Airbnb announces it will temporarily close in Mexico and only available to emergency medical personnel

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The Airbnb platform will announce that it will close its digital reservation system in Mexico, as long as the health authorities do not lift the restrictions for hotels due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Since last week, state authorities have been negotiating with the managers of the App to stop accepting reservations, due to the danger that this entails for travelers.

In the first instance, Airbnb agreed to highlight a notice, noting that Mexico is in phase two of the contingency for the new coronavirus with serious mobility restrictions.

According to the current rules of the federal Secretariats of Health and Tourism, only 15% of the rooms can be open in a hotel to receive travelers linked to essential activities, such as health and security workers.

In most destinations, hotel associations have agreed that a few hotels continue to offer their services with the restrictions set by the rule.

The hoteliers themselves expressed their concern to the authorities, not only because platforms such as AirbnbHomeAway or CouchSurfing continued to operate normally, implying health risks, but because they are generating undesirable competition for the few hotels that remain open.

According to information provided by Airbnb to state authorities during the course of the negotiation, said platform is generating reservations of less than 10% compared to last year.

It should be mentioned that until now the authorities have only been able to negotiate with Airbnb since the others mentioned do not have physical offices that interact with Mexico.

Airbnb will only accept reservations for medical personnel for coronavirus emergencies in Mexico

In the face of the coronavirus pandemic, the Airbnb platform will suspend reservations on Mexican territory on Tuesday until April 30 and will limit the stay of medical personnel participating in the COVID-19 emergency.

“We are going through an unprecedented health crisis, at the moment it is preponderant that we all join efforts so that Mexico can get out of this emergency as soon as possible Ángel Terral, director of Airbnb for Mexico, Central America, and the Caribbean, said in a statement.

With this measure, the platform complies with the health emergency measures that the Mexican government decreed two weeks ago, which ordered the suspension of non-essential activities until April 30.

Mexico is in phase 2 of the COVID-19 epidemic, which has caused 332 deaths and 5,014 infections, of which a third have required hospitalization.

The hosting platform also ensured that it followed the recommendations of the federal government and the Union of Secretaries of Tourism of Mexico (Asetur). 

For this reason, Airbnb promotes the “Emergency Personnel Accommodation” program in Mexico, which seeks to host essential personnel such as medical and nursing specialists who contribute to the fight against the coronavirus.

“We are working on the implementation of this program in the country. We want to invite those hosts who want to accept reservations this April to add their spaces that meet the security and cleanliness requirements, ” said Terral.

The hosting platform also ensured that it followed the recommendations of the federal government and the Union of Secretaries of Tourism of Mexico (Asetur).

Source: periodicoviaje.com, infobae.com

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