Airbnb is closely monitoring official news and guidance about the novel coronavirus outbreak in order to support our community of hosts, guests and employees in China and around the world — we are prioritizing their safety and wellbeing.

As governments and organizations work to contain and mitigate the outbreak, travel and other restrictions have been implemented in several places around the world. To help accommodate these disruptions, we have activated our "extenuating circumstances policy" to offer impacted hosts and guests the option of cancelling eligible reservations without charge. This policy is being updated regularly and observes guidance and recommendations from the World Health Organization and governmental and health authorities. Please find more details here.

Airbnb is also working to help keep people informed and to support governments who are responding to this health emergency. Travelers searching severely impacted areas are alerted by travel advisory banners and are guided to seek official information sources, such as the list offered on our Help Page. When requested by authorities, we also share links to official information sources directly with our host community.

The Coronavirus outbreak is causing travel restrictions and other disruptions that have a direct impact on the travel and tourism sector and beyond. Although nobody can know the extent of the impact that the Coronavirus outbreak may have, we believe that history shows that when global disruptions happen, the travel industry has bounced back in the long run. Most importantly, our focus right now is on how we can best support our stakeholders as they are impacted by this global health challenge, including hosts, guests, employees and the communities in which we operate.

About Airbnb

Airbnb was born in 2007 when two Hosts welcomed three guests to their San Francisco home, and has since grown to over 4 million Hosts who have welcomed over 1.5 billion guest arrivals in almost every country across the globe. Every day, Hosts offer unique stays and experiences that make it possible for guests to connect with communities in a more authentic way.

About Airbnb.org

Airbnb.org is a nonprofit organization dedicated to facilitating temporary stays for people in times of crisis around the world. Airbnb.org operates independently and leverages Airbnb, Inc.'s technology, services, and other resources at no charge to carry out Airbnb.org's charitable purpose. The inspiration for Airbnb.org began in 2012 with a single host named Shell who opened up her home to people impacted by Hurricane Sandy. This sparked a movement and marked the beginning of a program that allows Hosts on Airbnb to provide stays for people in times of need. Since then, the program has evolved to focus on emergency response and to help provide stays to evacuees, relief workers, refugees, asylum seekers, and frontline workers fighting the spread of COVID-19. Since then, Hosts have offered to open up their homes and helped provide accommodations to 100,000 people in times of need. Airbnb.org is a separate and independent entity from Airbnb, Inc. Airbnb, Inc. does not charge service fees for Airbnb.org supported stays on its platform.

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