Coronavirus: What Is The Impact On Airbnb?

If you have been following the news, you have undoubtedly heard about the Coronavirus. This virus, which originated in Wuhan, China, is causing fear across the globe. While we still have to see what lasting effect the Coronavirus will have since it is still spreading, it has already taken its toll on various industries. Unfortunately, travel is one of them!

One travel provider is reporting that approximately 75% of his travelers have canceled their plans to Southeast Asia due to Coronavirus fears. These cancellations even include places that the CDC considers to be relatively safe. People are figuring that they can go some other time – after all, if you’re going to enjoy a beach, you can go next year instead! If you’re traveling for business, on the other hand, then maybe you have to fit in the flight regardless.

As you might expect, Airbnb has already responded to this outbreak by suspending bookings in affected parts of China. So far, these suspensions are somewhat limited to affected regions within the country. However, that’s not to say that they won’t expand in the future.

So far, most of the air travel impact is within China. However, countries near China are feeling the fears of this virus spreading and are taking appropriate precautions. Each nation is dealing with this crisis differently, but, in general, most of the regions know what to do with Coronavirus patients. The researchers in Thailand were the first to discover that a combination of HIV and flu drugs were the most effective at combatting this illness. They found that the virus shares some properties with the AIDS virus, which gave them clues as to which drugs might be useful. Doctors have successfully treated patients with this mixture of medications. Given the threat that a pandemic poses to the entire world, it comes as no surprise that we are banding together to find a cure!

For people traveling within the US, the story is much different, of course. There have been very few cases of the Coronavirus reported within the US, and people moving about within the country are mostly unphased by it. While there might be some people that are fearful of it, Airbnb has no plans to suspend operations within the US. Therefore, for our US partners, the Coronavirus appears to be posing no significant threat.

With that said, at Ayvio, we take this matter very seriously and are ensuring that we provide a fantastic experience for our guests. We always make sure to clean each one of our partner’s Airbnb rentals before someone else takes it over. The fact that we ensure that each of our partner’s properties receives a hotel-like experience means that the risk of transmission when staying at one of our Airbnb managed units is relatively minimal.

Of course, we will continue to monitor for any significant developments, and we will work with our partners to reduce the impact on their rental properties. We hope to see an end to the spreading of this terrible disease sooner rather than later.