Listing suspension after guest caused a small kitchen fire

[Rachel452]

Hi all, I need some advice if I may.

Firstly, here's the back-story.

I've hosted hundreds, if not thousands of guests for around 8 years with a 4.96 review score. I'm a good host, my house is legally up to spec and I look after my guests.

Roughly 6 weeks ago I was hosting a group in my twin home, but unfortunately they thought it was a good idea to mess around with a gas pipe under the bench behind the oven and caused a small explosion which resulted in damage to my kitchen and minor burns (not requiring hospital admission thank god) to one of the guests who was cooking. Thankfully I was home at the time and my young children were not, so I was able to extinguish the fire in good time resulting in fairly minimal damage.

The resolution centre came to the party and finally paid me out for the damage (minus depreciation I might add), I never heard back from the host liability insurance company which I guess is good news, I was cleared of any wrong-doing by the fire brigade and Work Safe NZ and I am now back up and running, hosting Airbnb guests who booked prior to the fire, along with other guests who've book through different platforms.

Trying to get anyone from customer service to tell me what on earth is going on with my listing and what steps I need to take to get my property re-listed has been like banging my head against a brick wall though. Its honestly shocking how little they care. I just keep getting told "Someone will be in touch very soon". Then when I finally got a senior safety agent, he replied "In order for Airbnb to reconsider this, you’ll need to submit a request to our Appeals Team. To do this, just go to airbnb.com, enter your email and password, then follow the steps".

However, it was a dud link that led me nowhere and he closed the case and the message thread even after I said I still need help, which in turn means I have to start from scratch.

Has anyone been in a similar situation to this and if so, what was the outcome? I'm all but ready to just walk away from Airbnb and focus my energy on different hosting platforms.

Thanks so much in advance 

[Marie8425]

@Rachel452 

My suggestion would be use your script don't deviate arguing why your right.  A Customer Service Employee even if they agree with you just don't  have authority to change a company's decision.

In this case I   would do  all communication in writing ( I like to have a paper trail if needed)

Dear Airbnb Support

Here are copies of my rental being declared safe by **** .   Since the  Government Agencies *** have approved my  business to accept rental reservations at *** Please unsuspend my listing or provide me a formal  Airbnb reason for suspension  so I can  address with the Government Agencies involved ***.

Your first response from support will  try to distract you but your goal is not educating Airbnb Employees but unsuspension.  Just respond with your fact message.  

My experience is I have to send in my   fact message 2 or 3 times but repeatedly not arguing logic just here is the facts I have either accept or provide  me a formal rejection  by Airbnb for a reason  so I can  address.  Has worked for me then usually in only 5 -7 days,, all by themselves they seem to acquire logic and do what makes sense.

[Rachel452]

Thank you Marie, appreciate your reply.
I can't even get to that stage as yet as customer service still haven't provided me with a link or a form to appeal the suspension. I've gone through 7 employees and counting.
I just don't understand why it has to be this hard to get through to anyone for help.

[Rachel452 · Accepted solution]

Update…

It turns out that my listing was never actually suspended so I didn’t end up having to go through the rigmarole of an appeal process.

When one of the many customer service reps I had to deal with finally got me through to a lady called called Nana from the Safety Support Team (she also helped me on the night of the fire) my property was instantly re-listed with an apology. 

[Bhumika]

Hi @Rachel452 , thanks so much for coming back and updating us. So glad to hear it has been resolved ! I've updated your comment as a best answer to your post, so that the members visiting this thread note the update shared by you 🌻