SAN FRANCISCO (AFP) – Thousands of Airbnb customers have booked trip leases in war-battered Ukraine, to not go to however to offer help to native hosts struggling to outlive the Russian invasion.
Over a two-day interval final week, about US$1.9 million (S$2.5 million) was spent on reservations for greater than 61,000 nights in Ukraine, a spokesman for the San Francisco-based firm informed AFP on Tuesday (March 8).
The outpouring of assist got here as Airbnb introduced a suspension of its enterprise in Russia and Belarus, becoming a member of a United States tech freeze-out of Moscow over its invasion of Ukraine.
After reserving their leases on Airbnb, some customers shared on social media the heart-stirring responses they acquired from Ukrainian hosts thanking them for monetary and ethical assist.
One person informed AFP that she and her husband had made reservations within the besieged cities of Kyiv and Kharkiv.
“You have people who are in the middle of an active crisis,” stated Ms Meghan Bamford of Edmonton, Canada.
“If you can get money directly into their accounts, that’s the difference between somebody being forced to stay in somewhere like Kyiv or surrounding communities or potentially being able to get out.”
Ms Bamford and her husband nonetheless donate to reduction organisations, however stated they used Airbnb to shortly get money on to Ukrainians.
Airbnb didn’t begin the marketing campaign, however actively helps it.
Chief government Brian Chesky has taken to Twitter to broadcast messages from customers who’ve stepped as much as assist Ukrainian hosts.
