Muristek
Chandigarh, March 6
Despite waging war in Ukraine, Airbnb bookings in the country are at all-time high. Initially, the statement could sound bizarre, as you will be wondering how people are so aspirational to rent accommodations in a war-stricken state. No, it's not for joy or tourism. As Russia's assault mounts in Ukraine, people from all around the world have started booking accommodations in Ukrainian. This unprecedented initiative was taken to facilitate Ukrainians who are facing financial difficulty amid war.
Social media is full of people posting how they booked their accommodations in various Ukrainian cities to help inhabitants who lost all their finances.
A twitter user @quentquarantino initiated the campaign and the idea prompted others to join.
Yesterday I shared an idea to support Ukraine by booking rooms for rent on AirBNB. 24 hours later, 100's of people are booking AirBnBs in Ukraine as a way to send immediate monetary assistance to people in hard-hit areas. The messages in response from the hosts are so moving pic.twitter.com/ai2Je8VKCt
— IG: @quentin.quarantino (@quentquarantino) March 3, 2022Airbnb also supported the move and announced that all fees linked with such bookings will be waived.
We can confirm we are waiving all guest and Host fees on all bookings in Ukraine at this time. https://t.co/WCQEFGIlXC
— Airbnb Help (@AirbnbHelp) March 3, 2022Even the CEO of a San Francisco based company, Brian Chesky, took to Twitter to express his gratitude.
In 48 hours, 61,406 nights have been booked in Ukraine. That's $1.9M going to Hosts in needSuch a cool idea from our community. Thank you https://t.co/MEitgKB5Eo
— Brian Chesky 🇺🇦 (@bchesky) March 4, 2022There were others too, who did their bit.
Hoping this is a way to help #ukraine in some small way by booking an Airbnb to get funds quickly amp; directly to the people on the ground.If you want to help please read these messages from the lovely lady I booked with for some of the small towns that could most use it 🙏🏼❤️🏡 pic.twitter.com/9C6RRpoOrV
— Caty Price (@caty_price) March 4, 2022We booked some nights in Kharkiv on AirBnB to try to send some tangible, immediate assistance. I wrote the hosts a message and received this back. Only sharing in case you're not sure if it's a helpful thing to do. pic.twitter.com/yGzRZVFflk
— Kirsty Webeck (@KirstyWebeck) March 4, 2022