In the wake of a fatal fire that destroyed Southern California in January, Airbnb received a praise mountain for the voucher program, which provides a free stay to refugees. Local and local media praised this effort and instructed thousands of refugees.
But for many people who needed a house, the review was not shining.
Some say they have applied but have never reply. Others got a voucher, but said that it was essentially useless for restrictions and 7 days of expiration date.
Many casualties have been helped by the program. Airbnb.org stated that Airbnb was a non -profit organization that provided a free stay with 211 LA, received 34,000 applications and sent about 11,000 vouchers. It is unknown how many of these vouchers were used, but non -profit organizations said that more than 60,000 free nights were reserved by those affected by the fire.
However, those who cannot cash consider this program as one of the two. It is a half -hollow gesture aimed at gaining a real offer that has fallen in HAM with excessive red tape or a free PR in a historic disaster.
“If it’s too good, it’s probably,” said Todd Smeer. “I feel like a PR stunt.”
Smoyer worked in Hollywood when the wind of Santaanana began to blow on January 7. His husband reserved Airbnb in Mid City early on that day in case of a fire.
A few hours later, Eaton Canyon erupted.
Smoia tightened the house with a bolt, grabbed food for two dogs, fled from the neighborhood around 8 pm on his way out, and he cried to his parents.
“I knew there was no possibility that the house would survive,” he said.
The next morning, his neighbor confirmed that nothing remained except for brick fireplaces.
He applied for a voucher the next day, but did not respond immediately. They had Airbnb in the middle city reserved until January 10th.
I hadn’t heard anything from Airbnb, so the pair escaped from LA and booked a stay in Palm Springs from January 13 to 24. After that, the voucher arrived. Airbnb has a 1,000 dollar for reservations.
Smoyer contacted the customer service to ask if the credit could be used for the already reserved stay. No, they said. In addition, the voucher expired in seven days on January 19th.
Smoia and his husband later moved to VRbo. There, a caring host provided him for a total of $ 400 for a two -week stay.
“We spent more than $ 8,000 for short -term rentals for three weeks, but we were trying to collect a little. We knew they were making that much money, so we had credited to stay. How difficult it is to apply? ” “It left such a troublesome taste in my mouth.”
The voucher program has brought more than a positive PR to the short -term housing platform. This has recently been scrutinized about illegal lists and LA’s long -term housing stock. In addition, we provided a business by promoting evacuees to reserve Airbnbs to evacuees instead of hotels.
Elenoa Green evacuated from the home of Lacanada Flint Ridge on January 8 and fled to Clairmont with his family. She applied for a voucher that day, but did not hear the reply and booked Airbnb for two nights.
The evacuation order was still in her neighborhood at the end of her stay, so she reserved the second Airbnb and spent a total of $ 1,500 in two. On January 12, she returned to the escaped house.
On the same day, she was approved by a $ 2,000 voucher.
“I felt very relieved,” she said. “It was this wonderful light during the terrible experience.”
The green was immediately connected to the customer service and asked how to use it for the stay he had already paid, but he was told that it could only be used before reserving his stay.
She felt she was deceived.
“The first reservation was made in panic, but the second I wanted was a voucher, so I used Airbnb instead of a hotel,” she said. “Everyone who evacuated has already booked Airbnb, so what is the point of the voucher a few days later?”
This experience offended her. Not that she could not use the voucher, but because the company was able to get a lot of advertising from something useless for many victims, and restricted the scope of many advertising people.
“I feel uncomfortable how much they praised while defending themselves as a source of assistance at the time necessary,” said Green. “On the other hand, they are asking for donations from people who think they are helping the victims of the wildfire, but most people cannot help by this program.”
Airbnb.org has been seeking $ 9 million donations from individuals and companies since the start of the fire. In addition, Airbnb committed $ 10 million, and Brian Chesky, the highest executive officer, committed $ 6 million.
CHRISTOPH GORDER, an executive director of Airbnb.org, has promised to provide up to 40,000 free nights through over 60,000 voucher programs already used. In addition, Airbnb has exempted all of those stay.
The free housing program never stated that the voucher had never worked on a reserved stay -the promotion campaign did not say so. It was left to the representative of the customer service. GORDER said that the reservation money was sent to the host, not the company, so there is no easy way to do the job.
“There is no way to execute a retroactive voucher application from a logistics and practical perspective. We are considering it for the future, but we do not have that ability now,” Gorder. Says.
He added that demand overwhelmed the system in the first 48 hours.
According to GORDER, the expiration date for seven days is the result of trying to get credit to the hands of those who need to make a reservation quickly, and those who have expired vouts will contact customer support to extend it. He said he could apply.
The Times talked to the Pacific Parisard evacuees who were able to get a $ 2,000 voucher after being rejected first. The person was dissatisfied with the customer service, finally got a voucher, and used Santa Monica for $ 20,000 for a month.
“Kishimu wheels apply grease,” he said. I didn’t want to talk to the media to put my stay in danger, so I asked him to leave it anonymously.
Others were not so lucky.
Some people were frustrated by social media. One Reddit user has received a $ 1,000 credit and wrote that he had reserved his stay. However, in the expiration date, the user must not only make a reservation within 7 days, but also check in to Airbnb within 7 days. By the time the reservation came, the credit was expired and borrowed an extra $ 1,000 for rental.
Graham Fortie fled on January 7 before burning Altadena’s house with his wife and two daughters. One day later, he applied for a credit, and the next day, he reserved a 3 -week stay for $ 6,897 at Pasadena Airbnb using donations through GOFUNDME.
He had already booked a hotel, so his stay was scheduled to begin on January 18. His $ 1,300 credit arrived on January 13. Like other people, it could not be applied to his rental.
Until then, Fortier has found a more permanent housing solution through a family friend and no longer needs Airbnb. He tried to cancel a $ 6,897 stay, but he said he would not refund him because the two -day cancellation period had already passed.
Airbnb refunded $ 797 he paid. However, Fortie lost $ 6,100 because the host refused to cancel the reservation.
“Your house burns out, you lose everything, and the host can’t sympathize with us yet,” Fortie said. “They may have a house in Pasadena, but they are not Pasadenan. The actual Pasadenan does not do this.”
Fortie is convinced that people are trusted and uses it to help the family when needed.
“I hope they designed a program in a way to help more,” he said. “Our community has been destroyed and needs all the help we can get.”
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