Punished without recourse -cleanliness complaint - incident counts as a violation of the Host Standards Policy

[Eric122]

Hi,

I have been an AirBnb host Since 2016 and been a Superhost the vast majority of that time. I am booked almost solid, year round.

Guests booked my house for 8 nights. They did self check-in and spent the night. They ate there and left a full trash can with take-out stuff.

The next day I got a letter from AirBnB that guests reported a cleanliness issue upon arrival.

"shared documents of the issue and has consequently left the listing."

AirBnB canceled the reservation,  gave them a full refund and wrote me that the incident counts as a violation of Hosts standards Policy.

AirBnb then listed the cancellation as done by me, the host! That means the calendar stays blocked, I can't be Superhost for a year and other penalties.

AirBnb won't show me or even tell me what the alleged violation was. Claiming it's confidential. 

I was accused, tried and convicted without even being given a chance to try to come to an agreement with guests, offer a discount or re-clean or even see if the guests were totally making the accusations up.

I contacted AirBnB and they said that it cannot be reversed, they will not show me any proof, allow me a chance to defend myself and in fact "I work for them." 

What can I do? Does anyone have a link to the Host Standards Policy where it reads that they can cancel a reservation then say i canceled it?

Do we hosts really work for AirBnB? If so, are we independent contractor or employees?

[Anna8386]

Eric, I am so sorry you went through that. Ugh!

I'm dismayed at all the comments here, especially from the host who's been doing it for 15 years. I've been doing it for 8.5 years, and I just had a guest check in today, and she definitely seems like a scammer to me. She's using nitpicky little excuses to try to get a refund. She said the place "wasn't ready" - OK, I hadn't put pillow cases on pillows yet. And I'd removed the dishes to sanitize them and hadn't brought them back. Please. This is a studio just next to my house, and I would have been happy to bring out dishes right away, but she said not to worry, as she was going to eat out tonight anyway. She went on to say my place isn't clean (not true). I have hundreds of great reviews that mention cleanliness.

She arrived for a month stay. My studio is beautiful, with a brand new mattress, memory foam pillows, and beautiful, charming decor. She's paying $40/night for 2 people! She actually got her mother on the phone and her mother demanded a full refund!

I'm in a great location, 10 minutes from Clearwater Beach. Another host friend of mine said I should charge more and I'll get better people.

But I'm thinking maybe I should leave Airbnb all together, after reading some of the comments here! I can't stand people who try to take advantage of a situation. This is my main livelihood, and I've always bent over backwards to provide a great guest experience.

[Inna22]

@Anna8386  I am sorry, but it is so not ok to not have pillow cases and dishes. You are  either ready for next guest or you are not

[Anna8386]

@Inna22  hotels don't refund a guest 27 of 29 nights when the room is not ready. I know people who work for hotels, one of them on Clearwater Beach, near here. Usually they give the guest a drink coupon, or a restaurant voucher, or at worst, a discount, but NOT almost a total refund of a month-long stay! Nope, not OK! That's what Airbnb did!

[Sarah977]

Your studio is lovely- I really like the unclutteredness- and I agree that you should be charging more than $40/night for 2 people. After you do the cleaning and the laundry and pay for utilities and whatever you supply to guests, what are you making, $30/night? Try upping your price to $60 and see if you get better guests.

I've never been one to say that low prices bring low quality guests, because I have a budget priced listing for my area (private room/bath for 1 guest, with use of kitchen and yard areas) and have had consistently good guests. But the location and nature of my listing are quite different from yours. 

@Anna8386

[Anna8386]

Thank you, Sarah! 

[Sharon1014]

@Eric122   So sorry this happened to you.  The denial of natural justice and your constitutional rights seems par for the course with Airbnb unfortunately.  Other hosts have challenged this at court, Airbnb lost.  Do think this is one of the many mistreatment of host issues the company is going to have to fix.  Take a look at this vid... gotta love that judge!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oIrFlISFC1w

[Dan-Gui0]

I just want to throw my opinion on the matter as I have noticed that this gets the issues resolved at one point, whoever you contacted at Airbnb probably was under pressure/new and tried to resolve the issue as fast as they could... I had my case closed 4 times in a row with the typical copy paste messages with links to their policies even though I mention the policy that the guest broke and had my statements overlooked 4 times in a row even though I asked them to stop closing my case after every single message... don't give up and ask for a senior case manager, eventually you'll get in touch with one and I guarantee that there are good people at Airbnb that are good at their job and look closely at your case, try giving them a call!

the message is kind of late but don't give up!

[Sarah977]

This makes it pretty clear why the first-line CS reps are eager-beaver to close cases.

https://community.withairbnb.com/t5/Hosting/An-article-on-Airbnb-s-outsourcing-of-CS/m-p/1356988#M32...

@Dan-Gui0

[Dan-Gui0]

That was an interesting article, I did not imagine that companies are digressing in such a way.

[Sarah977]

Duplicate post deleted.

[William1246]

@Eric122 You will have to have your lawyer contact them. They will not escalate this matter even though our contract with them as hosts states that we can have dissagreements settled by arbitration. Google AirBnB lawsuit and you will find a number of firms who are making AirBnB accountable, including several which will press your case for you with no cost unless you win the arbitration. In the meantime start doing your own marketing; take some classes, think of other ways to get people in the door without having to rely upon AirBnB to follow their own rules. I've hosted over a hundred thousand guests and if there's one thing that I can rely upon, it is for AirBnB to NOT play fairly when it comes to disputes. They clearly care only about maintaining their reputation with travelers, not with the owners who actually provide them with the bbackbone of their business. You'll have to get a lawyer involved and start finding other ways to market yourself.

[Eric122]

I had a long long reply that this system just "lost" when i hit "reply"

In essence, thank you William, I will do that.

I saw a youtube video where a host took airbnb and the guest  to court and won. Gives me hope.

AirBnb calls me an Independent Contractor yet they have total control of my calendar and give full refunds without my having any say in the matter!

Noteworthy: Airbnb classifies us as Independent contractors... I took an unrelated employer to the labor board to contest the classification and won! ($30K) Turns out you can't sign an agreement to be an independent contractor. It is based on reality not consent. In fact we are employees and the burdens is on AirBnB to prove otherwise.

Imagine hiring at attorney (a true independent contractor) and blocking their calendar! Then giving clients that complain full refunds without the attorneys consent!