One of my listing has been removed from Airbnb - so I cannot see previous financial data

[Tibor34]

HEllo,

one of my listing has been removed from Airbnb, due to too many "low" reviews (that is another story itself)

Problem is that it means I have no access to the previous booking data, which is the source of my previous tax payment, of course. 

In case the Tax authorities contact me and ask upon what data I paid my tax, I am not able to show them the raw data. Of course, I made invoices after all guests, but it is , of course, not enough to the authorities, they need to have the source data.

I cannot believe Airbnb is organized in such a way. I am moving away from Airbnb as it is clear they are far from being a long term reliable business partner.

[Joan2709]

@Tibor34 

Well...this is true. Once a listing is removed by Airbnb you won't have access to any information. For this reason, I also advise my Host clients to keep their own records of every reservation on a spreadsheet and either save the reservations as a PDF on their computers or print them out and keep them. 

I'm afraid you'll have to contact Airbnb if you didn't keep your own records and see if they will help you on this. Not sure that is possible though.

[Tibor34]

No matter what you save, tax authorities need the source data.

Airbnb just proved that they do not care about their hosts.

This company is full of idiots. No better word to describe them.

[Joan2709]

@Tibor34 

Copies of the actual reservation details is the source data. Sounds like you didn't save those?

[Helen3]

Unfortunately it sounds like they removed your listing because of low reviews so they didn't see you as a reliable host. @Tibor34  Airbnb does make it clear that  hosts with ratings of 4.6 or below are at risk of having their listings removed (I can see your average is 4.46). They normally give hosts in this situation an opportunity to say how they are planning to address issues leading to poor reviews before they remove the listing.

i know that both Joan and myself both provided you with advice when you first raised the issue of Airbnb suspending one of your listings for poor reviews back in August last year so it's not an issue that just happened to you and you had plenty of time to download the data.

as @Joan2709  mentions hosts do download this data (I do this and put it in an Excel spreadsheet.) It would have been better for you to have downloaded the data when you knew your listing was being removed.

and absolutely if Airbnb isn't working for you there are other listing companies and taking direct bookings.

[Tibor34]

First of all: Airbnb jever defines to guest what the overall rating should be based on. I got 3* overall 4ating and 5* for each specific category from the same guest, for example.

2. No. Try to show whatever excell sheet to a tax authority. They immediately ask you where you got it grom. How can you prove that you did not delete any rows from it?

3. Airbnb never told me that they also erase all past data about my listing. I could take them to court... sure.

4. We have over 10 listings on airbnb. This was the last drop in the cup, we are moving to other platform.

5. Btw. I appealed against the decision to suspend the listing. Customer service first wrote that my appeal was submitted after the 4 day deadline. When I asked where this 4 day deadline is stated, they replied sorry, there is no 4 day deadline. This is their level. Monkies would do a better job after 1 day of training than those "ambassadors".

[Joan2709]

@Tibor34  

Please note my previous post suggested printing the reservation details that Airbnb provides, as well as keeping a  spreadsheet.

The Airbnb reservation detail is from Airbnb and is accepted as "source data" by tax authorities as far as I know as Airbnb generates the reservation detail; not you.

The spreadsheet is just for your reference.

If you didn't keep copies of the Airbnb Reservation details, then no, you don't have any "source data" to refer to.

[Tibor34]

Do you suggest to print it out? Really? I don't know which country you are from but it is not enough to show a "print" to a tax office

[Joan2709]

@Tibor34 

No...most hosts save the Reservation detail as a PDF document.

I am in the US and yes, the PDF document can be used as well as a paper copy during an audit. Perhaps that is not the case where you are?

You could try using your payment records for however you received payments from Airbnb on the suspended account. I believe they contain details that identify them as coming from Airbnb.

[Helen3]

I am sorry you are not familiar with how airbnb reviews work or ground rules for hosts . There is a whole section around suspensions and ground rules for hosts on the Airbnb Help website @Tibor34 

Of course if Airbnb deletes your listing they are going to delete all the data associated  with the listing - why would you think otherwise?

As @Joan2709 mentions you could have saved PDF of the bookings including the booking costs if you knew this is what your tax office may require . 

As a long time management company with twelve listings it really is your responsibility to understand the STR platforms you use to market your STR business . 

I'm not sure why you think using insulting terminology about Airbnb staff helps your case . You need to take responsibility for your lack of actions in this situation to protect your business .

[Tibor34]

"I am sorry you are not familiar with how airbnb reviews work or ground rules for hosts . There is a whole section around suspensions and ground rules for hosts on the Airbnb Help website @Tibor34" - thank you. I am familiar with it. What I stated that hosts are not familar on what the overall review (1-5) should depend on.  I suggest you read my post carefully before you reply.

"Of course if Airbnb deletes your listing they are going to delete all the data associated  with the listing - why would you think otherwise?" - Airbnb needs to store data of past bookings for a long time. One example: the Police finds a dead body with an address and a key in his pocket. It leads them to an Airbnb listing which was terminated a day before. Do you think they fully belive the host in such situation? So no, OF COURSE they should not delete all data.

"As a long time management company with twelve listings it really is your responsibility to understand the STR platforms you use to market your STR business . " - Thank you. I understand how an STR company work. From your reply I think you do not understand how any company should work. 

"'m not sure why you think using insulting terminology about Airbnb staff helps your case . You need to take responsibility for your lack of actions in this situation to protect your business ." - I outlined a few reasons why I used insulting terminology. They put me in audit risk without notice (and no, hard copy or pdf document is not a proof at the age of free pdf editor or photoshop). they also write statements later apologize saying the exact opposite. Or is it part of an STR business?:)