Airbnb has suspended all operations in Russia and Belarus, and also stopped users of the home rental site from both countries from making any bookings, in the company’s latest response to Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine.
The home rental firm, which has almost 100,000 short-term rentals available across both countries according to the market research firm AirDNA, has been vocal in its support of Ukraine.
Brian Chesky, the co-founder and chief executive of Airbnb, who has added the Ukrainian flag to his Twitter profile, tweeted the suspension in a one-line post.
Airbnb is suspending all operations in Russia and Belarus
— Brian Chesky 🇺🇦 (@bchesky) March 4, 2022
The company elaborated on Chesky’s tweet, adding that the ban would extend to Airbnb members of those countries trying to make any bookings on the site.
“This means that we will block calendars from accepting new bookings in both countries until further notice,” said a spokesperson for the company. “We will also restrict users in Belarus and Russia from making new reservations as guests. We certainly hope that as we look to the future, a path to peace is forged.”
A number of companies have pulled their operations and services in Russia since its invasion of Ukraine. These include:
Retailers
- Ikea has temporarily closed all stores and factories in Russia, affecting 15,000 workers. It has shuttered its 17 outlets across Russia but said it would keep its Mega shopping centres open.
- H&M has temporarily suspended all sales in Russia. The firm said that shops in Ukraine had already been closed temporarily “due to the safety of customers and colleagues”.
- JD Sports has ceased all trading in Russia across both its brand websites and wholesale channels, adding that it represented less than 0.05% of annual revenues.
- Mango, the Spanish clothing retailer, said it was temporarily closing its shops and its online sale website in Russia, while it is monitoring “with sadness and concern” the situation in Ukraine.
- Nike has said it is stopping Russian customers from buying online.
- Adidas has suspended its partnership with the Russian Football Union.
- Marks & Spencer has suspended shipments to its Turkish franchisee’s Russian business. Operation ceased last week at its 10 stores in Ukraine, which employs 250 people. It has 48 stores in Russia and 1,200 employees, also via the franchisee.
- Boohoo has halted sales in Russia and closed its Russian trading websites.
- Asos has suspended sales in Russia. It said it was “neither practical nor right to continue to trade in Russia”.
Travel
- Airbnb has suspended all operations in Russia and Belarus. It has also taking bookings from people in both countries.
- Expedia has stopped selling travel in and out of Russia.
Carmakers
- Volkswagen has stopped production of vehicles in Russia “until further notice”. Vehicle exports to Russia have also been stopped "with immediate effect”, it said.
- Toyota halted production at its St Petersburg plant and vehicle imports into the country have also stopped indefinitely.
- General Motors, Jaguar Land Rover and Renault have halted sales and operations in Russia. Mercedes-Benz said it will stop selling cars and vans to Russia, as has Aston Martin. Harley-Davidson has halted motorcycle shipments to Russia.
Drinks industry
- Diageo, the maker of Smirnoff vodka and Guinness has paused exports to Russia and Ukraine.
- Coca-Cola HBC has halted production at its bottling factory in Kyiv and evacuated its employees.
Tech, media and entertainment
- Apple has paused sales in Russia.
- Meta, owner of Facebook, said it had stopped recommending content from Russian state media to all users of Facebook, with Instagram to follow.
- Google has suspended all advertising in Russia after the country’s internet regulator demanded the company stop showing what it considered were adverts displaying false information about Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
- Walt Disney Company is pausing its release of films in Russia.
- Netflix said it has no plans to distribute news, sports and entertainment channels from Russian state media.
Luxury goods companies
- Burberry has halted all shipments of luxury goods to Russia “due to operational challenges".
Manufacturing
- JCB, the British construction equipment maker, said it had paused all operations, including the export of machine and spare parts in the country.
Russia has more than 93,000 listings on Airbnb, and Belarus almost 4,000, according to AirDNA.
On Thursday, Airbnb waived fees for hosts and those booking rentals in Ukraine. It took the decision after members of the public began making bookings in Ukraine with no intention of travelling as a way of providing financial support to residents facing hardship during the invasion.
Ukraine has more than 17,000 active short-term rental listings.
On Monday, Airbnb pledged to offer free housing to 100,000 Ukrainian refugees. The company has said it has received “overwhelming support” for the initiative, with more than 260,000 visitors so far to a dedicated web page where it is possible to sign up to be a host or to donate.
Earlier this week, Chesky said the company was assessing its options regarding its Russian operation. “We don’t have a large business in Russia,” he told CNN. “It is not one of our major markets. [But] we are absolutely revisiting our relationship [about whether] to do business in Russia.”
Last year, Airbnb took bookings for 300m nights across 4 million hosts globally, worth a total of $46.8bn (£35.3bn). The company, which was founded in 2008, was floated in 2020, soaring to a market value of about $100bn.
Airbnb joins a rapidly increasing and extensive list of companies that are severing ties or pausing operations in Russia, including Ikea, the global recruitment company Hays, Apple, Netflix and all the major Hollywood studios, the retailers H&M, Marks & Spencer, Burberry and Boohoo, and car manufacturers including Ford, BMW and Mercedes-Benz.
