Over the past week, the number of bookings through Airbnb for accommodation in Ukraine has increased. The goal: to make donations to Ukrainians and Ukrainians who have been hit hard by the ongoing conflict with Russia. An original solution supported by the platform that has decided to waive its service charges.
Notifications of accommodation reservations are flooding the Airbnb accounts of Ukrainian internet users. Obviously, the “guests” have not planned to visit the war-torn country for nearly two weeks. A surprising solidarity movement that started with a viral campaign on social networks to financially support the people of the country, the newspaper reports the echoes†
In just 48 hours, more than 61,000 nights have been booked this way through the apartment rental platform Brian Chesky, the boss of Airbnb rejoices. Three quarters of the movement came from the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom. In total, 1.9 million dollars (1.7 million euros) was credited directly to the accounts of thousands of users of the site. To facilitate this wave of solidarity, the giant of the reservation between individuals has decided to temporarily lift the costs for the hosts as their guests.
In 48 hours, 61,406 nights were booked in Ukraine. That’s $1.9 million going to Hosts in Need
What a great idea from our community. Thanks https://t.co/MEitgKB5Eo
— Brian Chesky 🇺🇦 (@bchesky) March 4, 2022
If you also want to contribute to the support of the Ukrainian people, know that the organizers of the campaign indicate that it is important to reserve the closest places so that the owners of the accommodation can receive the money as soon as possible. Indeed, the platform’s terms of use only allow money to be transferred to the hosts 24 hours after your supposed arrival.
At the same time, Airbnb is committed to hosting up to 100,000 refugees. The operation financed by the short-term rental platform also involves hosts or hostesses in the countries bordering Ukraine, explains The Goodonomist†
Faced with the exceptional results of the operation, the small-maker item sales site Etsy is in the process of launching an initiative of the same type.
If technology really serves people…