Airbnb owner wants proof of vaccination

[garlictwist]

OH and I are due to go away on Monday as restrictions ease. We booked an air bnb several weeks ago when Boris announced the road map and all was fine.

Yesterday the owner emailed me to ask me to send her proof of our vaccinations.

We haven't had it. I'm 40, OH is 35 and it hasn't been our turn yet.

When I told her she responded saying she was going to cancel the booking.

We will get a refund but AIBU to be really pissed off! There was no mention of any vaccination requirement when we booked, it's not our faut we haven't been vaccinated and now we have to find a new holiday home with two days to spare.

I haven't had a week off work since 2019 and I'm just fed up.

I absolutely would complain to AirBNB and write her a bad review as well. You booked several weeks ago, nothing about vaccinations was mentioned on the listing, and now with two days to go she suddenly pulls the rug out from under you and you've had to scramble to find somewhere else at short notice.

You can debate whether asking for vaccinated guests is reasonable or discrimination as much as you want, but this specific scenario is dreadful and I wouldn't want her to get away with it. It would be the same as you booking somewhere you can take your dog and two days beforehand being told no pets allowed.

I do think you should complain to AirBnB, just for the sake of everyone else.

The whole world has gone crazy. This idea that your vaccination protects others is just bonkers and has no scientific basis. As of yet nothing has conclusively said that being vaccinated reduces the chances of transmission of covid, it lessens your symptoms, which if anything will drive the asymptomatic spread. So all she needs to worry about is her own vaccine! I'm so intrigued to see where this goes in terms of vaccine passports etc. People are just acting like sheep and only getting their info from the mainstream media, everyone's lost their minds.
And no I dont get information off Facebook- go ahead and read the primary scientific literature surrounding covid and vaccinations. Anyone capable of critical analysis can see quite clearly thay there is no need to be forcing vaccines on young healthy people.

Sounds very dodgy. Few people have been fully vaccinated yet and she must have known there was a good chance you wouldn't have had one .I bet she just wanted to relist at a higher price. I would complain to Airbnb.

I'd be fine with this in the future but it's clearly ridiculous at this point in time as, like you, many adults haven't had the opportunity to have it yet, and only a few are fully vaccinated yet and even part from that, how are you meant to prove it at this point until they issue some kind of certificate? I have had one dose which is recorded centrally by the NHS via my NHS number, but I have no access to or proof of that at the moment. All I have is a sticker, which I could have picked up from anywhere, there were rolls lying around at the vaccination centre I went to and my son has my mum's one which she gave to him - and a card with the vaccination I had and batch number, whcih again you could get anywhere, mine and DH and DS are currently in DH wallet which he leaves lying around with stuff falling out and anyone could pick them up, they don't even have our names on.

She is insisting on proof before the ability to prove is in place which is clearly impossible - I would suspect there is another reason here like she wants to go herself or give it to a relative as, it's impossible for anyone in this country to currently prove they've been vaccinated and no tourists who might be able to are being allowed in.

@DumplingsAndStew fair enough if you are not in England 🤷‍♀️ But your GP records are updated within 48 hours of having the jab, so however you usually access your records (I can also access mine through MyGP on my surgery's webpage) you should still be able to get hold of your vaccination records if you needed them.

Not sure why you needed to be so salty though! Bit uncalled for really.

There is lots of proof now that vaccination lessens risk of transmission and therefore protects other people, not least because you're far less likely to be infected if youve been vaccinated even if exposed.

But that's not what's going on here.

@lindsey2019

The whole world has gone crazy. This idea that your vaccination protects others is just bonkers and has no scientific basis. As of yet nothing has conclusively said that being vaccinated reduces the chances of transmission of covid, it lessens your symptoms, which if anything will drive the asymptomatic spread. So all she needs to worry about is her own vaccine! I'm so intrigued to see where this goes in terms of vaccine passports etc. People are just acting like sheep and only getting their info from the mainstream media, everyone's lost their minds. And no I dont get information off Facebook- go ahead and read the primary scientific literature surrounding covid and vaccinations. Anyone capable of critical analysis can see quite clearly thay there is no need to be forcing vaccines on young healthy people.

Do you realise you've based your opinion on people going crazy on posts by anonymous people on mainstream (social) media??? 😂😂😂

She has the right to ask for such conditions (it's her home) but not at the very last minute: she should have made any such stipulations at the time when you booked. In any case - surely it's only relevant to her if you'd actually be sharing space? Personally, I wouldn't want to stay with a total stranger at close quarters, for what's supposed to be a relaxing holiday, in any case! If you wouldn't be sharing space, then she's going way over the top.

This is one I found on t'interweb.
Not mine. But clearly shows space for name.
Mine is V like this. Do some people have different cards?

[quote YouAreYourBestThing]@DumplingsAndStew fair enough if you are not in England 🤷‍♀️ But your GP records are updated within 48 hours of having the jab, so however you usually access your records (I can also access mine through MyGP on my surgery's webpage) you should still be able to get hold of your vaccination records if you needed them.

Not sure why you needed to be so salty though! Bit uncalled for really. [/quote]
Not sure why you needed to state that anyone who REALLY WANTED proof could access it through an App that only serves a small number of people.

🤷🏼‍♀️

I bet she just wanted to relist at a higher price.

Yes, this had occurred to me too. Or that she wanted to offer it to someone in particular, e.g. to do a favour for a personal friend.

@makingmammaries

Health is a protected characteristic so I think that is likely to count as discrimination and contravene Airbnb’s terms and conditions.

No it isn’t!!!!!

Disability is a protected characteristic...... which does not apply here.

She’ll be penalised by Airbnb for cancelling, whether you complain or not. She’ll lose super host status for a year (if she has it) and the property won’t be available to rent, they will block it for that date.

It'll be so they can let it out at a higher price. The vaccine thing is just an excuse.

We once booked a cottage that was cancelled due to a "leaking washing machine". I'm what it actually was, was that they wanted to charge more than we had paid for it.

I would be pissed off too if she did not cite this as a requirement in her ad. Leave her a filthy review to warn off others.

That's ridiculous! I would complain to Airbnb. We had one booked for last November which we moved several times before pushing it to this November. Host completely understanding and pleasant and then he cancelled without giving a reason. It's not listed currently but I'm expecting it to pop up at a much higher price nearer summer

This is why we shouldn't have vaccine passports. Having a vaccine is completely irrelevant in this situation.

Anyone could knock up one of those cards! Did you not create fake NUS cards as a teenager before they wised up and made them plastic and embossed

Ours are identical but don't have our names. Anyone grabbing one could add their name on top. I could also knock one up in about half an hour on my pc and print out on my home printer on card. I could also easily have snaffled a load of blank ones from the vaccination centre. They are not proof.

I suppose if it shows up on your electronic GP record and you can access it and take a screen shot or print it out that might be more reliable - but is not official at this point and, again, I could very easily electronically alter one to change the name.

Given vaccines will result in the death of younger people who don’t need them, we are moving into disgusting territory

I will not support any business or organisation in the U.K. that does this

Don't be ridiculous. At most it might affect 5 or 6 people and they are very unlikely to die now that a potential issue has been flagged up and highly publicised and there is now a known treatment regime for anyone unlucky enough to experience that particular form of blood clotting. The people that died died because it wasn't picked up early enough and or they had other medical problems, just like people used to die from DVTs after long plane journeys.

@RuleWithAWoodenFoot

This is why we shouldn't have vaccine passports. Having a vaccine is completely irrelevant in this situation.

The suggested passports also include having had a negative test or having had Covid within the last 6 months.

YABU. It’s her house, her rules, and if she wants security of vaccinations then fine. Agree she should state this when booking, and she needs to understand under 50s won’t be vaccinated, and not many would have the second one, but her choice not to have the income

No, I havent. I've based it on seeing friends and family change course from being understabley cautious about such a new vaccination of which no one can possibly know the long term effects- to thinking it is their only way out and anyone who doesn't comply is personally responsible for the any deaths that occur as a result of the disease. The media is disgustingly biased and no one is being encouraged to think for themselves. The amount of people I know who have now been vaccinated and said they just felt they had no choice or didnt want to face their work colleagues and tell them the truth. Even people who have recently had covid and are therefore immune.
Read the primary literature and formulate your own informed opinion- dont rely on the sun/express/daily mail to do it for you.
I wouldn't base any scientific opinion on information from social media, however, if I wanted to gauge peoples opinions, its not an unreasonable place to do so.

YANBU, she should have specified that in the booking requirements!
I'd be pissed off too.
I haven't had a vaccine yet (not because not getting one, but because my age group hasn't been offered it yet)
DH has had his though.
There'll be a lot of people in the same situation.