Airbnb and HotelTonight guests will be refunded and hosts will be compensated.
Officials and residents in Washington, DC, are on high alert in the days leading up to the presidential inauguration on January 20. A week after the storming of the Capitol by a mob of Trump supporters, law enforcement is bracing for a repeat of events, and local officials are urging residents to stay home for inauguration week. The travel and hospitality industry, as a result, are enacting stricter security measures, even working with security officials to identify guests who might be associated with violent groups. Airbnb is canceling all reservations and halting new bookings in the DC metropolitan area during inauguration week. Travelers will be fully refunded and hosts will be compensated for the amount of the intended stay. The company has previously announced it will ban any guests associated with a hate group, or who have violated certain community policies by engaging in violent or criminal activity. Airbnb is also working with law enforcement to identify any guests that might have been involved in the riots at the Capitol. (Since the Charlottesville, Virginia, riot in 2017, Airbnb has worked to remove accounts or bookings of those associated with white supremacist hate groups and violent rallies.
