FOX NEWS - Airbnb users found another way to give back to Ukrainians as the conflict with Russia continues – they're booking stays.Airbnb CEO Brian Chesky tweeted Thursday that users are booking stays in Ukraine that "they don’t intend to stay in" just so they can funnel money directly to hosts whose country has been under attack by Russian forces since last week.
Since the war erupted, Airbnb has temporarily waived all guest and host fees on all bookings in Ukraine. This means that Airbnb is not profiting from any stays in the country.
Instead, all the money spent on bookings will be passed on to the hosts. Chesky's tweet on Thursday was in response to Twitter user @quentin.quarantino who claimed that "100's of people are booking AirBnBs in Ukraine as a way to send immediate monetary assistance to people in hard-hit areas." The Twitter user took a screenshot of messages sent between Ukraine hosts and donors, saying the responses were "moving." Since then, other Twitter users have posted updates that they have been booking stays in Ukraine as "a little gesture to help them." Many of them are attaching the responses from hosts.
Airbnb told FOX Business that the company has also seen an "overwhelming response" of people visiting the company's nonprofit affiliate Airbnb.org, which facilitates temporary stays for people in moments of crisis.