The domicile rental service Airbnb has just announced a partnership with the City of New York and Mayor Bloomberg to connect those displaced by Hurricane Sandy with those who have places to stay available in the area. This takes the form of a new platform that allows people to either offer or discover a home for the time being.
“We’ve been overwhelmed with the kindness and generosity of the Airbnb community in response to Hurricane Sandy,” says Airbnb’s Vivek Wagle. “Airbnb has seen nearly 2500 last-minute bookings for affected areas. That’s more than 4000 guests given shelter. Hundreds of those bookings came from people who live in the affected areas who needed a place to stay.”
Mayor: today @airbnb is announcing a new platform for displaced NYers to find free places to stay: airbnb.com/sandy
— NYC Mayor’s Office (@NYCMayorsOffice) November 7, 2012
The site has fired up a special section that allows those who have been displaced to find a home and those who have a place to offer it. Anyone who wishes to offer a place to stay at no cost to guests can do so by signing up for Airbnb. Those places can be had on the Donated Sandy Relief Housing section of the site, where there are already nearly a hundred places at $0.
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Airbnb is taking no fees from these free listings. Airbnb says that it
is trying to get as many listings as possible and that hosts are still covered by its $1M host guarantee.
Earlier on in the month, Airbnb had waived fees for those looking to offer their homes to displaced folks, and it’s nice to see them following up with an official program. There’s a list of questions and answers for those that need a place or would like to offer a place here.
Image Credit: Peter Macdiarmid/Getty Images
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