Airbnb rolled out a new tool that encourages guests to send "kindness cards" and cash donations to their former hosts "impacted by COVID-19."
The COVID-19 pandemic has tanked Airbnb's revenue, and the property owners who operate short-term rentals through the service have seen rent payments evaporate as people stop traveling.
But critics lashed out at Airbnb's push for donations, questioning why renters should have to help shore up landlords' shaky financials.
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After the COVID-19 pandemic obliterated Airbnb revenues across the globe, the short-term-rental platform has begun asking guests to chip in by sending "kindness cards" that include cash donations to their former hosts — who have seen billions of dollars in revenue vanish in recent months as travel has ground to a halt because of the pandemic.
The new tool appears to be another effort to assuage hosts' financial concerns, this time by soliciting contributions from former guests. An Airbnb spokesperson told Business Insider that 100% of the proceeds from the kindness cards would go to the hosts.
"In the spirit of rekindling connections, we developed a new feature that allows guests to send virtual cards with messages of support and encouragement to hosts who provided excellent hospitality. If they wish, guests have the option to add a voluntary financial contribution," the spokesperson said.
But the tool has been met with swift backlash from people on Twitter who say they're similarly struggling to save money amid the pandemic and question why it should be their responsibility to support hosts.
"Airbnb has lost its f---ing head," one person tweeted.
Hosts have directed their anger at Airbnb, saying the company implemented cancellation policies at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic that cost them even more money. Airbnb said in March that it would spend $250 million to reimburse hosts for guests' cancellations that stemmed from coronavirus shutdowns.
The financial situation is especially dire for megahosts, some of whom bought up dozens of properties and built short-term-rental empires that made up their main source of income (about one-third of Airbnb properties are owned by hosts who manage at least 25 properties, according to the analytics site AirDNA).
New York Times tech reporter Mike Isaac said the program was "like the mortgage-backed securities of the sharing economy."
"I'm not sure I will be contributing to the mortgage for anyone's second house at this time," another Twitter user wrote.
—Stan The Golden Boy (@tristandross) July 14, 2020
An Airbnb spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
theartfulcodger on July 15th, 2020 at 06:32 UTC »
Here's a prime example: I live in a suburb of Vancouver, which as many of you know, is suffering an unprecedented housing/affordability crisis. This is in part because thousands upon thousands of condos and apartments have been removed from the housing market after being snapped up by AirBnB hosts. Vancouver is, after all, a prime destination for tourists.
A neighbour across the street made a deal with his corporate landlord two years ago. He leased 14 of 18 units in a 3-story walkup and converted them into AirBnB rentals. So besides him, there are only 3 other people living in a building designed to house 25 to 45 permanent residents.
Before the covid crisis hit, he told me he was clearing nearly $5000 a week, basically for mopping floors and changing sheets. (A relative spent two nights in one of his units last summer. On the third night she slept on my couch, because "the whole damn place smelled like piss.")
I happened to bump into him the other day, and asked how his business had been going, since BC borders were closed in early March. He claims he's currently losing more than $20,000 a month. When his deal with the landlord expires at the end of September, he's going to turn in the keys for every unit except his own.
Most of his bookings come from China, as he advertises heavily on WeChat and other Chinese social apps. He figures that even if BC's travel restrictions are lifted soon (not much chance), there's still going to be a lag before an Asian market redevelops for cheap lodgings not located in Vancouver's downtown area.
Good news for locals, as that means an additional 14 units will be redeployed into the community's housing pool.
But now AirBnB HQ is asking his clients to send him even more undeserved money, for fucking over his fellow citizens by removing scarce and desirable housing from the local market, for two whole years.
Fuck them, and fuck him, too.
mattlore on July 15th, 2020 at 04:05 UTC »
What's kinda funny: I'm apart of a rental group in a very expensive city and about midway through the peak of covid there was a MASSIVE influx of former AirBnB hosts trying to unload their properties for LUDICROUS amounts to long term renters (We're talking 3k a month for a one bedroom and den type thing). Thankfully the other group members weren't having any of it and promptly tore them a new asshole in each listing.
Was hilarious to watch unfold.
ItsJustATux on July 15th, 2020 at 01:09 UTC »
It is exactly as stupid and tone deaf as the headline implies.