Airbnb locked my dates in an illegal manner

[Tuğkan-Berke0]

Hello, I'm Tuğkan,

I've been a superhost on Airbnb for a long time. I've hosted many guests for both long and short stays. Currently, I have about 250 total reservations, and my rating is 4.96. Some of my properties still have a perfect 5.00 rating. I have always done my best to maintain this rating and be a good host.

I want to get to the point. Local laws in Turkey have changed, and now we need certain documents to offer short-term accommodations. Unfortunately, I cannot obtain these documents, so I can only provide stays longer than 100 days. Therefore, when the law was enacted, I canceled all reservations under 100 days. However, Airbnb locked my availability dates. I have spoken with many Airbnb advisors to unlock the dates. They suggested that I register my property with the government. However, I told them that I would not obtain the document and that I only wanted to offer stays over 100 days, which is my legal right, and that they should unlock my dates. But there has been no progress.

That's why I'm writing here. Please help me exercise my legal rights. This situation is illegal. It states that I can offer stays over 100 days. Airbnb does not require a document number for stays over 100 days. So why are my dates locked? I've been dealing with this issue for months.

house link:
https://www.airbnb.com.tr/rooms/1013676372516605446?guests=1&adults=1&s=67&unique_share_id=9f332b47-...

[Mike-And-Jane0]

@Tuğkan-Berke0 Firstly there is nothing illegal in Airbnb's action. They can do pretty much anything they like as long as they do not discriminate. Secondly the dates are blocked presumably as a penalty to you cancelling reservations and ruining peoples plans. This is a very sensible way for Airbnb to operate if they want to maintain the integrity of the platform.

[Tuğkan-Berke0]

Hello,

First, I would like to point out that if cancellations are caused by the hosts, a penalty may be applied. However, there should be no penalty due to changes in the country's laws. In the case of legal changes, there needs to be integration with the government to protect both the host and the guest.

[Mike-And-Jane0]

@Tuğkan-Berke0 What notice was given of the changes to the law?

[Tuğkan-Berke0]

I was informed that due to changes in the law, I need certain permissions to accept reservations under 100 days, such as a signed letter from all neighbors in the building, a license registration, notary permission, among other requirements. Because one of my neighbors did not provide consent, I couldn't obtain these documents and could only accept reservations of 100 days or more. When I informed Airbnb about this, they canceled the reservations free of charge because I wasn't legally allowed to accept bookings under the new regulations. However, I don't understand why my dates are locked. I would like them to be unlocked.

[Shelley159]

Hi @Tuğkan-Berke0 

As you have seen, it can take a long time to sort out an unusual situation like the one that you have. I agree with @Mike-And-Jane0 that Airbnb is just reacting to the cancelations and doing this within its rights. It's very unfortunate that your business has been hit so hard by the new law. My advice would be to keep contacting customer support at regular intervals and make it clear it is now only for stays over 100 days. However, for such long stays (almost long-term leases) you may also have to look at other ways to find tennants.

[Tuğkan-Berke0]

Hello,

Currently, the system allows me to take only reservations of 100 days or more. However, my dates are almost entirely locked for this year, preventing me from accepting any reservations.

[Mike-And-Jane0]

@Tuğkan-Berke0 your dates will be blocked if you have cancelled reservations over the year that are not more than 100 days apart. So a few cancelled reservations could easily block your entire calendar as it can't fit 100 day stays in-between your cancelled (hence blocked) dates.

[Tuğkan-Berke0]

However, as I mentioned, a free charge was already applied because this issue stemmed from a government-related problem. Despite this, I'm unsure why my dates were locked.

[Tuğkan-Berke0]

As you can see, the message says that there will be no sanctions. However, the dates are locked.

**

@Mike-And-Jane0 @Shelley159 

**[Content removed in line with the Community Center Guidelines- Please note that it is not allowed to share Airbnb investigation and private conversations]

[Shelley159]

Hi @Tuğkan-Berke0 

The screenshot reads that your reservations will be canceled and "your calendar will be blocked". You should send this information to customer support and ask them to unblock the canceled dates due to the unique situation that you are in. As @Mike-And-Jane0 has pointed out, if these dates remain blocked and your minimun stay is set at 100 nights, there will be no nights that guests can book, because the periods between blocked dates are shorter than 100 days.

[Tuğkan-Berke0]

Unfortunately, I talked to about 10 customer representatives. Nobody helps me. If I had been told my dates would be blocked I would not have cancelled. However, they sent me a message that there would be no penalty and locked my dates. I will defend my rights legally through the state. because no one helped. I will reflect my income loss to Airbnb.

[Mike-And-Jane0]

@Tuğkan-Berke0 This Airbnb message contradicts itself in that it says 'the cancellation fee and other consequences will be waived but then says the calendar will be blocked. Weird and you need to challenge customer support on this.

[Tuğkan-Berke0 · Accepted solution]

I solved the problem, thank you for your help