I own a
second home that I rent out through Airbnb. Airbnb often doesn't get
very good press but actually quite early on, they adopted the policy,
that they would give any visitors who had booked properties for
occupation during 'lock down' a full refund. As far as I was concerned
that was the correct thing to do. Fortunately for me the people who
had already booked my property for the end of March, April & May
all decided to cancel themselves so it wasn't like I had to be the
'bad guy' and tell them they couldn't come. They all got their money
back in full.
My second
home is located in an major tourist hotspot and it would seem that not
all other letting platforms/agencies adopted the same policy. If the
Facebook groups in the area are to be believed, many holiday lets
still continued to operate and visitors (certainly at the beginning
of lock down) continued to arrive. The locals in the area became
very hostile and very insulting comments regularly appeared on the FB
pages telling visitors to go home. This has resulted in many
visitors retaliating by saying that they will never, ever visit the
area again. The whole situation became so nasty that I actually
stopped reading the FB posts.
Anyway
eventually the 'stay at home' message from the government finally got
through and for the last few weeks the FB posts have been full of
locals posting photos of the area and full of comments from visitors
saying, 'thank you for showing us these lovely pictures every day'.
So perhaps there may be a chance that the tourism industry can be
saved.
Fast
forward to today, the 12th May 2020, and after Boris's confusing
speech on Sunday night, it would seem that people are now trying to
sneak back into the holiday homes, even though the restrictions on
this have not been lifted as stated below:
According
to government guidelines, Section 1.9
Are
day trips and holidays OK? Can people stay in second homes?
Day
trips to outdoor open space, in a private vehicle, are permitted.
You should practise social distancing from other people outside your
household.
Leaving
your home – the place you live – to stay at another home for a
holiday or other purpose is not allowed. This includes visiting
second homes.
Premises
such as hotels and bed and breakfasts will remain closed, except
where providing accommodation for specific reasons set out in law,
such as for critical workers where required for a reason relating to
their work.
Yesterday
I had an enquiry from someone wishing to book my property at the
beginning of June. Airbnb have dis-enabled the instant book facility
and now visitors have to request to book somewhere. This I think is
a sensible decision because it gives both the owner and the holiday
maker a chance for more interaction. Anyway I replied saying that I
was more than happy to accept the booking on the understanding that
should the restrictions not be lifted by then (which I very much doubt they will be) the booking would be cancelled and a full
refund would be given. I immediately got a reply back asking if they
could come and stay any way and just do it 'off the record' so to
speak. Seriously?! Just what planet do these people think they are
on? Obviously I responded by saying, 'Absolutely not, I don't want
to be responsible for anyone losing their life!' …............And
I didn't hear anything else from them. No message to say that they
totally understood that trying to go on holiday would be risking
everyone's lives. And no message to even say thank you to me for
answering their query. I suspect that these ignorant people will
just continue to try to book a holiday at the beginning of June. And
these are the stupid, stupid people who are putting everyone's lives
at risk. I despair!!!
However,
the point of this blog is.................... I bet they're not the
only stupid people who are trying to do something like this. I'm just one person out of thousands that rent out their home in a tourist hotspot. And I
bet that some holiday home owners will just accept the booking. And
it's the selfish people like this that are putting every body's lives
at risk. I would have loved to have ignored the government advice
and taken this booking. I have no income coming in and a two week
booking in June would have netted me quite a substantial amount. But
morally I can't do that.
We all
want to get out of this situation as soon as possible, but by
flouting the rules, as usual; it's the minority who are spoiling it
for the majority of us who are doing our very best to keep ourselves
and everyone else safe.
The
message is clear.................. going on holiday at the moment is
not allowed and until the restrictions regarding this have been
lifted, I for one, will not be allowing anyone to stay in my home.
Rant over.
See you all tomorrow.
Toodles.
No comments:
Post a Comment