Airbnb unable to list a property and caught in endless loop with customer service

[Damien616]

I used to rent an Airbnb in Brooklyn back before local law 18 went into effect. Back then, after the city tried giving me $10,000 in fines, I fought the city and got the fines thrown out in court,  but I decided to unlist the space and get tenants instead of continuing to fight the city. I kept my Airbnb account incase I ever wanted to get registered and start listing again because I had superhost status and I had 166 great reviews. 

Since then I bought land and built a beautiful cabin in Maine where I grew up. I created a listing for this cabin in Maine and tried to publish it. I received a message that it was unable to be published and I needed to contact customer service. Since that message I have been in an endless loop with Airbnb Customer service for almost 6 weeks now. They all think it is in regards to my property in NYC and I get told I need to get a registration number or seek legal advice. When I am able to explain that I am trying to list a property in the state of Maine they dive in for a day or two and tell me I should be able to go ahead and publish it. But when I do I get the same message. The service agent then tells  me they are escalating it to a technical team member or someone higher up the chain. I then get an email from the higher up telling me I need to get a registration number or seek legal advice and they are closing the case. This has been an endless loop. I reply that it is not resolved and I then get a new overseas representative that starts the entire loop over again. It is like I am stuck in some Grecian version of hell. Over and over and over again. Is there anyone at Airbnb who actually supervises customer resolutions??? This is like beating my head against a wall. Having a history of good reviews and being a superhost helps renting space tremendously. I did not want to have to create a new account and start from absolute scrath in order to list a property but I have. If I could get Airbnb to resolve this issue I would go back to my original account in a heartbeat. I have to say that Airbnb customer service is very polite, and very quick in their responses, but ABSOLUTELY HORRIBLE AT ACTUALLY LOOKING AT PROBLEMS AND RESOLVING THEM!!!!! THEIR CUSTOMER SERVICE IS ALL FLUFF WITH ABSOLUTELY NO SUBSTANCE!!!!!!!

[Joan2709]

@Damien616 

Don't assume the issue is related to your previous listing in NY. Airbnb looks at the legal address of the property to determine if there are any registration/licensing requirements to list on the platform. Have you checked the local laws in Maine where the new property is located and determined if there are any registration/licensing requirements? You may actually need to also have a license/registration number for the property in Maine. What city/county in Maine is the property located?

A quick internet search shows several cities in Maine with licensing requirements for STRs:

https://legislature.maine.gov/doc/8864

https://www.proper.insure/regulations/airbnb-laws-maine/

Taxes

You might also want to check if the local city/county imposes an Occupancy Tax that you are required to collect and remit. Airbnb doesn't always collect all the required taxes for you. Looks like they only collect the 9% state sales tax.

Airbnb Occupancy Tax - Maine

https://www.airbnb.com/help/article/2308

Customer Service

The best time to contact CS appears to be after 7pm...you are more likely to get a US-Based agent.

[Damien616]

Thanks Joan,

There are no restrictions in this town in Maine. I opened a new Airbnb account and was able to list the property no problem. Airbnb is supposedly still working on being able to list the property on my original account where I have  9 years of history and superhost status.

The endless loop continuuuuuuuuuuuuuuues.........................................

[Joan2709]

@Damien616 

So your original suspicion was correct!