Suspension

[Neil408]

Today I got an email from Airbnb saying that she is from the Airbnb Safety Team and that during one of my past reservations 'the Safety Section of their community guidelines may not have been followed' and 'they were going to limit my account access whist they look into this'. They also said they 'may' cancel future reservations but four hours after sending me the email they still haven't cancelled my future reservations.

I responded politely just saying something along the lines of …..thankyou for email, whether they were able to let me know which reservation it related to and what the exact issue was? I also said I was happy to work with them to resolve this positively for all.

All I can think of is that there was a lady guest about 3 weeks ago that had an issue with my place and that person did leave me a negative review.  They also said they were going to take the issue up with Airbnb (1st negative review in the 110 reviews of my current place). I also left her a negative review as I wasn't happy about their behaviour and they did cause some minor damage (stains to carpets etc, didn't follow house rules). This guest kept pushing for a full refund on Airbnb which I declined.  I eventually blocked her on Airbnb because she was bombarding me with messages. Airbnb contacted me to say she still wanted a full refund – I explained the situation and that as a goodwill gesture to put this to bed I would offer 40% back (about £20 / $30US) and the person from Airbnb just said ‘okay’. From my understanding that was the last of it and I haven’t heard anything more. That was about 10 days ago.

I have been suspended before (mid January 2020 before Covid was a thing) for 7 days - no reason given that time except that one day I couldn’t alter my listing calendar and when I rang Airbnb they said they were looking into it. I never got to the bottom of what ‘it’ was and on the 7th or 8th day or so they just rang me to say my account was no longer suspended and thanked me for being a loyal host etc. At that time I was in the same situation – they said that I was still responsible for future listings but couldn’t take any new bookings etc.

Has anyone else had experience with this or been in a situation like this before? Like I say I do suspect it was to do with the recent negative review I had.

I understand from reading other people’s experiences that sometimes they’ve got banned permanently without explanation, sometimes got a telling off from Airbnb and been allowed to continue to host and sometimes like what happened to me in January 2020 their account is suspended randomly and then reinstated randomly.

[Mike-And-Jane0 · Accepted solution]

@Neil408 I wonder if the two 'unclean' reviews next to each other influenced Airbnb's decision.

I still despair that Airbnb suspend first and investigate later - Why do they do this if cleanliness rather than safety is the issue.

Have a look at this article 

What happens if my listing is suspended or removed under ground rules for Hosts?

 

[Neil408]

Yes you're right that is a point. The first guest I messaged after to enquire what exactly was wrong since they were really lovely during their two day stay, happily chatted to them in the kitchen and they never said a peep about being unhappy about 'x'. I encourage my guests to tell me if there is ever a problem and nothing. When I messaged her afterwards she said 'the milk in the fridge had gone off and there was a green spot in the fridge so I marked you down for cleanliness'. When I politely pointed out she had moved it next to the radiator and turned the fridge off she just said that the fridge was noisy at night and she didn't know turning off the fridge would cause the milk to go off. Some people I do despair. Had I known about this I would have gladly replaced the milk and cleaned the fridge. Communication is everything.

The other guest I had a nightmare of a time with. She found some dust on top of a radiator and concluded that my place wasn't for her. She then promptly left and trudged mud all over my carpets and then the next thing I know she's put in a refund request to Airbnb. I said I couldn't refund her since she didn't give me a chance to put it right and she basically got fairly angry and abusive over Airbnb and said if I didn't refund her she'd leave a bad review. I asked her to pay for the stains on the carpet and she point blank refused and acted very childishly. I left her a bad review in return explaining what had happened and that she had left with no communication and refused to pay for the damage to my carpet (albeit slight) and it only cost me £10 of carpet cleaner but that wasn't the point.

[Sarah977]

@Neil408  I remember your previous post about this guest. My guess is that she reported you for a "privacy" violation, rather than having your listing suspended because of cleanliness reports. Privacy complaints lead to immediate suspension pending an "investigation". 

It's insane, literally, for Airbnb to suspend listings while refusing to inform the host as to why they are being suspended.

About all I can suggest you do is point out to Airbnb all of this guest's poor behavior, her refund demand, and that you did partially refund  her, even though you weren't obligated to do so, but that it appears that wasn't good enough for her and she took revenge by reporting you for something completely bogus. 

Also point out your lengthy review history and your Superhost status.

Then you'll just have to sit back and wait for the suspension to be lifted. I wouldn't unnecessarily worry about being banned at this point.

Your story about a guest not realizing her milk would go bad if she unplugged the fridge is priceless. Some people do seem like they were just dropped here on earth yesterday. Who doesn't know that milk goes bad when unrefrigerated? A 5 year old knows that.

[Brian2245]

I am dealing with my 1st suspension.  I am a SuperHost with 400 excellent reviews but all it takes is a single disgruntled guest to have everything shut down.  

I am so disappointed in the process.  

[Luke8]

i am also dealing with my first suspension. i have no idea what for and I too am a super host.

it says im permanently suspended. I can't get any person from the dept who deals with suspensions to tell me why > im very concerned and don't know who can help

[Tasha651]

Same here. Out of nowhere and without an explanation from AIRBNB. 

[Luke8]

Im in utter shock what is happening.
 I received an airbnb email warning me of a suspension of all three listings with a link to click.

I believed it was a scam as I was a super host. I called airbnb to ask was it a real letter.

They wrote back saying they didn’t send it and to delete it. (I have this in writing).

NOW  because I didn’t reply or take action and did  what Airbnb Instructed me to do.

I am indefinitely suspended without really knowing why or to have any conversation.

there must be 10 airbnb ambassadors who are all lovely and say 1. Im so sorry this has happened

2. I will elevate it  3 Someone will contact you soon.   

Nobody is contacting me. My families income streams are all cut off without any due process.

I will generously reward anyone who can help resolve this. Please is there anyone who can help.

[Sybe]

Hi @Luke8 , I'm so sorry to hear about this. I can imagine it's frustrating especially when you're trying to provide for your family. 

I've sent this over to the team now. As soon as I have an update I'll let you know! 

[Sarah977]

@Sybe  Why don't these endless suspension issues that you kindly ping over to Airbnb tell them that what they are doing is wrong? These are not individual issues, although they affect individuals.

This is a system policy issue that needs to change. Suspending hosts'  accounts simply based on an unproven accusation by a guest is an incredibly discriminating thing to do to hosts.

How can an accusation by a newbie guest be taken to be what is believed over a long-standing 5* host? Why does CS not take 2 minutes to look at a host's listing to see that their cameras are fully disclosed before suspending a host's listings for weeks because some guest reported that there were cameras? 

[Max2406]

Hi Sybe!

Me too please, see below:

Please help ❤️ My listing was suspended without any warning. I noticed it when pulling up my calendar. I have no idea what happened as I am in constant communication with all of my guests and have only 5 star reviews. I've reached out 3 times via phone and about 4 times via messages. It always goes like this: I explain the issue, they are so apologetic and act like they are going to fix it right away. I remain on hold for 20 minutes. They respond with good news, stating that the listing is active. I respond that it is still not and provide screenshots of my blocked calendar and the listing suspension. They then investigate further and tell me it the case is with a specialized team and needs to be escalated. They then tell me someone will reach out the same day, but I have yet to have anyone reach out explaining the suspension and it has been over a week. The conversation ends and I go back to crying. Naturally I take to Google and learn that I am definitely not alone. Any tips appreciated!

[Jenny]

Hey @Max2406 

I am so sorry to hear about this!

I just wanted to let you know that I've passed your details over to the team, explaining about the conflicting information, and about deadlines for a response not being met.  I've asked that someone reviews things and contacts you to clarify the correct situation and give reliable timescales for an update, if they can't resolve things when they get in touch.

Please keep in touch with us and let us know how things go - hopefully you'll hear from someone soon.  

Take care,

Jenny

[Max2406]

I am going to through the same thing now, TWILIGHT ZONE. Questioning sanity, LOL.

 My listing was suspended without any warning. I noticed it when pulling up my calendar. I have no idea what happened as I am in constant communication with all of my guests and have only 5 star reviews. I've reached out 3 times via phone and about 4 times via messages. It always goes like this: I explain the issue, they are so apologetic and act like they are going to fix it right away. I remain on hold for 20 minutes. They respond with good news, stating that the listing is active. I respond that it is still not and provide screenshots of my blocked calendar and the listing suspension. They then investigate further and tell me it the case is with a specialized team and needs to be escalated. They then tell me someone will reach out the same day, but I have yet to have anyone reach out explaining the suspension and it has been over a week. The conversation ends and I go back to crying. 

[Thomas1382]

You just described my life right now... any updates?