Sarah Carey’s stomach dropped when she received an email from Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis on Jan. 23.
It read that effective immediately, state government workers are not allowed to be reimbursed for purchases through Airbnb, Inc., a company that allows hosts to rent out spare rooms to other users, while on official state business, according to the email.
The email meant the 30-year-old would lose her $1,726 Airbnb payment for her 28-day research trip, which starts Feb. 7, she said.
“I very nearly started crying,” the UF researcher and botany doctoral student said.
DeSantis warned the company on Jan. 15 of the coming sanctions, according to the Tampa Bay Times. The company delisted about 200 homes in the West Bank due to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The company is now under review by the State Board of Administration of Florida after DeSantis deemed the business policy anti-Semitic.
The board will determine at the end of January if Airbnb should be added to the state’s “hit list” of anti-Israeli companies, the Times reported.
There are more than 100 Airbnb listings in Gainesville for work travel that can no longer be used by state government employees coming to work with UF or any other state agency at the moment.
Carey said she believes the sanction could limit future research by preventing work with labs and future conference attendance because of the increased cost in housing through hotels or rental websites that are not Airbnb.
“If they are not as affordable, then we lose valuable research money or have to pay out of pocket,” Carey said.
UF sent faculty another email on Thursday announcing that Airbnb reservations made before the sanction was passed would be allowed. Carey’s money is safe for now. However, any future reservations are still illegal.
DeSantis and Airbnb did not immediately respond to The Alligator’s calls or email requests to comment.
The policy will cause his lab to pay more for housing in the future, Stuart McDaniel, a UF associate biology professor, said.
Airbnb rentals often have kitchens which make it possible for researchers to save time and money on food, McDaniel said. UF allows $36 per day for food during work trips. With a strict allowance, any extra meal fees have to be paid out-of-pocket by employees.
“As far as my lab budget is concerned, there are no benefits to this policy,” he said.
