Account Banned - URGENT HELP NEEDED!

[Jessie66]

Hello, 

I am writing this for a friend of mine because she is not able to login to her account. 

She was permanently banned from Airbnb due to a dispute with a guest in which the guest stole money from her and she took appropriate legal action. Airbnb did not make any effort to communicate with her or hear her side of the story before making this decision. They simply sent her a message notifying her that she has been removed from the community, and that the decision is final and they will not consider any further appeals. 

My friend was a Superhost who managed nearly 200 listings and had hundreds of extremely satisfied guests who wrote glowing 5-star reviews. It obviously makes no sense to ban her from Airbnb because of a single dissatisfied guest. 

If anyone has any advice on this, I would be extremely grateful. My friend has two young children and she relies on this business to support her family. She is completely devastated and scared about her future. 

Thank you 🙏

[Sarah977]

@Jessie66  Unfortunately your friend isn't the only longtime host this has happened to. 

She could try making a stink on Airbnb's Twitter account, threaten to take the story to the media, and there was a US host who took them to court for a false guest accusation which resulted in the listing being deleted. She won the court case and her listing was reinstated.

[Jessie66]

Thank you. That's very helpful

[Shayla9]

I thought we couldn't take them to court. Just arbitration.

[Emiel1]

@Jessie66 

Must be something serious going on if Airbnb decides to permanently close an account which is managing

200 listings (but only hundreds of reviews ?)..

[Jessie66]

That's the thing... it wasn't that serious at all. If she broke some rule in the Terms of Service, it should have warranted a slap on the wrist or a warning, not a permanent ban for life!

[Iris503]

sadly, i’ve heard stories about this happening to MANY other hosts. unfortunately, airbnb can close any account at any time for any reason. my brother used to work at airbnb. he told me that the department that handles these cases seems to ban every account that gets sent to them, even for extremely minor transgressions. they are not accountable to any other department and hosts have no recourse. surely airbnb loses millions of dollars per year as a result of banning these perfectly good hosts. i’m so sorry this happened to you! i will ask my brother if there’s anything he recommends.

[Jessie66]

Thank you so much. That would be amazing if your brother has any advice!

[Huma0]

@Catherine-Powell 

As you can see, this is an ongoing problem. When will we hear some response about how this is being dealt with, if it is at all, in the near future?

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@Iris503 wrote:

my brother used to work at airbnb. he told me that the department that handles these cases seems to ban every account that gets sent to them, even for extremely minor transgressions. they are not accountable to any other department and hosts have no recourse.

[Yana692]

Hello Iris503, what advice your brother gave?  I agree with other hosts I’m in exact situation. Been a super host with 5 star reviews only and they disacticated my account due to being associated with someone who isn’t allowed to use Airbnb. I worked so hard & invested ton of money in remodeling just to get a shocking news my business closed down. Unfortunately i find Airbnb brings most of bookings than any other platforms combined. So not sure how that host got more revenue through Booking.com. I am in major US city, advertised there and no good reservations. In the beginning their reservations are without any payment of pre-authorization till host qualifies after few reservations. I had them canceled by guests and I got $0 while I held my property for them. Absurd.

I was wondering if so many hosts worldwide suffered b/c of ancvounts being banned issue why there’s no class action against Airbnb ?? Why no groups boycotting them?? Why we suffer in our corners without doing something about it?? Airbnb mistreated so many of us 

Thanks for reading … 

[Shayla9]

Are you still banned?

[Zheng49]

The safety department right?

Yea...they don't answer to other departments and while they want transparency into the issue at hand, we have no transparency into how they operate. 

For example, one time a guest didn't return the room key after checking out, so I reported it to Airbnb, and the safety team investigated my account for a whole week. What did I do wrong? And at the end they sent me an obviously scripted email that doesn't have anything to do with the matter at hand coupled with a slap on the wrist. Slap on the wrist, for what exactly? 

@Rebecca  @Elisa @Bhumika @Quincy 

The only thing I learned from that exchange is to NOT report such things to Airbnb. 

[Markus243]

What happened @Jessie66  in this story? THey also banned me in Germany now with more than 100 positive reviews and even the guest about the incident was called them and said that im a very good host. THey just ban me because i was angry in a call with the support because of guests who broke the rules but these guests are happy. It is terrible for me.

[Lynn1480]

Airbnb banned me after 10 years, 4000 reviews, 13 listings in 3 major US cities revenue of $500,000 and about $5,000,000 worth of realestate on their site. They do not care.

however, what I did next was just move to booking, I am now receiving much more revenue. If you are in a rural area I feel bad but if you are in a major city close to downtown. Pull your listings from Airbnb until they learn how to treat hosts, they do not deserve our revenue. 

It should be their pleasure to have us hosts to ALLOW AIRBNB to make money off of OUR OWNED PROPERTIES!!! Not the other way around.

cheers to other platforms, down with airbnb! Airbnb would have to pay me to list on their platform!

[Shayla9]

So what platform did you move to?