Help Protect Your STR Business During COVID-19 With These Tips

Last updated: March 25, 2020. This post is time-sensitive and will keep getting updated as the situation evolves.

In a very short time, the world has been rocked by the coronavirus, also known as COVID-19.

As of the writing this post, has already affected over 450,000 people, with nearly 20,000 deaths across at least 170 countries. The stock market saw its worst single-day loss since the 2008 financial crisis, and the US Treasury Yield hit its lowest percentage in American history.

It’s hard to say whether the disease is worse than the hysteria surrounding it, but it’s easy to say that the entire world is feeling its effect. The fear is real, and it’s powerful.

The drop in Chinese visitors to Los Angeles alone could cost the economy nearly 1 billion dollars. Entire countries are in government-imposed lockdowns and businesses across the globes are closing their doors.

The strain on the short-term rental industry and its operators has already been immense, and we’re now preparing for the worst. If you had goals to double or triple your income for 2020, you’re now probably trying to figure out just how to survive the next 6-12 months.

We’re all in this together, so we’ve created this resource to help short-term rental operators prepare and combat for the recession.

I talked to operators around the world to find out what they’re doing about coronavirus. Download the list of tips I’ve got so far.

This resource will be updated on a regular basis as the situation evolves, so please bookmark it, share it, and keep coming back to see what our new recommendations are.

In this resource, we’re going to cover:

• Stats on the impact of the coronavirus on the short-term rental market
• How other hosts are protecting their health and the health of their guests
• How other hosts are protecting their businesses from the global recession
• Measures you can take to maintain occupancy
• Understanding Airbnb’s extenuating circumstances
• How to keep your listing clean

Impact of coronavirus on the short-term rental market

Last week, Hospitable surveyed 274 hosts on their experience with the coronavirus. While the full impact is yet to be known, it’s already hurting severely. Bookings across the US are down 50% and 56% in Europe.

Airlines were reporting $1.18 billion losses, probably more by now. Coronavirus is causing more damage to the airline industry than 9/11.

Out of all the respondents, 17% were in an area that was directly affected by the virus. At the time, that was limited to a few countries. Now the extenuating circumstances clause includes the entire world.

Even before things got worse, the majority agreed that coronavirus is a serious concern for their business, especially in the coming 3 months. More than half reported having fewer bookings over the last few months, a direct result of the virus, and 25% said they had guests cancel because of the virus. A few mentioned being “terrified” and “afraid” it would put them out of business.

It’s not only guests canceling – 15% of the hosts surveyed said they canceled bookings because the guest was coming from somewhere infected (8% of those guests coming from mainland China).

One interesting thing to note is that 2% of the hosts surveyed got an increase in bookings due to the coronavirus. This is most likely because of travelers getting quarantined places and needing to find emergency accommodation – Italy, for instance, first placed 16 million people under quarantine, and then placed nationwide restrictions, stopping 60 million Italians from even leaving their homes.

Israel and Australia as well, are now requiring anybody entering the countries to self-quarantine for two weeks.

As the disease spread and panic grows, only more movement restrictions will be imposed.

Most hosts want to avoid spreading and catching the virus

An important concern hosts have is to protect themselves and any other guests from the virus.

Out of the 33% of respondents who said they are taking measures against the virus, the largest number of measures that hosts took were to prevent spreading the disease.

In order to do this, so far hosts have done things like ramping up their cleaning levels between guests (58%), like wiping down anything else that guests touch: doorknobs, handles, and light switches. Other approaches are distributing hydro-alcoholic hand sanitizer (42%), canceling reservations by guests coming from infected areas (17%), and some even shutting down their rental until the outbreak is over (5%). If they hadn’t yet, even more (23%) said that they would cancel at-risk bookings within the next month.

Measures to implement

In order to prevent the spread of coronavirus in your listing, some measures you can implement are:

• Turn off Instant Book to vet incoming guests
• Cancel any reservations by guests from infected areas
• Take extra cleaning measures on your property between guests
• WASH YOUR HANDS regularly – can’t be said enough
• Stop shaking hands with people

Hosts want to protect their business from the impact of the virus

For most of us, the most serious impact is the one to our business.

The entire travel industry is having a meltdown, not only over fears but now over worldwide travel bans being set against infected countries. At the rate countries are getting infected, that means in a few day’s time, all borders may be closed.

Travelers are terrified of either catching the virus or getting quarantined if they go somewhere. Today, there are 18% more cancellations than during the same period last year (global average, from 9.7% in Jan-Feb 2019 to 11.5% in Jan-Feb 2020).

How can we cope?

Some things other hosts are doing is giving their guests more information about the outbreak (16%), investing in more marketing to reassure travelers (8%) (like this “escape the coronavirus” headline), lowering prices, and even switching to long-term rentals. Some are seeking ways to disprove false news that’s getting spread about case counts in their area, for example.

More measures to implement

In order to protect your short-term rental business from getting hit too hard by the coronavirus, here are some measures you can implement:

• Find ways to cut costs
• Downsizing
• Add “coronavirus-free” to your listing titles or some other reassuring language
• Explain your cleaning protocol at the top of your description and demonstrate that you’re taking this seriously

We’ve created a Coronavirus Survival Kit for STR Hosts

Airbnb’s extenuating circumstances

Airbnb does have an “extenuating circumstances” clause, which refunds or waives cancellation policies for situations out of the host’s control. As a reminder, Airbnb charges hosts $50-$100 for disrupting the traveler’s plans with a cancellation.

Since the World Health Organization declared the coronavirus outbreak a global health emergency, Airbnb added it to the list of extenuating circumstances. They now allow pretty much all guests to cancel with a free refund.

A week ago, only some travelers were considered to be in extenuating circumstances. Now it’s everyone on the planet.

So what does it mean?

“Any booking made on or before March 14, 2020, with a check-in date between March 14, 2020 and April 14, 2020, can be cancelled before check-in. This means that guests who cancel will receive a full refund, hosts can cancel without charge or impact to their Superhost status, and Airbnb will refund all service fees.” (Airbnb).

But this only applies before their check-in date. So if you have a guest expected from Jamaica (still not several impacted) on April 13th, and a day after they arrive Jamaica is officially severely at-risk, you would not be covered by extenuating circumstances.

On the Airbnb official coronavirus information page, you can find the links to the government travel advisories for all the infected places. Inform yourself of this so that you know whether you can and should cancel your listing.

They’ve also released a blog post that explains their extenuating circumstances policy in simpler terms.

When your listing is canceled under this policy (whether it’s you or the guest canceling), the guest will receive a full refund, you will not have to bear any cancelation fees or worry about your Superhost status, and you can accept other reservations during that time.

How to keep your listing clean

Here are tips to keep your listing as clean and safe as possible. Lucky for us, COVID-19 is an enveloped virus, which means it can be washed away with soap and water. But you need to make sure your cleaners, if they’re sticking around, stay safe.

For one, you do not need to ask your cleaners to wear a mask, since the virus is not airborne, but they do need to avoid touching their faces.

Here are some cleaning guidelines that Properly has suggested in a recent blog post (highlighting to instruct your cleaners to aim for safety, not efficiency, and compensate them accordingly):

1. 1. Wipe down light switches, lamps, cupboard handles, doorknobs, banisters, remotes, and thermostats.
   2. Run all of your dishes and flatware, even clean ones, through the dishwasher.
   3. Sanitize high-contamination sites (bathroom toilet, sink, trash can, and toilet brush).
   4. Wipe down all appliances, electronics, and provided amenities.
   5. Clean and/or replace sponges and soap dispenser.
   6. Run all linens through the laundry – even the clean ones.
   7. Clean your cleaning items.
   8. Just before your cleaner leaves the property, have them sterilize your entry method.

Measures to implement

Things are changing by the hour and it’s impossible to quantify the impact of anything or make any long-lasting decisions. It’s insane to say, but not one single entrepreneur on the planet is going to be able to continue on their long-term business goals.

So we have to be agile and adapt. It’s the only way.

And we’ll do it one day at a time, together.

Again, as the situation evolves, I’ll be updating this and other sections of the post to keep giving you all the ideas and effective methods we come across. Please keep coming back to visit this page.

Here are some measures you can implement right now to help maintain occupancy.

1. Lower prices to maintain occupancy

Right now, the only thing that matters is occupancy. Not only for your business – but for your mental and emotional health as well. The first thing you can do to keep occupancy at a dealable-with level is decrease prices. You’ll get a cut from what you’re used to making, but everyone in the world will, and it’s better than losing all of your business.

2. Use your listing headline and description to ease travelers

Use your headline, photos and Airbnb description to put travelers at ease. Last week we suggested using a “Coronavirus free” title. For most places, that won’t apply anymore, but if you’re still somewhere without the virus it could work.

Additionally, describe in detail the cleaning procedure you’re using to keep the property safe

1. Target local travelers

So far, this seems to be the lowest-hanging fruit. Some people still want to travel, but are now far too afraid to travel to other countries, if they aren’t banned from doing so already. There are still some people traveling domestically. Tweak your title for Airbnb SEO to target them

(e.g. “Local travelers escaping coronavirus” )

1. Communication

Create a connection, have a conversation and show that you care about the guests. Show them that you care deeply about their concerns. Ask them what you can do for them to make them feel more comfortable. Human connection is everything right now.

Make sure that you are the first to respond. In times of panic, people feel more reassured with instant responses. Use tools like Hospitable to send instant replies while you sleep.

Remember, your guests are afraid. It’s up to you to be the “big person”. Stay calm, answer all of their questions in a friendly and helpful way and be as descriptive as possible.

This is not the time to answer with a simple “ok.” or “yes.”

1. Offer to move date for discount to guests who cancel

Put aside your ego. I know it’s hard to offer a discount, especially when someone is not considering what impact their cancelation has on your business. But again, everyone is freaked out and reacting. One way to keep the guest is to offer to push this off to another date for a discount. This will allow you to keep the booking.

1. Find the companies that are staffing travel nurses

Hospitals are now being overburdened with sick people. And not only people with coronavirus, but the virus is now making it hard or impossible to treat everyone. Since most of the hospitals are understaffed (and as health workers increasingly get infected), companies and hospitals are staffing travel nurses around the world. If your properties are anywhere near a hospital, this is a potential way to save your business. Contact companies that place travel nurses and offer them to place them in your properties near the hospital for 14 day stays at a time.

Check the CDC website

The best place to get the most up-to-date information about the coronavirus and how to protect yourself is on the CDC website. Make sure to keep checking it regularly to stay updated.

Here is where you can keep an eye on the most up-to-date stats.

Will you let us know, have you been affected by the coronavirus? If so, how? What measures will you take?

I talked to operators around the world to find out what they’re doing about coronavirus. Download the list of tips I’ve got so far.