Airbnb Suspends Its Operations In Russia And Belarus

Airbnb is halting all operations in Russia and Belarus, according to a tweet posted by Chief Executive Officer; Brian Chesky.

Airbnb is suspending all operations in Russia and Belarus

— Brian Chesky 🇺🇦 (@bchesky) March 4, 2022

This includes around 90,000 active short-term rentals across different platforms in Russia and just over 1,800 in Belarus, according to Reuters.

According to an Airbnb spokesperson who spoke to CNBC: “This means that we will block calendars from accepting new bookings in both countries until further notice. We will also restrict users in Belarus and Russia from making new reservations as guests.”

The move may not have a significant impact on Airbnb’s bottom line, particularly as the vast majority of airlines have stopped flying to Russia in recent days.

On Monday, Airbnb said it was going to offer free, temporary housing for up to 100,000 refugees fleeing Ukraine. The company will fund these stays with help from Airbnb hosts and donations to the Airbnb.org Refugee Fund.

Some people are booking Airbnb stays in properties across Ukraine that they don’t intend to stay in just to help hosts in the country.

The movement was started by the Quentin Quarantino Instagram account, which makes memes on Instagram to raise money for charitable causes. The account has over 898,000 followers.

“Yesterday I shared an idea to support Ukraine by booking rooms for rent on Airbnb,” the account’s operator wrote on Twitter Thursday. “24 hours later, 100’s of people are booking Airbnbs in Ukraine as a way to send immediate monetary assistance to people in hard-hit areas. The messages in response from the hosts are so moving.”

Silicon Valley tech firms, whose products are some of the most widely used in the world, is trying to distance itself from Russia. Elsewhere, Apple announced Tuesday that it has halted product sales in Russia, putting pressure on other smartphone makers like Samsung to do the same.