Email from Airbnb Experiences removing

[Shwetank0]

Got an email from Airbnb Experiences team this morning that they are going to remove my experience since it doesn't meet their standard while this experience has been running for some years.

I don't know the reason of removal and I have already appealed today .

Hoping that Airbnb support will solve the problem and won't remove the experience.

Thanks 

[Alexis575]

Hello Shwetank

I'm in exactly the same spot as you, even worse, a couple of days ago I received the same message saying that 7 of my 8 experiences will be deleted for not meeting the quality standards, but I literally meet them all:

*Feature something that guests can't easily do on their own

*Consider your expertise and unique perspective

*Help guests create meaningful human connections

My experiences have very good reviews and have been operating for years, one of them has 500 reviews with 4.8 rating, another 300 also with 4.8 rating, it just doesn't make sense.

I phoned support and they told me they can't do anything for me because the department that handles that information is another one.

This is absurd.

[Mena5]

Hello Shwetank,

I am on exactly the same boat. I received a message from support saying that my experience, which has raving reviews, meets all the criteria, is an UNIQUE experience and has been operating successfully over 7 years, will be removed by june 20th because i dont meet the criteria. This is absolutely insane. I meet the criteria above and beyond. My experience focuses on off-the-beaten path places, local and family run businesses and creates meaningful connections between guests and locals. 

My experience (Vegan/Veggie street food adventure CDMX https://www.airbnb.com/experiences/137995) is the best selling vegan/veggie food tour in Mexico on Airbnb. My reviews are mostly 5* and I have a rating of 4.83 with 486 reviews. I provide a valuable service by connecting guests with local businesses and family-run projects. 

This experience is also my livelihood and I depend completely on its success and visibility. Not only me, but many local businesses I work with are highly dependable on the availability and bookings of this tour. I am truly surprised that Airbnb, who likes to call itself a responsible company focusing on empowering local economies would be looking into deleting an experience which is completely based off of responsible tourism and the empowerment of meaningful small businesses through travel.

Same as you, I am overwhelmed and shaking with rage, frustration and disappointment.

I sincerely hope this is a glitch or bug because it's absolutely ridiculous.

[Shwetank0]

I think we should ask for a media support or something as this is something bad for us after the COVID 19. 

The business was almost picking up and then suddenly Airbnb doing this.

Our fault that we made ourselves depending on others

[Mena5]

I was actually thinking about reaching out to media and hinting them about what is going on. Airbnb doing this is insulting and ridiculous. Maybe if we all write to the same person we could get some media attention? I don't know.

I am super stressed 😞

[Olivier1497]

same for me: unique experience, 4.96/5 with 195 review and in the top 3 experiences in my city Toulouse. It looks like it's worldwide and with no link to the quality of the experience itself. it is sad to notice the lack of consideration of Airbnb sending the same standard message to everybody...

[Mena5]

I truly hope someone on the experiences team clicked on something and this is just a misunderstanding.

Besides, Airbnb are the ones breaking their terms and conditions as both yours and mine experiences meet all the requirements. 

Did you fill out the appeal form?

[Olivier1497]

I imagine we all filled out the appeal form and I also imagine that nobody won't ever read it: terms and conditions of use says Airbnb can remove any experience for any reason and they only have to notify the host 30 days before cancellation.

Appeal form is just formal and they probably totally don't care since they send to all of us the same automatic irrelevant message.

I hope i'm wrong but unfortunately i dont think so. I also think this way of proceeding as highly unprofessionnal because on a long term period, how would you build any trust or positive image after this?

[Mena5]

The more I read about this situation the more I am inclined to give a tip to media outlets as to what is happening. I am so pissed off and stressed. This makes no sense. I mean, they make money out of our experiences! 

I'm seething.

[Mena5]

Seems to me we are completely disposable to airbnb. 

What really bothers me is that they will take their sweet time to review the so-called appeals and, in the meantime, I will lose bookings from this week until airbnb feels like giving us an answer. They will cancel anything booked after June 20th, which is absolutely inane. I am so angry.

[Quincy]

Hello @Shwetank0, and everyone on this thread. 

Thank you for bringing this to my attention here on the Community Center. 

One of my colleagues has mentioned earlier on another topic that, within the communications you received, you also received a link to appeal the decision (I have read that you have already done this @Shwetank0).

Please complete the appeal process and the Experiences team will review. You have until 5 PM PT on June 16, 2024 to submit your appeal. If your appeal is successful, Airbnb will let you know by June 20, 2024.

Thank you,

Quincy 

[Mena5]

Quincy,

With all due respect, you are all replying the same nonsense. Point of fact is that we should not be having to fill out appeals because our experiences DO MEET THE STANDARDS ESTABLISHED BY AIRBNB. My experience is the best selling vegan/veggie experience on the platform. My reviews are outstanding and I provide a valuable service that connects guests with local businesses. I work with women-run establishments and family-run food stalls. Through my experience, guests learn about the REAL mexico city and they are able to connect with locals. I am a wealth of knowledge and my reviews reflect it.

I should NOT be having to stress out about airbnb arbitrarily taking away my livelyhood because someone decided that our experiences are disposable. It is insulting to imply WE have broken the standards of the platform when airbnb is the one screwing us over.

Your reply is Patronizing and frankly horrendous. 

[Shwetank0]

The voice has been raised in media. Here is the link 

https://www.phocuswire.com/airbnb-removing-dozens-experiences-canceling-future-reservations

[Ng47]

Hi Quincy,

Party Singapore - Pub Crawl / Bar Hopping have already filled

do we need to wait till 20 June for the release? 

we want to be back in Airbnb 

please do not let us go , our review are growing together with you

guide us and teach us what we should do instead of the result 

[Leon-Lee0]

Dear Quincy and all the Amazing Experience Host here, 

I just found out today while updating my experiences listing that my 4.99 Stars with 186 Reviews (https://www.airbnb.com/experiences/1383189) listing will be removed on the 20th of June. 

I did not receive an email or a message from AirBnB, I've followed every guideline given by AirBnB and believe to have made Airbnb a decent amount with this listing and my 2 other 4.9+ stars experiences over the years 

I/We have treated your guests like family at times, giving them the best experiences and memories when they are visiting my country (KL, Malaysia) We have even made friends with some of your guests if this isn't what community is or what Airbnb stands for, I don't know. 

But to treat our experiences host like this by removing experiences without any justification or reasoning or even trying to figure out how best to work with us, you just give a blanket removal for over 5000 experiences is just somewhat unacceptable. 

we are all writing here because we are desperate, and the customer support is showing no support. I didn't even receive an appeal form which I read from the host community 

some of us have our livelihood dependent on this to pay our bills, all we ask for is a bit of transparency, decency, and a way of working together with the host.