Owners of Airbnb holiday rentals are being asked to reject bookings to discourage would-be holidaymakers during the coronavirus crisis - but are they following that advice?

With temperatures in Kent expected to soar beyond the 20C mark this weekend, some fear a repeat of scenes in March which saw visitors descending on the county for a day by the sea or in the Garden of England's countryside.

We approached a number of hosts in towns across Kent - some private individuals and others property management firms - to enquire about availability of holiday rentals in Kent to "get away from the city" for the Easter break.

The host of one property in Margate responded in minutes to offer his one-bed apartment for a three-night stay beginning Friday, despite prominent warnings on the Airbnb app for people to "travel only if it's essential". Another property in the town was described as available for "key workers and self-isolators".

A host in Whitstable also replied quickly to encourage a booking. When pressed on the issue of the pandemic, they said guests had still been staying at the property but it was being left empty for three days between bookings for a deep clean.

However other users with listings on the app either did not respond or declined the request for a weekend getaway, pointing to the ongoing coronavirus restrictions.

A search of the popular online short-term letting platform shows hundreds of properties remain listed as available over the four-day weekend, with coastal hotspots such as Whitstable and Broadstairs featured heavily among the available homes.

Whitstable hit the headlines last month when visitors flocking to the seaside town were met with a wave of condemnation from locals.

Tankerton councillor Neil Baker says the expansion of Airbnb has already had an impact on residential areas of the town - and he issued a no-nonsense plea to potential daytrippers to stay away.

"Now is not the time for people to be visiting Whitstable or anywhere else," he said. "At a time when people are dying of Covid-19, I would hope anyone with an Airbnb wouldn't even have to think twice about pulling any listings they have for the immediate future.

"Encouraging people to visit the town is just as bad as those thinking it would be a good idea to visit the town.

"Whitstable will still be here when this is all over - and it will be over - but that moment has not yet come. Unless people have their main residence in Whitstable, not an Airbnb, not a second or third home, then they would be doing everyone a favour by staying away for the duration."

Ben Fitter-Harding, who hosts four Airbnb rentals in Canterbury, acknowledged times are tough for the tourism industry but he has taken the step of cancelling bookings for the foreseeable future. He has made the rooms available for free use by key workers in the city.

He said: "We are closed for new bookings until June, following government advice, and we have had to process a lot of cancellations.

"I do feel the pain of operators who are not getting much in the way of government assistance, and for some hosts who won't get anything I can see the temptation to advertise, but it involves travel and that's against the government guidelines.

"Everyone is feeling the pain, but they do need to shut up shop."

Sandgate is another beachside setting popular on Airbnb, with a search for the village near Folkestone returning 61 rental listings for a three-night stay this coming weekend.

"We're already looking forward to welcoming people back to our beautiful home. This isn't that time. Stay home. Save lives..."

Councillor Tim Prater said he hopes any listings still visible on the site for the forthcoming weekend have been left up by owners who have not been bothered to de-list their properties during the virus crisis.

"This isn’t something I thought I'd ever say, but please don’t come to Sandgate, or indeed Folkestone and Hythe, right now," he said.

"At the right time, we're already looking forward to welcoming people back to our beautiful home. This isn't that time. Stay home. Save lives."

Councillor Karen Chappell-Tay, who represents Headcorn on Maidstone Borough Council said: "Kent is a beautiful county, with lots of wonderful local food producers, not to mention our vineyards, breweries, and even excellent local distilleries, and in normal times, I’d be delighted that people want to visit.

"But these are not normal times and so I would be surprised and disappointed if any local holiday lets are still being offered."

The UK's cheapest Airbnb property, a car in Sheerness on the Isle of Sheppey, is not listed as available for the bank holiday weekend. But it does appear listed as available later in the month.

Airbnb has taken steps to mitigate the impact of the crisis, blocking listings for shared properties and disallowing adverts seeking to exploit the Covid-19 outbreak.

A spokesman for the San Francisco tech giant said: "The government has set out clear guidance on the limited conditions under which necessary travel is permitted and we have taken a number of steps to support these measures, including blocking private room bookings and switching off our 'instant book' function for whole properties.

"Hosts in the UK are also opening their homes to NHS and other healthcare providers as part of a global initiative that has seen more than 100,000 places to stay made available so far."

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