Following Airbnb’s recent announcement of the expansion of its global Frontline Stays initiative in Malaysia, hosts across the country have offered over 1,000 places to stay for healthcare staff and first responders.
Endorsed by the Ministry of Health, Airbnb’s Frontline Stays programme provides COVID-19 frontline responders with safe and convenient places to stay while they carry out their critical work. Hosts in Malaysia who wish to open their homes and be a part of the programme can continue to sign up at airbnb.com/covid19relief.
Malaysia is among the countries launching Frontline Stays in Asia-Pacific, following local programmes announced by Airbnb in Thailand, Philippines, Australia and New Zealand. To date, the global community of Airbnb hosts have offered over 200,000 places to stay for people responding to the pandemic. Airbnb will continue to waive all fees on the first 100,000 stays booked through the programme from all over the world.
Partnering with Homes4Heroes Malaysia
To make the Frontline Stays programme even more accessible to COVID-19 frontline responders in Malaysia, Airbnb is partnering with local grassroots movement Homes4Heroes to match healthcare frontline responders with available stays. The Homes4Heroes movement in Malaysia is led by volunteers and civil society members from NGOs and movements Yayasan Chow Kit, KitaJagaKita, Projek Wawasan Rakyat, UndiRabu and Pulang Mengundi, who have collectively come together to aid medical frontline responders displaced by new and sudden postings due to COVID-19, ensuring that these personnel have comfortable housing and reliable transport.
“We are delighted to partner with Airbnb for the Frontline Stays programme in Malaysia as we uphold a shared mission to help find and provide accommodation to COVID-19 responders,” said Hanna Alkaf, Team Member, kitajagakita.com. “Having a ready supply of clean, safe and conveniently-located homes available and open to frontliner responders in every part of the country will make a great difference. In times like these, it’s good to know that we’re all doing what we can to help each other.”
“The overwhelmingly positive response from our local hosts to our Frontline Stays programme in Malaysia embodies the spirit of Kita Jaga Kita that lives on in our Airbnb community,” says Mike Orgill, General Manager (Southeast Asia, Hong Kong and Taiwan), Airbnb. “We are truly grateful to everyone who has signed up to open their homes to COVID-19 responders during this time of crisis. We’re confident that by working together with Homes4Heroes, the Ministry of Health and our hosts, our collective efforts will help connect Malaysian healthcare workers with a place to stay as they do their lifesaving work.”
Booking a stay
Free and paid stays can be booked by any COVID-19 frontline responder directly on Airbnb, or through local partners in Malaysia, including Homes4Heroes. The frontline responder must have an account and sign up for the Frontline Stays programme at https://www.airbnb.com/covid19relief-guests. Frontline Stays has also been expanded so that individual responders can book directly on the Airbnb platform, allowing hosts to help even more people who are in immediate need. Healthcare professionals, relief workers and first responders seeking a comfortable and convenient place to stay while on duty can now submit their information and accommodation needs here.
Cobnb Malaysia, a professional hospitality company taking care of multiple properties, was one of the first to sign up for the programme, making 50 of their homes available for stays. “This is a difficult time for everyone and coming together to help where we can is the best way forward,” says Glenn Wong, Managing Director, Cobnb Malaysia. “As Malaysians, we pride ourselves on being hospitable and welcoming hosts, and our frontliners deserve all the support we can offer for their incredible selflessness.”
Upholding cleanliness and safety standards
Airbnb is committed to ensuring that all accommodation made available as part of Frontline Stays takes into account robust preventive practices and stringent safety standards. Hosts signing up for the programme have agreed to follow safety protocols developed by leading experts, officials, local and national authorities, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
Following the recent announcement of the Airbnb Enhanced Cleaning Initiative, which includes the first overarching standardized protocol for cleaning and sanitization in the home sharing industry, in May, Airbnb will launch the new Cleaning Protocol, offering enhanced procedures and guidance on how to clean every room in a home. The host Cleaning Protocol will include specific information on COVID-19 prevention, such as the use of personal protective equipment, like masks and gloves for hosts or their cleaners, as well as disinfectants that are approved by regulatory authorities. This effort builds off of Airbnb’s strong historical track record of cleanliness: To date 94 percent of all Airbnb reviews show that guests are satisfied with cleaning, scoring it at 4 or 5 stars after their stays.[1]
If hosts are unable to commit to the Cleaning Protocol, they can alternatively opt into a new feature called Booking Buffer, to create a vacancy period between stays. Hosts can commit to keeping their home empty for a set period in between stays, with no activity other than cleaning. Reservations will be automatically blocked during that time frame, currently set at 72 hours. This option includes the same 24 wait period before entering, and hosts should still observe CDC recommendations and other applicable local guidance.
Supporting our frontline responders
Malaysian hosts interested in participating in Frontline Stays can continue to sign up here. For all Malaysians and guests keen to lend their support outside of opening their homes, Airbnb has launched a donation tool with 100% proceeds to go directly to non-profits helping with COVID-19 relief efforts. To donate, go to airbnb.com/openhomes/covid19relief?donate.
[1] Internal Airbnb data referring to guest reviews on a stay’s cleanliness as of March 31 2020.
