Peer-to-peer accommodations leader Airbnb on Sunday set a
goal for its hosts to house as many as 100,000 people in need during the next
five years and established a social-media hashtag #weaccept.
Airbnb also pledged to donate $4 million during the next
four years to the International Rescue Committee.
"We'll start with refugees, disaster survivors, and
relief workers, though we want to accommodate many more types of displaced
people over time," the company said in a post signed by company
co-founders Brian Chesky, Joe Gebbia and Nathan Blecharczyk.
The company provided hosts a link to a page enabling them to
volunteer a home for those in need or suggest a cause in which temporary
housing would be required.
Airbnb further publicized the effort with a television
advertisement during Sunday's Super Bowl broadcast, saying with on-screen
captions that "we all belong," and that "the world is more
beautiful the more you accept."
Airbnb representatives haven't responded to requests from
Travel Weekly for details on whether the company would reimburse hosts for
providing free housing to guests deemed to be most in need of short-term
accommodations.
The company has been
vocal about its opposition to the temporary travel ban President Donald Trump
invoked on Jan. 27 against seven predominantly Muslim countries (that ban has
since been lifted). Chesky on Jan. 28 tweeted that Airbnb would provide "free
housing to refugees and anyone not allowed in the US."