Suspension

[Marcus457]

My account was suspended. I was never notified by Airbnb and I have no idea why. I have called Airbnb and talked to the Superhost team. They told me that they could not tell me why I was suspended. There was a special team handling the case and they would get in touch with me. Four days later and I haven’t heard from them. I have called multiple times. I literally have no idea what is going on or why this has been done. Does anyone know a way to circumvent the gate keepers and talk to someone who has an idea about why this happened. I’ve been an Airbnb host for years and never had a single problem . I am completely clueless but they’re putting me out of business. Any help would be appreciated thanks

[Alli1022]

Hi Marcus, 

Did you manage to get any resolution, i am currently experiencing the same.  I am completely clueless.

Regards, 

Alli

[Mike-And-Jane0]

@Marcus457 often you will never find out what the problem is. You will end up being told not to do whatever it was you did again. This is hard, of course, when they won't tell you what it is you mustn't do. Kafka has nothing on Airbnb.

[Marcus457]

Thanks for the help! This is just really weird. Very much like Kafka.

[Kristin1300]

How long do they suspend the account and why don't they contact me and tell me what is going on? This makes no sense!! 

[Mark116]

It's too bad that Airbnb doesn't hold itself to the same standard it holds hosts to.  We have to respond to any 'travel issue' within ONE HOUR or else the guest might get a full refund and we'll be charged for rehousing them.  Airbnb, on the other hand, gives itself days and weeks to respond, and many,  many times, the self imposed deadlines they give, 'someone will call you back XX' are missed with no repercussions.  Perhaps Airbnb should start fining itself or giving hosts a $50 penalty fee when Airbnb misses it's own deadline.  

[Kristin1300]

How about they give us Super Host 50.00 for each day they suspend us??? 

[Sarah977]

@Marcus457  Airbnb considers hosts guilty until proven innocent. That a host has years of experience and pages of glowing reviews is considered immaterial. A newbie scammer guest who reports a host with some bogus accusation has their report accepted at face value. You are then "arrested" and held in Airbnb jail, without being told what crime you have been charged with.

That they can get away with this dictatorship is astounding.

[Kristin1300]

How can we all STOP Airbnb from doing this?

It would be great if another platform would be created that are on the side of the host and not the scammers. VRBO fees are way too high and therefore I get all of my bookings on Airbnb who has me in the Airbnb jail for no reason

[Anonymous]

@Marcus457  It's a disgrace. I wouldn't be shocked if the actual reason was something totally random - like a recent guest used the word "bomb" in a review (positively) and it triggered the machine to automatically shut you down for violence.  Stuff like that actually happens. A more common reason is that a disgruntled guest reports hidden cameras or discrimination, but your guests all seem perfectly gruntled.

I'm not big on the concept of "Superhost," but if there could be one benefit that would actually matter, it would be the benefit of the doubt when the host is flagged for investigation. A qualified, competent human staffer directly contacting them and getting the full story before a decision is reached that could deeply harm their livelihood. But is there anyone in the boardroom who isn't filthy rich enough to have no concept of how much actual harm these arbitrary actions cause people who aren't drunk on tech money?

[Marcus457]

You would think that they would question any complaint prior to suspending the account. This is going to cost me a weeks worth of revenue. This is fairly significant for me. I appreciate the support from the community members.

[Sarah977]

@Marcus457  Yes, one would think. It's so punitive to hosts and so senseless, that if a guest reports that there were undisclosed surveillance cameras, Airbnb doesn't even take 2 minutes to take a look at the host's listing to see that, in fact, the host fully discloses the cameras. 

Instead, they suspend the host's listing, for who knows how long, destroying the host's livelihood,  pending an "investigation". Only to say, 2 weeks later "We see you do disclose the cameras, so we are lifting the suspension".

[Anonymous]

@Marcus457  The problem is, that would require having an in-house customer service team, rather than relying on a mix of outsourcing and automation. They used to have that, years ago, but they got too big to sustain it. That person you want to bypass the gate-keepers to talk to no longer exists; apparently they all got fired in 2020.

[Michelle53]

@Anonymous    I've been watching how support works across multiple platforms - everything from cable providers to payment processors.   The reality now appears to be that everything is initially handled by AI, and doesn't even get viewed by a human being until much later, and only if one keeps at it. 

If a human being was viewing these issues immediately, outcomes would be far different. Of course one could build a parameter into a bot that redirected  the issue immediately to a human being, if, let's say,  the host is a  3 year Superhost vs a first time guest.

Maybe that's a level too much for the programmers, or the actual human team is just too small.  If it's bot software purchased "off the shelf" from a vendor, there may be no parameter for fine tuning enough to recognize Superhost status.

I read the site "Elliott Advocacy" from time to time, and they do, in fact, have direct contact with human beings in multiple organizations, and issues that were unsurmountable by your average customer can often get resolved almost right away.

One doesn't know, of course, how much Airbnb spent on their bot support system, but, clearly, the dollars were substantial enough, and they are invested in it enough, to absorb and rationalize its failings. 

[Kristin1300]

So true! They are causing financial harm to me and my company, it's not fair! 

[Marcus457]

I do not have any cameras inside my Airbnb’s. I have external cameras for security purposes. But they all cover outdoors. I have nothing inside the Airbnb