Airbnb will force property owners to wait 24 hours between guests
The company will begin requiring that rentals stay vacant for 24 hours between check out and when a new reservation begins. The new requirement is based on a recommendation from the Centers for Disease Control to “address the possibility of particles that may remain airborne for a few hours.”
It offers tips on how to clean rooms and what types of disinfectants to use. The program is not required for hosts to follow, but Airbnb said it’s encouraging hosts to “commit and adopt these enhanced cleaning practices.” Customers will be able to soon identify which hosts oblige by the program the platform’s search results.
Hotel bookings have fallen drastically, and occupancy levels have tumbled to 23.4% of rooms in the United States in use for the week ending April 18, according to recent data from hospitality analytics company STR. Airbnb is a privately held company, so it’s doesn’t make booking figures public.
Travel has been hit especially hard by the virus and has forced several companies to roll out new cleaning procedures.