The hospitality and travel industry may be reeling, but housing platform Airbnb is still doing what it can to support the effort to fight the virus outbreak — as many as 100,000 medical staff and social workers worldwide who are combatting the coronavirus crisis could have free places to stay from the online rental service.
Airbnb’s efforts will work by allowing hosts on its platform to opt-in to making their space available, with any fees that Airbnb would normally charge for using its platform waived to those who participate
The program will include new protocols around cleanliness that are designed to keep spaces safe for those workers who use it, including a required 72 hours interval between stays, as well as maintaining proper social distancing between hosts and any guests. The company will also be working with non-profit groups to help allocated space where it’s needed most.
Already, Airbnb has been operating smaller-scale programs in both Italy and France to address the crises there, with 6,000 hosts across both countries making their spaces available.
