Airbnb suspension of all operations in Russia and Belarus came as a result of the invasion of Ukraine. Users of home rental sites making any bookings from both countries won’t be able to make in response to invasion. According to firm AirDNA, a home rental firm has been very vocal about the war and in support of Ukraine. The co-founder and Chief Executive of Airbnb, Brian Chesky has added the Ukrainian flag to his Twitter profile. And tweeted about the suspension in a post.
He wrote on tweeter, ‘’ Airbnb is suspending all operations in Russia and Belarus. ‘’
Ban extension
The company elaborated on Chesky’s tweet and added that the ban extends to Airbnb members of these countries. ‘’ The company spoke person said, ‘’ this means that we will block calendars from accepting new bookings in both countries until further notice. We will also restrict users in Belarus and Russia from making new reservations as guests. We certainly hope that as we look to the future, a path to peace is forged.’’
According to AirDNA, Russia is with 93,000 listings, and Belarus is with 4000 on Airbnb. Furthermore, people are booking rentals in Ukraine with no intention of travelling only to support the people of Ukraine. Ukraine has almost 17000 active short-term rental listings on Airbnb. Additionally, on Monday, Airbnb offered free housing for 100, 000 Ukrainian refugees.
For this initiative, the company received overwhelming support from the public. Talking to CNN, Chesky said, ‘’ we don’t have a large business in Russia. It is not one of our major markets. But we are revisiting our relationship to do business in Russia.’’
Besides Airbnb other major companies including Ikea, Netflix, Global recruitment company Hays, Ford, BMW, Marks &spencer, and a few other firms are pausing operations in Russia.
