Airbnb cancels reservations in Russia and Belarus

Airbnb said on Monday that it had canceled all bookings on the shared housing platform in Russia and Belarus. Bookings for stays in both countries from or after April 4 will not be met, the company confirmed to CBS MoneyWatch.

Airbnb announced on March 4 that it had done so suspend all operations in Russia and Belarus after the attack Ukraine. This also means that guests from both nations cannot use the platform to make reservations elsewhere in the world. Guests who had made reservations on March 2, for example, for a June stay in Russia, were then told that their reservations would be respected.

Now the company is reversing course.

“In the following weeks, additional banks and financial institutions from Russia and Belarus have been sanctioned, while many prominent global companies have also joined Airbnb to suspend their business. This has made it unsustainable to allow these previously booked “Sanctions,” said a spokesman for CBS MoneyWatch. “As circumstances in Russia and Belarus have continued to evolve, we have made the decision to cancel existing reservations.”

Russian and Belarusian nationals based outside their home countries can still use the platform. Airbnb added that it will provide more guidance to guests and hosts as the situation evolves.

Hosts based in Russia or Belarus who list their homes on Airbnb may no longer show availability or accept new bookings. According to Airbnb, guests are not allowed to book any property in any country. The search for properties in both countries was unsuccessful.

Airbnb had previously warned service users that it could not process transactions affiliated with certain Russian and Belarusian financial institutions.

Visa and Mastercard said so in March they were blocking services to Russian banks, complying with U.S. sanctions imposed on the nation in the midst of theirs war against Ukraine.

As the war intensified, people turned to Airbnb to book stays in Ukraine without any intention of traveling to the nation, but rather to express their support by putting money in the pocket of the locals.

The rental company also temporarily waived the rates for guests and hosts on bookings in Ukraine, which means that it will not benefit from these bookings. On March 2 and 3, the total gross value of reserves in Ukraine was almost $ 2 million.

More than 600 large corporations have them except Russia since the invasion of Ukraine.