Delisted superhost

[Jane3508]

After five years as superhost I accidentally pressed the pool box because of those new boxes that show up on the screen - I only have a large jacuzzi.  This affected one guest who got a full refund and all other guests that booked during that 2 month period were notified to make a choice.  I only highlight jacuzzi  in main write up and pictures are clear.  Why would I purposefully do that??  I have never had a disappointed guest until now.  They also looked in my account and found in my manual (that no one reads). a pool/hottub please use plastic glasses.

Airbnb do it themselves re babygate.  pool/hottub.  That has been there for years and no one ever expected a pool.  In fact they do use it cold as a dipping pool in warm weather but I would never highlight that as they would arrive expecting a pool.

I have asked twice to be relisted and it is an extremely hard line.  

Oddly they left the two listings for rooms only (when I am in residence) that are same house - same host.

Please does anyone know how to actually speak to the decision maker??  or any advice.  I wll not be able to keep property or beloved staff.

They also cancelled $85,000 USD in bookings.  What a disruption - it defies and business logic or humanity.

Best Jane

[Michael5689]

@Jane3508 Sorry that sucks.  From your description it sounds like an honest mistake that got escalated way out of proportion.  I actually made the same mistake with a "pool" checkbox instead of a "spa bath" checkbox once, but the guest was very understanding and I corrected the immediately once she pointed it out.  In that case she didn't even care about a refund.

What I really don't get from a high level are all these examples of 1st "bad" behavior by valued hosts with a substantial history (after looking through your other reviews that seems to be the case) turning into immediate suspensions and delisting.  I've seen some other cases posted in the Host Circle where after reading through host's previous reviews there clearly were some earlier issues with some hosts that were delisted where I don't have as much sympathy but...in your case this seems like an overly harsh enforcement policy with no perspective applied.

AirBNB really needs to enact some second level approval loop on these complete shutoff of income decisions and provide some viable path to review/contest them.  Once these type of decisions are made it's difficult to turn back from them.

Refunds decisions for smaller items might not require the same level of review, but shutting off a provider completely needs some other flowchart for final decision making.  The logical inconsistency of the full house listing being gone while the individual rooms stay up is...bizarre.  Right now the power balance is way out of whack with some of these poorly trained customer support people.  AirBNB may not even notice it has a problem until it starts impacting their supply stock metrics.

[Jane3508]

Hello Michael

I appreciate your thoughtful and intelligent reply.  
I have to keep trying to find  someone who can listen to all the details of the events and make a sensible decision as this one served no one.

The ramifications that this invisible person has caused are immense.  I believe they actually got annoyed with my upset at that one guests review asked for its removal and how I accidentally altered my listing.

$85,000 in business wiped out and those guests unceremoniously cancelled.  
The house will have to be sold. My beloved staff let go and a complete change in my personal life with financial concerns at 71.

They just eliminated my pension that I managed to create on my own.

Caring about Superhosts and guests in this case just seems to be lip service.

Kind regards

Jane

[Michael5689]

I would say that seems to be a theme I’m noticing that going off on the agent upsets the agent and drives the severity of the outcome.

[Bianca55]

Hi Jane, 

that sounds really harsh but we have had a similar experience where for some reason Free parking suddenly was INCLUDED and paid parking mentioned as well. Very strange. We refunded the guest with extra 10%  but it created a huge issue with this guest who then became very unreasonable. She did not even pay for extra guests and just flatly refused to pay for services etc. She then reported that we take money off the platform which is the direct payment for the parking to the owner. We make not a Penny on it. Dreadful experience.

Some of our homes are only listed on other platforms & are doing very well. So why not list this on another platform instead. It would be sad to see you lose your pension home and for your staff to lose their jobs. 

There are some great management systems to join so you can go over a few platforms. Do your research.
i wish you much success.
Regards

 B

[Jane3508]

Well not at the agent just excited and worried about my superhost status I worked so hard for.  My house manager said that everything became wrong and nasty in the 20 minutes they waited to leave.  I was so blindsided not knowing why they thought there would be a pool.

[Helen744]

. @Jane3508 I agree with Michael5689 this  could happen to anyone.The destruction willy nilly of a hosts 85 000 dollar booking through arbitrary cancellation is a huge alert. This looks like assett stripping by a rep . ARE the reps being directed to strip large listings and send them elsewhere ?This is not a joke . This could have been resolved quickly and easily even if you were alerted to send a message to all future guests alerting them that a pool did not exist and that they could cancel if they wished and then opened up for other bookings . What has happened is that your guest list has been stolen by a rep . Answers need to be given . We are all sitting ducks apparently, those who do well more than those who dont. This is something I have noticed on a smaller scale but your situation is appalling I do not know if those in charge are even aware of these apalling resolutions. No wonder the reps go 'on holiday' or take a'few days off' in the middle of 'case' Here is the answer. This needs immediate investigation by the powers that be.obviously or not so obviously money is changing hands illegally I suspect under cover of Airbnbs , highly trained reps . No highly trained rep makes this type of ruling , only a thief. Brian its time you came back from holiday and had a good look at what is actually going on here H

[Helen744]

Also the guest that gave you this terrible review . Follow up where he /she has gone after you and check out if there is a pattern of destruction or was before you accepted them. H

[Michael5689]

Yeah, that review really sticks out as an obvious outlier. 

If you look back at old reviews of some hosts that have complained on here about getting booted, you can see the antagonism just below the surface of some of those hosts and their bad reactions so I can see how eventually bad things happened to them or in some cases how they made some really bad decisions or reported the wrong sensitive topics to customer support, but this really just looks like a case of a simple mistake and maybe an upset host that sent a customer service rep to go nuclear.

[Jane3508]

Well Yes Michael 

I absolutely agree that guests had a right to be disappointed.  I had to figure out why they thought there would be a pool and I had a new house manager who was also blindsided by their nastiness.  They said my downstairs bedrooms were like servants quarters yet guests stay and provide 5 stars.  I have no issue with this but then they wanted to trash everything.

They went to the $800 night hotel with a pool.

I absolutely could have handled it all better but this is one mess up in a stellar past.   I am human.

That’s why I also don’t always provide accurate review for guests sometimes - there is no upside.

[Helen744]

@

@Jane 3508 I love the place The jacuzzi/spa does look like a pool  but looks lovely. Are you far from the sea ? Female hosts tend to take responsibility for being silly rather than making deliberate deceits I think that you need to realistically look at 'what you say is the destruction of your business' by one bad review as very serious.Fight back and get reinstated asap and go after those who apparently do want to stay in your place in their hundreds. Take your business back . Good Luck H

[Jane3508]

Well people are in control of temperature and so use it to cool of like a dipping pool but I have never promoted a pool as I know the expectations of something bigger would be a problem.  So it is the jacuzzi .I certainly am going to try to have it relisted. 
Thank you for your encouragement.

[Michael5689]

@Jane3508 yeah I agree. You are allowed to be human and make a mistake and suffer some consequences but this seems out of proportion as punishment.  You place is very unique and attractive.  I can see how some guests that desire an $800 a night hotel might not be satisfied with your place but I'm guessing they focused completely on the pool and rooftop photos and didn't pay much attention to the other photos and surprised themselves when they arrived.  I've had that sort of laziness of guests impact a perception on arrival but luckily it hasn't escalated to this ridiculous level it did for you.  Sorry

[Jane3508]

Hi Helen

Thank you for agreeing with how appalling this arbitrary decision was.

It is ruining lives - my loyal staff that are like family and will be debated.  I carried them through Covid because of my responsibility to them.  They need this work.

I don’t understand your concept.  Not sure that is true.

I will say that I have always found it nauseating how many times in a response or on the phone I am told how grateful they are for me being a Superhost.  It is so ingenuous. I have found in the past with a resolution that the host is not backed at all.  6 snuck in guests - why don’t they believe a flawless Superhost??  

I believe I am being punished as I was not disrespectful to agent but was anxious for my Superhost status because of this review I asked them to remove and because I initially didn’t understand how I had a pool listed.

I have had many losses in my life and started from scratch a few times  and when I feel vulnerable I get anxious.  I believe that might be how this got all out of proportion.  So I created my worst fear by being human.

Sigh Jane

[Gillian166]

gosh your place looks wonderful. I can see the dilemma, that's like an oversize jacuzzi, or a small plunge pool. much ado about nothing! guests have eyeballs, they can see the photo and see the size of it. seems like a very harsh punishment.