Chesky, Brian

#masthead-section-label, #masthead-bar-one { display: none }The Coronavirus OutbreakliveLatest UpdatesMaps and CasesVaccine RolloutSee Your Local RiskNew Variants TrackerAdvertisementContinue reading the main storySupported byContinue reading the main storyAirbnb Is Driving Hosts Elsewhere With Costly Pandemic PoliciesHurt by refunds, some are trying to cut the site out of bookings or taking legal action. The company says it is working to reduce tensions.Lorraine Luongo of Myrtle Beach, S.C., has filed an arbitration claim against Airbnb seeking to recover the money she lost.Credit…Leslie Ryann McKellar for The New York TimesFeb. 21, 2021, 2:30 p.m. ETOver six years, Lorraine Luongo went from renting out a spare room in her house in Myrtle Beach, S.C., to owning and managing 10 properties that she listed on Airbnb.Last year, when the pandemic hit and Airbnb allowed customers to cancel bookings with full refunds, she lost $25,000 in reservations overnight. The payments that Airbnb then offered hosts as a concession were “peanuts,” she said.Ms. Luongo realized her business was too reliant on Airbnb, she said. So she created listings on competing sites like VRBO and Golightly, a site for female travelers, and plans to build a website to deal with guests directly. In November, she filed an arbitration claim against Airbnb for breach of contract, seeking to recover the money she lost.“They’re supposed to be valuing the hosts, but everything is more in favor of the guests,” Ms. Luongo, 45, said.Ms. Luongo is just one of Airbnb’s rental operators who have become increasingly disillusioned with the company. While there had always been tensions between Airbnb and its four million hosts around the world, a rift has widened in the pandemic after the company changed its cancellation policy and hosts saw what little power they had.For some rental operators, the relationship is broken beyond repair. Hundreds with more than 10,000 listings are pursuing legal action against Airbnb, according to Bryant Greening, a lawyer at LegalRideshare, the Chicago firm that is helping Ms. Luongo with her claim. Others are trying to bypass Airbnb by booking guests directly. Last year, direct bookings made up 25 percent of reservations among rental managers surveyed by Hostfully, a travel software company, up from 19 percent in 2019.“A lot of the damage is permanent,” said Jasper Ribbers, who runs Get Paid for Your Pad, a company in Barcelona, Spain, that advises short-term rental operators. “The trust is kind of gone.”The fracturing is happening at a crucial moment for Airbnb. The company, which went public in December and immediately topped more than $100 billion in value, faces high expectations as its stock price has soared further. Airbnb plans to report its first earnings as a public company on Feb. 25.That puts the San Francisco company under pressure to show a thriving business — taking a cut of the fees when people book properties that hosts list on its site — even as new surges of the coronavirus dampen travel.Brian Chesky, Airbnb’s chief executive, said of hosts, “We have a lot of work to do, and frankly, they’re still hurting,”Credit…Jessica Chou for The New York TimesIn an interview on the day of Airbnb’s initial public offering, Brian Chesky, the chief executive, acknowledged tensions with hosts but said the relationship had improved over the last year.“We have a lot of work to do, and frankly, they’re still hurting,” he said.Catherine Powell, Airbnb’s head of hosting, said hosts’ views of their relationship with the company improved 17 percent between January 2020 and last month. “Our relationship with hosts is incredibly important,” she said. “Our hosts are what powers Airbnb.”When $77,000 disappearsAirbnb hosts trace many of their issues with the company to March 14, three days after the World Health Organization declared the pandemic. That was when Airbnb enacted an “extenuating circumstances policy.”The change angered many rental operators, who had previously chosen their own cancellation policies, including a nonrefundable option. The new policy allowed guests to cancel with a full refund, overriding some hosts’ preferences. Many saw their livelihoods disappear overnight.Darik Eaton, who managed 50 properties in Seattle, laid off 10 employees after the change and has reconfigured his company to run “leaner,” including dropping some of the properties he managed, he said.“I watched $77,000 disappear from my bank account in one day,” Mr. Eaton said.In late March, Mr. Chesky apologized to hosts for how the decision had been communicated. “We have heard from you, and we know we could have been better partners,” he said in a video. The company set up a $250 million fund to cover some of the cancellation costs and a $10 million relief fund.But for some, the money was simply a gesture. Benjamin Vail, 34, who operates 70 Airbnb listings in Columbus, Ohio, said that while the properties he managed had lost roughly $70,000 of bookings, he got a check from the company for $3,211. Other hosts passed around images of checks with amounts like $2 and $4, he said.The Coronavirus Outbreak More