13 Airbnb’s space donation initiatives – before, during and after COVID-19
13 Airbnb’s space donation initiatives – before, during and after COVID-19
Samira Zare, Department of Tourism, UQ Business School, The University of Queensland, Australia
Sara Dolnicar, Department of Tourism, UQ Business School, The University of Queensland, Australia
Please cite as: Zare, S. and Dolnicar, S. (2021) Airbnb’s space donation initiatives – before, during and after COVID-19, in S. Dolnicar (Ed.) Airbnb before, during and after COVID-19, University of Queensland DOI: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.14204564
Airbnb’s space donation initiatives before COVID-19
Airbnb and similar facilitators of online trading platforms for short term accommodation are in the unique position of having access to millions of vacant spaces globally. They can communicate directly and quickly with the people making these spaces available for rent. This gives platform facilitators the ability to react very quickly if there is a sudden, unexpected need for space.
A sudden, unexpected and urgent need for space can result from many different types of events. Natural disasters – such as bushfires, earthquakes and cyclones – are just one example. Within a short amount of time, these disasters can cause substantial damage to infrastructure, leaving both residents and tourists without a place to stay. During the 2011 Christchurch earthquake, for example, up to 100,000 buildings were damaged; 10,000 so severely that they had to be demolished (Christchurch City Council, 2020), leaving a substantial fraction of the local population homeless. More recently – between September 2019 and March 2020 – the worst bushfire season in Australian history destroyed more than 3,500 homes (Center for Disaster Philanthropy, 2020), leaving locals without a roof above their heads.
Accommodation emergencies can also result from man-made disasters such as terrorist attacks or accidents. At the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic, a chemical explosion in Beirut annihilated entire suburbs of the city, displacing 300,000 people from their homes (Vatican News, 2020). In some instances, a sudden accommodation challenge can result from political decisions rather than unexpected events. In 2017, when President Donald Trump closed United States borders to immigrants from specific source countries, many people found themselves stranded without accommodation (Business & Human Rights Resources Centre, 2020).
Irrespective of the reasons that cause people to find themselves – suddenly and unexpectedly – without a place to stay, the solution required in such instances is to quickly identify vacant spaces in a very specific geographic location, extend an invitation to the owners or tenants of those spaces to help displaced people, and match hosts with people in need. Airbnb is in a better position to achieve this than most other companies in the word because the spaces listed on Airbnb.com are regionally dispersed and frequently sitting idle because many of the properties have not been built for the purpo