Ten ways to protect your business during Covid-19

The safety and well-being of you and your guests is of the utmost importance to us. We’re here to support you as we all navigate through Covid-19 and its impact on your business, our industry and the global economy. Here are ten ways that you can better attract travellers looking to book during this time.

Follow local guidelines for cleaning and disinfecting: cleanliness has arguably never been more important for travellers. Keep your homes up to local regulatory recommended standards for cleanliness and update your listing description to give travellers peace of mind that you've made every effort to ensure that they have a worry-free stay. After you adopt these extra cleaning protocols, make sure that you let travellers know in your description and headline. Because many areas have issued emergency public health orders limiting travel and lodging, you should avoid using language in your property descriptions that could be seen as encouraging guests to disregard health or travel advisories, e.g. ‘Escape coronavirus’, ‘Coronavirus hideaway’ or ‘Quarantine here!’ We urge you to keep up to date with orders that apply to your region.
Be flexible about cancellations: In an ever-shifting environment, many travellers are hesitant to book stays, because they’re worried that they may have to cancel at the last minute due to unforeseen circumstances. Consider updating your cancellation policy to allow for more flexibility so that travellers can book with better peace of mind.
Update your calendar availability: To put yourself in the best position to book future travel, sync your calendars so that your listing’s availability is accurate, confirm all rates for future booking windows and open up your booking availability for at least a year into the future.
Offer self-check-in and keyless entry: If you don’t offer self-check-in or keyless entry already, consider updating your policies and adding instructions for these features to your welcome guide. After you do, highlight self-check-in and keyless entry on your listing descriptions as an additional perk.
Update your amenities: Make sure that your listing includes all of the amenities that you offer, especially if you have fast WiFi or other features that make your home perfect for long-term remote work, or have a pool or play area to help keep children entertained.
Highlight your safety features: We anticipate that travellers will want to rent homes with safety features such as secure deadbolt locks to protect their privacy during this time, as well as fully stocked first-aid kits in case of emergencies. Consider also adding the phone numbers and addresses of nearby hospitals and health care centres via your property editor, so guests know that help is nearby if they need it.
Give discounts for long-term stays: People often travel to be near family and friends during hard times, and they typically stay for a while. Consider updating your rates to offer discounts for long-term stays to help attract those travellers.
Reduce your minimum stay requirements: On the opposite end of the spectrum, travellers can also require shorter stays during times of uncertainty. Update your minimum night stay to ensure that your home shows up in search results for short-term trips as their demand increases.
Stay mobile: Download our owner mobile app and enable Instant Booking to more easily manage your business and respond to travellers without the delays in communication that can happen when using a desktop computer.
As always, be respectful to travellers, regardless of origin: while it’s reasonable for you to protect yourself and your property, please be respectful if you ask travellers questions about prior travel to areas that are currently affected by the virus. If you cancel based on the traveller’s country of origin, we'll remove your listing from our marketplace, consistent with the principles of our Inclusion Statement guidelines.

Questions? We’re here for you.

Head to our help portal for answers to frequently asked questions about Covid-19 and how to mitigate its impact on your holiday rental business.

We thank you for your continued partnership and the efforts that you’re taking to keep yourselves and your guests safe. We’re fully confident that together we can and will weather this storm—and come back from it stronger than ever before.