This evening, the CEO of Airbnb had a live meeting to discuss the 4 actions airbnb is taking to support hosts. There has been a lot of backlash from hosts who are in a very rough spot since the pandemic, and many hosts are going to struggle to pay their mortgage or rent.
With that, the Airbnb CEO finally decided to step up and talk to hosts. For many like myself, it was about time to hear something from Airbnb. The only thing hosts like myself have heard was that all guests who booked would be receiving a 100% refund for the extenuating circumstances policy. I am 100% for people’s safety, and don’t want people traveling if it isn’t the right thing for them, but it has been tough for everyone.
No matter if you were in short term or long term rentals, it has been a tough time.
Here are the four things the Airbnb CEO has pledged to do
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
Here are the four actions the CEO promised they would do. Some of the more granular details are yet to be seen, so how everything will work is still up in the air. ⠀
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
First, Airbnb will payout hosts $250,000,000 based off 25% of the cancelation policy the host had in place for any bookings that canceled due to COVID-19 made prior to 3/14. This means, if your cancelation policy states you provide a 50% refund, then that means you would ultimately be paid out 12.5% of what you were expecting to payout. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
Second, they will offer a $10M superhose relief fund. This is by far the most vague of any of the things they are taking action on. How they will be determining who will receive money and how much was not discussed at all. I am assuming more information will come out at some point in the near future. ⠀⠀
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
Third, they will be reaching out to people who have recently stayed at Airbnb’s and ask them if they would like to donate anything to their hosts. I think this is a nice gesture, but not really something many people can afford forking out money for at this point. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
Lastly, they said all Airbnb owners will qualify for the small business loans from the stimulus package. Not 100% sure how this would work and who all it would benefit, so need to do more research on this one.
There are still many unknowns, but it was nice to at least hear something from the CEO of Airbnb. Only time will tell to see what actually happens and how much relief hosts will be getting.
Key Takeaways:
- Don’t put all your eggs in one basket. There are hundreds of thousands of Airbnb hosts that will go under due to the world and environment we live in today.
- Don’t ever expect a handout from the government. In all my numbers, I never expect the government to give me anything. No matter what situation I am in.
- Keep your head and up and remember you can only control what you can control! There is no reason to get worked up on things that you have 0 control over.