Five Years of Work, Gone Overnight — Why we need Elevate?

[Rae989]

Hello Airbnb families.

My name is Rae, and I’ve been hosting a photography experience on Airbnb for the past five years. Through my lens, I’ve helped families, couples, and friends from all over the world capture precious memories here in Korea. My listing once featured over 130 curated sample photos — each one a reflection of my passion, professionalism, and storytelling.

A month ago, I received a notice from Airbnb about a platform upgrade and was asked to update my experience through Elevate. I completed all the steps: submitting documents, editing my listing, and waiting for approval. The only email I received throughout this process was one a few days ago, saying that my new materials had been “approved.” There was no other explanation or instruction.

Then, everything fell apart.

All of my sample photos were deleted — only one cover photo remained. In a panic, I submitted new ones and reached out to Airbnb to ask for the original images to be restored. But within a day, even the new ones vanished without a trace. I tried uploading again — and again, they disappeared. No explanation. (In the past, if a photo was rejected, there would be an email or message. This time, there was nothing.)

None of the new photos were published. None of the old ones were recovered. My photography experience — which relies heavily on visuals — was left empty. Yet, the listing still appears as “available,” even though guests cannot make a booking. Some who had already booked received strange and unrelated update emails. Support continues to say “we’re working on it,” but I’ve never been told what actually happened.

The most heartbreaking part? Some of those deleted photos I didn’t even have backup copies for. They were gone, just like that. That’s four years of my life — erased.

I’m not here to complain — or maybe I’ve already given up on complaining. I understand that system upgrades can be complex, and I respect the platform’s goals. But what I truly don’t understand is why I — someone who followed the rules and completed the update — am the one being punished. Meanwhile, I have friends who never did the update at all, and their experiences are running perfectly, with new bookings, reviews, and all their content intact.

This isn’t just a bug. This is a matter of respect and trust. I’ve dedicated myself to this experience, sharing stories through photography and welcoming over 500 families from around the world. For four years, everything worked beautifully. But this year? So many issues: missing payouts, broken tools, and endless promises from support that never materialized. I keep hearing, “your case has been escalated to a supervisor” — but I never get a real response. Just silence. Just delays.

In one call with an Airbnb ambassador, I was told my photos were deleted because they may have violated community guidelines. But these were the same photos Airbnb previously approved and published. I even have the original confirmation emails. When I asked what was wrong, they said, “maybe they’re just not match our policy.”  -  What?????? Then what were the last four years? What about all the glowing reviews tied to those very same photos and you guys approved them!

I broke down in tears. I used to be so proud of this work. Through Airbnb, I helped so many families capture joy and beauty — and in return, I received so much love and appreciation. But now, without warning or consent, everything was deleted. And despite endless back-and-forths, nothing has been resolved.

I’m sharing this here in the hopes that someone at Airbnb will hear me — that this platform I trusted will recognize the voice of a longtime host. There are many new hosts here, and I want them to take this as a warning too: does this platform truly see and value the work we put in?

Airbnb support told me they have no senior manager or contact person available to help me. No email. No one to turn to. So I’m leaving my story here, I really hope someone can help me. Please help me!

Thank you for taking the time to read it.

— Rae

[Joan2709 · Accepted solution]

@Rae989 

So sorry this happened to you.

The reason Airbnb is using Elevate is simple - money. They also probably don't have the expertise in house to handle some of the future things they are planning and are looking for a way to outsource them and keep costs down. To be fair, a public company should do that, but only if the outsourced company does it well and of course outsourcing can open up ethical issues depending on what is being outsourced.

I'm not familiar with how Experiences work, but having Elevate in charge of them is not a good sign. Ever since Airbnb turned over Categories to them, there have been nothing but problems and headaches. Listings that clearly should be in certain categories - denied. Listings put in categories they shouldn't and multiple attempts to remove incorrect categories to avoid confusing guests. Proximity callouts to beaches 20mins away when the beach the listing is sitting on is 20 steps from the front door? Not sure if you are aware, but it seems Categories have been scrapped by Airbnb (you can search a category by specific location anymore currently). To me thats a fail - after all the angst Hosts went through to get Elevate/Airbnb to fix the problems. I'm told Airbnb is moving heavily to broaden other "verticals" (addl services and products offered to guests) including Experiences. IMHO, it's not a good sign that Elevate is curating Experiences now when they failed miserably with Categories.

As you admitted, it was a terrible oversight on your part not to keep copies of your photos. The same goes for any text or information on your Listing or Experience - always keep a backup copy.

I truly hope the situation gets resolved for you, but you need to be realistic and come up with a plan if it doesn't. That may mean starting over with the Experience listing, but I believe you would lose all your reviews...sigh. It might also mean "re-inventing" what you do. 

Do let us know how it goes.

[Rae989]

Update:

This morning, I found that my experience had been unpublished… essentially forced into a “paused” status. I didn’t receive any email or notification beforehand, just like before.

I reached out to Airbnb support again, but this time I didn’t make a phone call. I simply left a brief message asking why my experience had been paused. At this point, I understand that Airbnb ambassadors can only handle the basics, and more complex cases require escalation to someone higher. I didn’t want to waste anyone’s time or go in circles again — I just hoped my message would be forwarded to a supervisor or someone who can help me out…

A little while later, I received an urgent email from Airbnb, stating:

“We noticed that you didn’t update your listing by the April 24 deadline. As a result, suggested updates have been made to your listing.”

The email included steps for reactivating my experience.

I’m relieved that my experience is now active again, but unfortunately, the photos are still missing.

What confuses me is that I absolutely did complete the update before the April 24 deadline. I followed every instruction carefully and even received an official “approved” email from Elevate. So why was my experience paused — and why was I told I hadn’t updated it?

I’ve been paying close attention to every message, every email. I truly didn’t miss anything. I didn’t forget to upload any documents. I swear I did everything right.

Maybe this is just a system issue — I honestly don’t know anymore.

For the past three days, my experience has changed unpredictably, and I’ve had no control or clear guidance. No one told me what to do. I couldn’t intervene.

But one thing is clear: the system is still undergoing major updates, and there’s very little we can do right now. All we can do is wait, and let our guests know that we’re trying our best, even if we can’t give them all the answers.

If there’s any new progress, I’ll be sure to update again.

Thank you for reading.

Rae. May 7th