Help listing in the process of being finalised and taken down by airbnb

[Linda826]

HI Lovely hosts. I am a co host for a lovely couple who are new owners and their account has been suspended before they have had a chance to list their  property!  Airbnb are saying it’s because they’ve had a report that their property doesn’t exist.  They live at the property and have done for many years raising their family there. They don’t understand what’s going on.  The owners driver’s license clearly shows the address she is trying to list. We are listing their granny annex.  The owner has been phoning every day, checking her email hourly, but she can’t speak to anyone who can actually do something. She was told a supervisor would contact her  within 2 days - that was 4 days ago…. I don’t know what to do.  They have spent so much money setting this property up and haven’t had the chance to earn anything back yet.  They were planning to list on Airbnb exclusively, but are now thinking to give up on Airbnb and list with other platforms.  Any advice would be gratefully received.  Between both of us, we have probably been in touch in some shape or form over 20 times and sent through proof of address on bank statements etc. we have done everything we can to proof it is all legitimate but we are being totally ignored. It is very upsetting as until this moment she had no experience of Airbnb and this has left a bitter taste in her mouth.  Can anyone advise please

[Gwen386]

Wow, this is so unnerving. Maybe the owner should consider submitting a copy of the deed to the property. 

[Mark116]

@Linda826  You can try reaching out to Airbnb on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.  At one time, social media issues were responded to more quickly than by using the regular platform messaging or telephone.

Do you have any idea where this 'report' came from?  Are there any local permits or other regulations that perhaps have been overlooked?

If not, I would make a guess that this will  eventually get resolved but it may take weeks.  Airbnb customer service is abysmal, poorly trained and often do not even know the basic policies.  The goal of CS is to get off the phone as quickly as possible without needing to escalate.  So, your goal would then be to have as much documentation/evidence of ownership as possible ready to send to them in the hope someone will reverse the suspension.

Has Airbnb asked for any additional documentation?  If not, that seems weird.

[Kate867]

@Linda826   Over the last few years Airbnb seem to have been gradually rolling out and using their AI for assessing both guests and hosts as to their suitability for using their platform.  The most recent rollout being their summer upgrade which seems to have many issues.  Recently I have seen an increase of posts on social media with Hosts who have been delisted for having non existent properties,  guests being removed from the platform despite stellar reviews etc.  Airbnb also let me down badly recently by allowing an 18 year old local book my entire home and she then went on to have a party even though I request verified government ID and Airbnb are supposed to (under their own policy of under 25 year old booking entire homes) block these from booking.  No AI is perfect, and it could be it has found something erroneous in its busy little investigation.  The family home may have four bedrooms but no mention of an annex, the AI can’t find an annex, and perhaps you are trying to list a one bedroom entire home and the Ai can only find a four bedroom one at that address?

The following link, although not the latest one, may be of some help in explanation.

https://techwireasia.com/2020/01/airbnb-has-built-an-intelligent-system-to-boost-user-experience/

[Linda826]

Thank you so much for your support.  In answer to Mark, it was not even listed so no-one knew about it to report, we were due to list that night.  Currently there are no permits in place for us to have to acquire.  We have sent in under the appeal every bit of document that would prove to some with with a iota of commonsense that the owners own the property and have lived their for years. They have totally ignored us. In fact the only communication that we have with them is when the owner or I ring them up which we do regularly. 

Kate, that absolutely makes sense about glitches in the upgrade. A couple of months ago another property that I co host with was suddenly taken off whilst the guests were in there citing it had been reported it was not a proper listing. It is a superhost, been on five years, has over 200 excellent reviews and at the time, we had guests in. They were sent an email saying they had to leave as their security was taken seriously and they were not safe in the property (airbnb did not say why).  The guests of course had no intention of leaving and wrote back telling them where to go and that they would not leave and wrote a letter of complaint. However they were very upset and did think we had done something dodgy to begin with. 

We don't mention the word annex at all and it has the same address as looks to the world as if it is part of the main house. but you may have a point actually, do you think they go into things that deep. Should we in fact mention an annex do you think, then that would explain how we are renting out an entire house when the family are living there. Very good point, thank you. 

[Mike-And-Jane0]

@Linda826 If we had our time again I would list all our apartments as XXX at The Old Rectory, Radbourne. Once you have listed it is hard to change the address and at present when people get lost in the village not having a well known house name to ask for doesn't help them get found again!

Also is the annex part of the house? If it is then it might be better described as a flat.

[Linda826]

A quick question, do you know how we can get through to someone other than the call centre?

[Mike-And-Jane0]

@Linda826 Airbnb are really good at stopping anyone getting to someone in authority. The simple answer to your question is no. Some say you get a better standard of help if you approach Airbnb on Twitter. This might be worth a try.