********URGENT ACTION NEEDED***********
Disconnection between City of Toronto and Airbnb
Facebook group members of Toronto Airbnb Host Community are constantly reporting registration cancellation followed by all STR bookings. For last few weeks, members are in fear of losing their STR license for no reason. These are causing financial damage to hosts; guests are losing confidence in Airbnb listings. Overall the situation is damaging Airbnb's reputation.
Can someone (at Airbnb) look into the issue?
Here's a brief of the issue:
Many hosts are reporting that their City of Toronto registration was cancelled followed by all STR bookings cancelled. Some hosts were informed by the city that there was no problem in their registration. Other hosts found unsubstantiated issues.
Many hosts shared their horrible stories in the group page. Some blamed Airbnb others to the city authority. Some also said it could be a system glitch.
Whatever, it needs to be fixed immediately.
Summary of recent Facebook Group conversations:
City of Toronto authority checks registration status and share any discrepancies with Airbnb. Without checking or verification,, Airbnb moves all those listings to long-term rental by cancelling all their STR bookings. Hours after hours sometimes days needed to fix the issue. Some had to take huge financial burden of lost bookings. Some got partial bookings back after fixing the issue.
Expectation:
>> Airbnb needs to setup a system to let the host know before cancelling STR status at least 7 days in advance. Some lost their registrations due to miss-matched information between ID and listing information that could be simple typo even. A good lead time can save everyone's time, money and reputation.
>> Airbnb needs to pay special attention to Toronto hosts for time being as it is happening very frequently.
Lastly:
Those who lost earnings because of so called glitch should be compensated for their money and time. A legal fight may not be a good idea but cannot be ruled out.
Thank you!