake couple (plus up to six months jail time).
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Canada is serious about this stuff, and as a Canadian, although I live in Mexico, I really appreciate it. I flew up in early July and stayed for 5 weeks. I had to get a PCR test in Mexico before leaving, another immediately on arrival in the airport, do the 3 day hotel quarantine, fly on to my daughter’s place and finish out the rest of the 14 day quarantine there, taking another test on the 8th day.
Yes, it was more expensive a trip than normal, and yes, it was inconvenient, but guess what- they hadn’t had a case of Covid in 7 months where I was on mid-Vancouver Island, because the vast majority of the population has been compliant with Covid mandates.
While I still masked up to go shopping, it was such a relief to hang out with family and friends as if everything was normal.
Canada has its share of Pro-Covid idiots ( thanks for that phrase, @KKC ), but they aren’t nearly as ubiquitous as in the US and Mexico.
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This was in the news here recently. We have loads of Pro-COVID idiots in our neck of the woods.
My friend in New Zealand is pissed because they are on step 4 lockdown again. They tried to do a tourism bubble with Australia but their Kiwi knuckleheads brought Covid back and then didn’t observe their 14 day stay at home quarantine. They were trying to quarantine people in hotels but ran out of room. On top of that they are really lagging on vaccinations and don’t seem to have a good excuse for why the roll out is so slow.
All this effects her because she is contracted with the UN on a consulting job for their most recent environmental disaster. She was supposed to fly out to Sri Lanka to meet up with the team but now that is probably on hold indefinitely. She did at least get fast tracked for the vaccine because of it but it’s literally costing her a bundle of cash not getting the UN work.
Are the Pro-COVID idiots in Mexico locals or <ahem!> the usual suspects?
Is your Airbnb property in Mexico?
Both. I think the tourist ones mainly fall into the right-winger, you can’t take away my freedoms types, and the foreigner locals into the “I do yoga and eat organic and meditate, so I won’t get sick, vaccines are really dangerous, and wearing a mask is unhealthy” camp.
And while some Mexicans are smart and cautious, so many are uneducated and big gatherings are such a social norm for them that it’s hard to stop.
Mexicans also do not trust their govt., with good reason.
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If asked if they’ve been vaccinated , the anti-vax crowd won’t pass up an opportunity to tell you A) vacinnes go against God’s will, B) Covid is a hoax perpetrated by liberals, C) vacines are ineffective. So, ask away. Just don’t ask about gender, race, or religion.
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Airbnb should be the central holder of everyone’s–hosts and guests–COVID ID cards, just as they require other forms of ID for members’ profiles. It only makes sense for Airbnb to take this one-time step per member instead of our wondering “Should I ask this?” “Can I ask that?” for every transaction.
I don’t agree Airbnb is just a listing company. It’s our responsibility as the business owners to ask for whatever evidence makes us feel comfortable in terms of Covid tests @DorianH
Airbnb does require owners to accept Emotional Support Animals, which I think is BS. ADA Therapy dogs I get. The dogs aren’t required to be trained and you can’t even charge a pet fee or additional cleaning fee. I wasn’t sure how far that reach went!
We have added proof of vaccinations required to our listing.
They are using the QR codes in Hawaii, so I’m not sure why they aren’t in wider use in the states.
Because HI is controlled by the D party. On the continent about half the states are controlled by the R party. Two of the largest have governors who care more about their re-election next year than how many of their residents get sick/die.
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You can’t tie the anti-vaxers down and force a shot into their arm, but as Trae Crowder says in his rant I posted upthread, you just make it impossible for them to do almost anything without showing a vax card. Wanna go to the gym? Nope. Wanna go to a football game? Nope. Wanna go to the bar or a restaurant? Nope. Wanna book a flight or a hotel or an Airbnb? Nope.
They can stay home, just like they suggested all the old and “at risk” people do, so the rest of us can get on with life.
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I’m losing hope about that. In the pro-covid states, they aren’t going to set those limits. Take South Dakota’s biker rally, Sturgis. They had it last August and had a surge. They did it again this year. Zero limits, no lessons learned.
The only thing that might have an effect is a truly catastrophic death rate among the pro-covid factions. And I say might because there is still an astonishing amount of resistance with language about treatment, not prevention and “gotta die of something” fatalism.
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Yeah, that’s my ring wing, fundamentalist Christian family members, for the most part. Both my parents, in their mid eighties, have had COVID-19, but still won’t get the vaccine. Likewise 2 of my brothers and most of their children and grandchildren. Almost all of them got it in January and have not taken any precautions to guard against getting it again. They got the old strain and said it was no worse than the flu. If they get the Delta variant (my youngest niece, a 17 year old was just exposed to it from her other grandparents) they may just change their tune.
But to them, it comes down to “you gotta die of something” and “you won’t die unless it’s God’s will”.