Listing Removed Despite New Ownership – Need Help from Airbnb and Fellow Hosts

[Prerak1]

Hi everyone,

I’m reaching out to this community in hopes of getting some support or guidance on a frustrating situation I’m dealing with regarding my Airbnb listing.

My listing, “Oasis Palms: Pet Friendly with Fire Pit & Yard”, was recently flagged and is now scheduled for permanent removal. Airbnb claims it’s a duplicate of a previous listing titled “Palm Springs Right here in Gladstone 4 bed 4 bath”, which had prior issues. However, I’d like to clarify that I’m not affiliated with the previous host or listing in any way.

I purchased this property in December 2024 and have submitted the following documentation to Airbnb through the appeal process:

1 - Signed Purchase Contract

2 - Final Settlement Letter, Invoice, and Statement

3 - Home Insurance Policy in my name.

Despite this, Airbnb decided to uphold the removal. I was told the decision was final, even though I provided strong evidence of a legitimate ownership change and the fact that this is a brand-new listing created by a new host (me).

What’s been most frustrating is that my documents weren’t addressed directly in any of the replies. I was simply told the listing is considered the same place and that it can’t be reinstated. I even asked for clarity or specifics on what else they needed, but received no clear guidance.

As a new host who’s already received 5-star reviews from guests in March, this has been incredibly disheartening. I’ve invested time and resources into creating a welcoming, pet-friendly space for travellers. Now, I’m left feeling unheard and unsupported.

I’m hoping someone from Airbnb’s team can look into this more closely—or if any fellow hosts have been through something similar, I’d be grateful for your advice on how to navigate it.

I completely understand Airbnb’s need to uphold standards and policies, but in this case, I feel a blanket enforcement approach has resulted in an unfair decision.

Thanks in advance for any help or guidance.

Warm regards,
Prerak
Host of Oasis Palms

[Joan2709 · Accepted solution]

@Prerak1 

Unfortunately, Airbnb is using AI to handle duplicate listings and they need a human to make final decisions on these situations. There has been abuse in the past of listings with poor ratings simply starting over with a new listing, so Airbnb deployed the "bots" to catch these. Bots do not have human reasoning, so if the bot sees a duplicate listing when roaming around the platform, it is automatically flagged for removal.

Here is the difficult part. Airbnb needs to ensure that this is not a situation where a previous owner is simply using a "fake" new owner to re-list the property. Not sure how Airbnb can truly know that this was a legit sale of the property to a new owner and not the previous owner using a fake new owner to get around previous poor ratings and reviews. For this reason, I caution investors to consider this when purchasing a property that was previously listing on Airbnb.

Did the previous listing have poor reviews and ratings @Prerak1 ?

[Joelle43]

Hello @Prerak1 @Joan2709 

I can't imagine what you must be going through and unfortunately your plight has become all too common recently but the most frustrating thing I feel is that hosts cannot speak to someone competent about their situation.

 There are hosts who have abused the system by recreating a duplicate listing to get away from the bad reviews and they should be banned, no doubt about that but not all and Airbnb cannot leave such an important decision to a bot.

@Quincy @Rebecca @Bhumika - I'm sure you've noticed the increasing number of legitimate hosts facing arbitrary suspensions/delisting posting on the CC lately?  Is there really only AI handling this? No human involved to double check this decision?  

[Prerak1]

Hi @Joan2709 

Thanks for your response.

I'm not sure about the ratings of the previous listing, but based on Airbnb’s original email flagging my property as a duplicate, it seems there may have been some issues with it.

That said, I’m unclear why this would be relevant. The previous owner has no connection to me—I purchased the property and completed significant upgrades before listing it on Airbnb. Their past listing activities shouldn’t have any bearing on mine.

Since listing the property earlier this month, I’ve had two bookings, both of which gave me 5-star reviews.

[Helen3]

Hi @Prerak1 

You are correct if you've proved you've purchased the property Airbnb should take this into account.

while you try and sort things out I would list on other STR platforms and invest in setting yourself up to take direct bookings (it's never wise to rely on a single marketing channel to promote your STR business)