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When Alex Dodds started reaching out to local Washington, DC, Airbnb hosts last week asking them to take down their listings and cancel existing reservations ahead of the presidential inauguration, she had hoped the house-sharing company would wave cancellation fines.
Dodds was working on behalf of ShutDownDC, a community organizing group that reached out to the hosts of 3,400 listings, intending to avoid a repeat of violence not only in the Capitol but in the surrounding communities. DC residents reported harassment, vandalism, and other terrifying behavior by aggressive Trump supporters who participated in the storming of the Capitol that resulted in at least five deaths and 100 arrests so far. A number of perpetrators were from out of town and stayed at Airbnbs.