After the fatal fires that ravaged southern California this month, Airbnb received to rent out For Good program This offered free stays for displaced victims. Local And national The media welcomed the effort, ordering thousands of refugees to apply.
But for many of those who needed accommodation, criticisms were not so brilliant.
Some said they applied themselves but had never heard. Others got a good one but said it was essentially useless due to restrictions and a seven -day expiration date.
Many victims have been helped by the program. Airbnb.org, a non -profit organization financed by Airbnb who had team with Group 211 To provide free stays, said it received 34,000 requests and sent around 11,000 vouchers. It is not known how many of these vouchers have been used, but the non -profit organization said that more than 60,000 free nights had been reserved by more than 17,000 people affected by fires.
Those who are unable to take advantage of, however, see the program as one of the two things: a real offer paralyzed by excessive administrative formalities, or a half-harsh gesture intended to accumulate free public relations in the midst of a historic catastrophe.
“If it seems too good to be true, this is probably the case,” said Todd Smoyer, who received a good after his house burned in Altadena but could not use it. “It looks like a public relations stroke.”
Smoyer worked in Hollywood when Santa Ana's winds started to blow on January 7. By caution, her husband reserved an airbnb in the middle of the city that day in case a fire started.
A few hours later, the fire Eaton broke out.
Smoyer fled home to take food for their two dogs and fled the neighborhood around 8 p.m. leaving, he called his parents, sobbing.
“I knew there was no chance that the house survives,” he said.
The next morning, his neighbor confirmed that it was only the brick fireplace left.
He applied for the right one the next day but did not hear right away. They reserved the airbnb in the middle of the city until January 10 and extended it to the 12th.
Having heard anything from Airbnb, the pair fled there and reserved a stay in Palm Springs from January 13 to 24. Then the good one passed: Airbnb had given them $ 1,000 for a reservation.
Smoyer contacted customer service to ask if the credit could be used for the stay it has already reserved. No, they said. In addition, the good expired in seven days on January 19.
Smoyer and her husband have since moved into a VRBO, where a compassion host offered him a two -week stay for a total of $ 400.
“We spent more than $ 8,000 in short -term rentals over three weeks, and we just tried to recover a little. We know that they earn so much money, so how difficult it would be to apply the credit to an already reserved stay? ” He said. “It left such an unpleasant taste in my mouth.”
The good program has brought more than positive public relations for the short-term housing platform, which has been examined in recent years illegal lists And eat in the long -term housing stock. Some evacuates have told the times that they have reserved stays on Airbnb instead of other alternatives such as hotels in the hope that they would have reimbursed.
Eleanor Green evacuated from his home at La Cañada Flintridge on January 8, fleeing from Claremont with his family. She applied for the right one that day but did not hear and reserved an airbnb for two nights.
The evacuation orders were still active in her neighborhood at the end of her stay, so she reserved a second airbnb, spending a total of $ 1,500 between the two. On January 12, she returned home, which had been spared.
On the same day, it was approved for a voucher of $ 2,000.
“I felt so relieved,” she said. “It was this great light in the middle of a horrible experience.”
Green quickly connected to customer service, asking how to use it for her stays for which she has already paid, but he was told that he could only be used before booking a stay, not after.
She felt wrong.
“The first reservation was made in panic, but the second I hoped could recover money with the right one, so we used Airbnb instead of a hotel,” she said. “All those who have evacuated have already reserved an airbnb, so what point is a good if it comes in a few days later?”
Experience made him angry: not that she cannot use the right one, but because society limited the scope of the people they were able to help and drew so much advertising from something that was not useful to many victims.
“I feel uncomfortable with the praise they have obtained while champion as a source of help if necessary,” said Green. “Meanwhile, they request donations from people who think they help forest victims, but most people cannot be helped by this program.”
Airbnb.org has received $ 9 million from donations from individuals and businesses since the start of the fire. In addition, Airbnb hired $ 10 million and director general Brian Chesky raised $ 6 million.
Christoph Gorder, Executive Director of Airbnb.org, said that the company is committed to offering up to 40,000 more free nights thanks to the program of good, above the 60,000 already used. In addition, Airbnb has given up all costs for these stays.
The free housing program has never said that the vouchers would work on retroactive stays or those already reserved – and the promotion campaign did not mention that they would not. This was left to customer service representatives. Gorder said there was no simple way to make this work because the money for reservations goes to the host, not to the company.
“From a logistical and practical point of view, we have no way to make applications of good retroactive. We are examining it for the future, but we do not have this capacity at the moment,” said Gorder.
The demand overwhelmed the airbnb system in the first 48 hours, he said.
Gorder said that seven -day expiration is a backup against fraud to prevent bad players from mistreating the program. He added that those who wish to extend the expiration date or apply the credit to an existing stay can contact customer support, and said that IIRBNB has already processed these requests for 170 households.
The Times spoke to an evacuated Pacific Palisades who was able to obtain a voucher of $ 2,000 after initially refused. The person complained to customer service, finally obtained the voucher and used it for a stay of $ 20,000 for a month in Santa Monica.
“The creaky wheel gets fat,” said the person, asking to remain anonymous because they did not want to compromise their stay by talking to the media.
Others were not so lucky.
Some have brought their frustrations on social networks. A Reddit user wrote that they received a credit of $ 1,000 and managed to book a stay. However, the expiration policy forces users to check in the airbnb within seven days, not just to be reserved within seven days. As the reservation came, the credit had expired and they had an additional $ 1,000 for the rental.
Graham Fortier fled his house in Altadena on January 7 with his wife and two daughters a few hours before burning. He asked for the credit a day later, and the next day reserved a three -week stay in a Pasadena Airbnb for $ 6,897 using high donations via a gofundme.
The stay was to start on January 18 because it already had hotels reserved until then. Its $ 1,300 credit came on January 13. Like the others, he could not be applied to his rental.
In the meantime, Fortier has found a more permanent housing solution through a family friend and no longer needed the airbnb. He tried to cancel the stay of $ 6,897, but the host said he would not reimburse him since the two -day cancellation period had already passed.
For its part, Airbnb reimbursed the $ 797 that it paid in costs. But because the host refused to cancel the reservation, Fortier lost $ 6,100.
“Your house is burning, you lose everything and the host cannot still sympathize with our situation,” said Fortier. “They could have a house in Pasadena, but they are not a Pasadenan. A real pasadenan would not do that. ”
Fortier said he was sure that people got the credit and used it to help their family if necessary, adding to his frustration because it shows that the program could have been more effective.
“I just want them to have designed the program in a way that helps more people,” he said. “Our community is destroyed and we need all the help we can get.”
