In a bid to keep travelers and hosts safer, Airbnb is prohibiting some people from booking one night reservations in the US during the July 4th weekend.
It's all part of the companies "Summer of Responsible Travel", an eight-point plan that is designed to keep everyone safer as COVID-19 related lockdown restrictions begin to lift.
Is It Safe to Take a Vacation?
COVID-19 vaccines are being distributed in the US. As the world begins to get back to some sort of normality, many families will hope to take a vacation.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommends that even if you are fully vaccinated, and you want to take a trip, you should ideally keep contact only with household members and continue with everyday precautions like wearing a mask, avoiding crowds, and regular handwashing.
The safest trips that the CDC recommend are short road trips where you bring your own food. If you must use accommodation, it recommends staying in a vacation rental house or in a fully vaccinated family member or friend's home.
As you can imagine, this advice is constantly changing, so you should always check the CDC website for the latest guidance.
Airbnb Bans Some Trips, Increases Phone Support, And More
As announced on the Airbnb blog, the company has launched the "Summer of Responsible Travel", an eight-point plan that is designed to "help hosts, guests and communities they call home stay safer".
Airbnb already has a global ban on parties and this will continue. Alongside this, guests without a history of positive reviews on Airbnb will be unable to make one night reservations in entire home listings during the July 4th weekend.
A similar ban was put in place for Halloween and New Year's Eve and apparently proved successful.
Alongside this, Airbnb laid out other plans such as:
- Discount on noise detection devices for hosts.
- The 24/7 neighborhood support phone line is now available in Spanish.
- Increasing the number of Community Support staff by over 50%.
- Continuing to require all hosts and guests to wear masks and practice social distancing.
The Risks of Renting on Airbnb
In a COVID-19 world, no travel is truly safe. There is always going to be some sort of risk. On Airbnb, that's true for both the traveler and the host. All you can do is take every precaution to ensure that you, and everyone around you, stays as healthy as possible.