Ukraine Airbnbs being booked in effort to get money to residents

theguardian.com:

Members of the public are paying for Airbnb rentals in Ukraine to help get money directly to residents who are facing extreme financial hardship after the Russian invasion.

The home rental platform has already moved to offer free housing to 100,000 Ukranian refugees, but members of the public have come up with a novel way to financially help those who either intend to remain — or are trapped – in the country owing to the conflict.

One couple, who have made a booking for the 3-10 March in Kyiv, turned to Twitter to publicise the initiative.

“Hello Maria, my wife and I have just booked your apartment for one week, but of course we will not be visiting,”said one person in a post to the owner of the property that showed confirmation of the stay. “This is just so you can receive some money.”

Another Twitter user said they had also booked a week’s stay, and encouraged others to share the idea. A third called on Airbnb to drop its fees, which typically range from 3% to 15%, so the Ukrainian hosts receive all the proceeds.

Airbnb, which last year took bookings for 300m nights across 4 million hosts globally worth $46.8bn (£35bn), lists more than 300 properties available to rent across Ukraine.

Brian Chesky, its chief executive and co-founder, said the company would review whether to continue its operations in Russia as a result of Vladimir Putin’s decision to invade Ukraine.

“We don’t have a large