total lack of due process in cancelling ALL my Airbnb bookings without warning or explanantion!

[Mimi97]

I have had all current 19 Airbnb bookings cancelled, without warning, notification or explanation. I have been a host for 8 years, with multiple listings, and am 67 years of age. All I received yesterday was the below email from Chandler, with no explanation of what "incident" he was referring to. I answered his questions, also below, and had a half hour conversation with him this morning, in which he still refused to disclose what the "incident" was, due to privacy considerations, and said he would get back to me (which he didn't):

 

 Airbnb Community Support 
Tue, Mar 29, 3:39 PM (1 day ago)
to me
Airbnb Community Support
Chandler, Tue, 29 Mar 2022 04:39:22 GMT

Hi Mimi,

My name’s Chandler from Airbnb’s Safety team. The safety team's role
is to help protect and ensure the safety of the entire Airbnb
community.

I’m getting in touch because we received a report of an incident that
took place during a recent reservation. We value your perspective and
would like to hear any details firsthand from you.

I’ll give you a call on +61 414 540 906 tomorrow, 30/03/22 between 9am
and 9:30am, Sydney timezone If that time doesn’t work for you or if I
should reach you on an alternative phone number, let me know by
replying directly to this message. I’m in the office Sundays to
Thursdays from 7am to 4pm, Sydney timezone. You can reach me directly
by replying to this message.

Alternatively, we could continue our communications via email. Please
answer the following questions:
- Are you aware of any incident that happened during your previous reservations?
- Do you ever enter your listing during reservations?
- Does anyone else on your side interact with guests/handle the property?
- Did you ever go into the bedroom/bathroom/locked room?
- Did you bring anyone with you to the listing?
- Are you aware of any intrusions that took place during one of your
previous reservations?
- Did you directly witness the incident?
- What are you expecting from this investigation?

Until we’ve completed our review, your account access has been
limited, which may require us to cancel some upcoming reservations at
your "dan's room · Waterfront room ensuite bathroom and lovely views".
If this happens, you won’t incur any Host cancellation penalties.

Please respond within the next 72 hours.

I hope to discuss this with you soon.
Chandler

Hi Chandler,

it is fine to call me in the morning. I am very concerned at your
message, as I have no idea what "incident" you are referring to. I
have not been notified of any "incident". However, the guest Rachel,
who is supposed to be staying in dan's room, is a very unusual guest.
You will see that she previously requested a refund of $500 because
she claimed the pool pump was not working, even though she has never
mentioned wanting to use the pool, it has been cold and raining for
many weeks, and we generally close the pool for use from mid-March to
October, as stated in the listing. Please refer to the message thread
for my responses to her. I asked her if she was still staying at our
property, and she never replied. However I went downstairs on Sunday
night and saw the light was on in her room, so assumed she was still
there. We live upstairs in a separate apartment, and I do not go
downstairs every day. My husband Bob goes down to the kitchen every
day to remove recycling and rubbish. Without knowing ANY details of
what is alleged, how am I able to answer you - why are you not
providing details of what is alleged, yet restricting my account
access? I just saw you have also cancelled her reservation, without
even telling me! It does seem to me that Rachel wanted to get a hefty
refund, and is trying different methods hoping they will work - but
please remember, not all guests are truthful! If you look at my
hundreds of reviews, you will not see any reference to problems with
guest interaction - on the contrary, most guests have stated I am
responsive to issues, and communicate well with them - even those who
did not like the accommodation for some reason or other!.

In the meantime, these are the answers to your emailed questions:

- Are you aware of any incident that happened during your previous
reservations? do you mean in dan's room, or ALL my listings going back
years. If the latter, yes, I have been robbed by guests at another
listing - does that count as an "incident"? I really think you should
frame the question better than this!

- Do you ever enter your listing during reservations? no, unless
requested by the guest. In this case, the day Rachel arrived, she
asked me to attend and reclean some areas, and swap a sheet, which I
did

- Does anyone else on your side interact with guests/handle the
property? no, my husband Bob helps with the cleaning. In this case,
Rachel claimed he told her the pool pump was not working. The pump IS
working ( it is only used to pump sea water in and out of the pool)
and Bob denies having that conversation with Rachel. She may have seen
a reference to the pump while trawling through old reviews, however,
as I do recall another guest in a separate listing mistakenly
referring to the pump, as they did not understand how our pool
operates.

- Did you ever go into the bedroom/bathroom/locked room? Only when
Rachel asked me to reclean at the beginning of her stay

- Did you bring anyone with you to the listing? no, what do you mean?

- Are you aware of any intrusions that took place during one of your
previous reservations?  no, what do you mean?

- Did you directly witness the incident? What incident - you have not
disclosed any incident

- What are you expecting from this investigation? I am expecting that
I will be fully informed of: what are the allegations, why was the
reservation cancelled without me being informed, and to be dealt with
in a fair and professional way, where I am given an opportunity to
respond to real questions that make sense! So far it is a long way
from that....

regards
Mimi

Airbnb Community Support <reply@support-email.airbnb.com>	Tue, Mar 29, 3:39 PM (1 day ago)
to me    @Catherine-Powell

[Branka-and-Silvia0]

@Mimi97 

it seems your guest contacted ABB and said someone entered her room. As it is a safety issue ABB suspended your account until they investigate. Everything that happened to you is very common and you are not the only one.

It seems hosts are guilty until proven otherwise which is bad not only for hosts who lose income but also for all other guests whose reservations are canceled. I don't know why Airbnb has this practice bc to me it has no sense.

I hope your listings will be reactivated soon, it can take a few weeks according to other hosts' experiences.

[Mimi97]

wow, I had no idea this was common as it never happened to me before in 8 years of hosting! It is certainly a case of guilty until proven innocent, the opposite of how democracy is supposed to work. But apparently Airbnb is not run democratically at all, nor with any transparency or fairness. And why do they refuse to disclose what the complaint is? The idea that they can cancel the bookings of 19 guests (all at different listings to the one complained about), some who were due to arrive from overseas within a day or two, is bizarre! Why do the innocent guests have no rights, even if Airbnb has already found me guilty, without evidence being presented or any breach of policy being proven, or any disclosure of the offence claimed! In Australia, we call that "justice" system a "kangaroo court". Definition: "an unofficial court held by a group of people in order to try someone regarded, especially without good evidence, as guilty of a crime or misdemeanour". In the USA, it is apparently normal, if you look at the numbers of people who have been exonerated, after being incarcerated for many years. If only some clever people with good morals and understanding would set up an alternative to Airbnb, where hosts and guests were treated with respect, and fair processes, they could do really well, with all the disgruntled hosts and guests who have suffered from poor or no customer service with Airbnb! Thanks for your reply.

[Mimi97]

Here are my most recent interactions with Airbnb, after phoning them to ask that a new person be appointed to deal with my case:

Airbnb: Airbnb Customer Service 

Rachel, Fri, 01 Apr 2022 09:07:51 GMTHello Mimi,

I am sorry for the distress this blocking has caused.
However, please understand our decisions are based on our policies and terms of services.

By opening an Airbnb account, you agreed to abide by our Terms of Service and all other site policies, including the Standards & Expectations.
They help us to both set transparent expectations for our hosts and guests, and to continue to foster a community that’s based on trust.

We hope you understand that these actions are taken to protect the safety of all members of our community and are a necessary part of safety investigations.
However, we understand they may not work for everyone all of the time. If you want to deactivate your account, our Help Center has further info:

airbnb.com/help/article/240

Additionally, if your legal team would like to contact us regarding a leg...

Airbnb Community Support <reply@support-email.airbnb.com>	8:07 PM (1 hour ago)
to me                     Hi Rachel,   I totally reject what you have stated here. No-one in Airbnb has disclosed how I have breached any of your policies despite my repeated requests to do so, so why do you continue to remind me of your policies, instead of indicating how I have breached them? Likewise, you have not indicated where any policy indicates a justification for cancelling all a host's bookings, without notification or explanation, prior to a proper investigation being concluded. As part of a Western democracy, have you heard of the phrase "innocent until proven guilty"? In this case, I have been charged without disclosure, tried without evidence, and executed prior to judgment. Where is this laid out in any Airbnb policy? Instead of inviting me to leave Airbnb, why don't you attempt to answer my perfectly reasonable questions? At the age of 67, I am not in the habit of quitting anything when I have done nothing wrong, and Airbnb will be no exception, despite my views of your pathetic "customer service" and treatment of guests and hosts, the worst I have ever experienced from any organisation in my life, and so very far from the "transparent expectations" you mention above.    regards Mimi

[Mimi97]

@Catherine-Powell   Catherine Powell, please read all the above, as you haven't yet replied to my previous postings, and you are the Global Head of Hosting, who I thought is supposed to be responsive to hosts and their concerns about total lack of transparency, fairness and due process in Airbnb behaviour towards hosts?

[Branka-and-Silvia0]

@Mimi97 

this is a very bad business practice and it is totally senseless.

They cause so much unnecessary stress not only to the host but also to all his future guests. Besides, both the host and Airbnb are at a financial loss.

[Catherine-Powell]

Hi @Mimi97 ,

I am looking into this now to better understand the experience that you had.

We are working very hard to bring more transparency to the suspension or removal process as I can only imagine how frustrating it must be to not know why it happened.

The team shared that your listing is active and that your concerns have been resolved, but I am going to dig in a bit more to see what happened.

Thank you for sharing here,
Catherine