Airbnb To Cancel & Block D.C. Metro Stays During Inauguration

Airbnb has announced that it will be cancelling reservations in the Washington, D.C metro area during inauguration. Airbnb states that this decision was made in response to local, state and federal officials asking people not to travel to Washington, D.C. during this time. Airbnb will refund guests in full and pay hosts the money they would have earned from cancelled reservations. Based on the Airbnb statement it doesn’t seem that hosts without existing reservations will be compensated.

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        • Dude, either make a cognizant argument or just shut up. Tht name is bait and you fall for it like a middle schooler.

          I know it must be hard to acknowledge that Trump lost you the presidency, the Senate, and the House but this is the reality we live in. As Madison Cawthorn, NC GOP, said, "cry more".

          • No, the name seems to fit. Every president for decades has left office with the opposing party controlling the House and Senate.

  • This makes sense for a lot of reasons and I fully support it. Hotels have in-house security, especially during times like these, and AirBnB has no realistic way to address what are *hopefully* temporary security concerns.

  • For local context, downtown DC is basically shut down as of today and you're not allowed to drive through, only walk. The mayor is asking everyone, locals and outsiders to skip the inauguration. Local AirBnB hosts were worried about the logistics of whether it would even be possible to accept guests, and were scared of boarding potential rioters.

  • Seems like cheap advertising since I'm sure they didn't stand to make a lot during this particular inauguration anyway. Smart move AirBnB.

  • Glad they're continuing their efforts from this summer when entires cities were being looted and burned. 1984

  • So, what’s the catch, or is this company just taking a loss (refunding everyone) for moral superiority (PR/marketing benefit)? “Doin’ tha righ thang”

    • It’s probably a shrewd move to get/stay in the DC government’s good graces with the prospect of stricter regulation ever looming on the horizon.

  • This is a nice gesture from Airbnb, but I'm not sure it'll actually make a difference in preventing any civil unrest on Jan 20. I know most of you will never read the press release, so here's an excerpt:

    "We are continuing our work to ensure hate group members are not part of the Airbnb community. As we’ve learned through media or law enforcement sources the names of individuals confirmed to have been responsible for the violent criminal activity at the United States Capitol on January 6, we’ve investigated whether the named individuals have an account on Airbnb. Through this work, we have identified numerous individuals who are either associated with known hate groups or otherwise involved in the criminal activity at the Capitol Building, and they have been banned from Airbnb’s platform."

      • One group is protesting police brutality and the issue that people of color do not experience justice the same as white people. The other group wrongly believes, despite massive number of lawsuits showing otherwise, there was fraud in the election resulting in a stolen election, which Trump's own lawyers won't argue in court because of the repercussions they'd face, resulting in an assault on the US Capitol. But yeah, apt comparison otherwise.

          • Let me guess - you also believe white privilege doesn't exist and poor people should just work harder and pick themselves up by their bootstraps?

    • Seems like the type of thing a Left-leaning California tech company would do to fit in with their crowd. Of course, liberals use Airbnb, too, and they're going to inconvenience a lot more of them than they will "protesters." Fortunately, I don't think there's going to be much of a crowd for this Inauguration anyway so, unless the big hotel chains follow suit, it shouldn't be hard to find accommodations in DC next week. Expect to see bored security guards at your hotel, I guess.

      • Lmao @ ur take. Glad u got a jab in at the libs. U realize Airbnb deciding to inconvenience idiot-level terrorists trying to overthrow the gov is actually a good for the stability of the US economy (ur on a credit blog btw) ? This won’t stop the dedicated terrorists % , but at least it’s something.

        Also there is a planned armed “protest” being organized as we speak, hence explains why there are more troops in DC than in any active US war zone.

        • After woefully under-protecting the Capitol during the Trump protest, the gov't is overprotecting DC for the inauguration. You've never seen gov't behave this way before? You obviously can't predict the behavior of all 300+ million Americans, but the odds of a major violent protest in DC on inauguration day is near zero. It's a shame there's no way to bet on this, as common sense people would clean up betting against Liberals who actually believe Conservatives are more violent than THEIR supporters.

      • Sounds like you have a backup plan to be at the "save the steal" rally? Probably sleep in your trailer as usual?

        Airbnb is probably doing this just in case to avoid any future liability, not as some "left wing liberal" power move. If some gun-toting redneck happens to stay in their property and then goes to fight for "freedom", that's the company AND property owner now in trouble. Why risk it?

        • What liability, exactly?

          Losses due to riots and armed conflict are typically excluded from liability by way of Force Majeure clauses.

        • I'd be curious to know how Airbnb would be found liable if a "domestic terrorist" used their service to rent a room. To my knowledge, there is no nationwide do-not-rent list. I know it's hard for liberals to believe this but, yes, liberal controlled tech companies do seem to move in unison these days when they perceive that scary conservatives might do something they disapprove of.

          • Right wing extremists are in fact the biggest threat facing this country bucko as they prove time and time again whether it's groups like Atomwaffen, Boogalo Boys, or Proud Boys, attacking LE, synagogues, or even abortion providers.

            In its Homeland Threat Assessment released in October 2020, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security concluded that “racially and ethnically motivated violent extremists—specifically white supremacist extremists (WSEs)—will remain the most persistent and lethal threat in the Homeland.”

          • Taking the bait without refuting anything I said. Great counterargument. Well done @guest_1127039

          • They don't have to be found liable in court to suffer some degree of backlash. Given the way cancel culture is these days just having their name associated with something like that could be more damaging than the money they stand to make.

            Not to mention their insurance providers may have increased rates based on these fears and the cut into profit margins is making this decision more palatable, or possibly even profitable.

      • I'm not sure how well the additional security checkpoints are working now, but the rioters could always just spend the night before in MD or VA and just drive there the next morning.

        • Good luck driving into DC and parking. Most of downtown is shut down as of today. They'll probably close the VA bridges on Inauguration Day. If you really want to walk five miles to stand on a boarded up city block with no view of the festivities, go ahead...

        • What, you don't have to be a criminal mastermind to thwart Airbnb's virtue-signalling defenses? I do wonder how many rooms Airbnb is typically renting in DC these days. I assume many of these are to longer term renters. Will they all get "thrown out" on Inauguration Eve? I guess the renter and landlord can probably work something out to "Save the Stay"!