It’s going to be hard to find a room in D.C. next week — and the reaction on social media community appears to be divided.
In the wake of the riot at the Capitol in Washington D.C., Airbnb confirmed on Wednesday that it would be canceling all reservations in the area for the week of the inauguration. In addition, the rental platform will also deny any new reservations made in the area.
Airbnb, however, will be refunding customers for their canceled bookings, and reimbursing hosts for the money they would have earned from these now-canceled reservations.
The decision appeared to be mostly met with praise on social media. One user wrote, “As an Airbnb host in Florida, I appreciate Airbnb taking this stand and not making their hosts individually address the issue and subject themselves to potential retaliation. I think they should extend the area to those surrounding the capital, as well. 25 mile perimeter.”
Another Twitter user added, “Big props to Airbnb! We have to start somewhere. Terrorists should not be normalized and allowed to operate as regular Americans, especially when they attempt to overthrow our democracy.”
“My respect for Airbnb restored,” wrote another. “If these terrorists want to storm the capital, let them sleep on the streets.”
Some people, however, appeared to be a bit skeptical that the action would prevent people who planned on committing acts of violence into the city. As one user put it, “Airbnb canceled its reservations. But the truth is these extremists will come, wreak havoc and leave. They will have 10 people sleeping on a floor in one room. I know it.”
Others saw other issues with the cancelations, with one user writing, “This is great; my only concern: if there are people who need a quick place to stay (they need to quarantine; they need to leave an abuser) is there anything they can do in such an emergency?”
One commenter took the move as a bad sign for the upcoming week, writing, “Airbnb went as far as to cancel all rentals this week in the DC area. Going to be a bad week.”
Others saw the humor in the situation, with one user posting, “Think we can tell AirBnB that Biden is getting inaugurated every weekend of the year in New Orleans?”
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Wednesday’s announcement from Airbnb is in line with the company’s stated community standards, Airbnb says. The company had earlier confirmed to Fox News that several bookings were canceled in the days leading up to the riot at the Capitol.
“Our community policies ban domestic terrorist and violent hate group members,” Airbnb wrote in a statement shared with Fox News. “In the days leading up to the terrible incident in Washington, we learned of reservations made by certain members of these groups and canceled those reservations and removed them from our community, and we will continue to take appropriate action.”
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