AirBNB threatened to suspend my account **

[Douglas353]

I just received a notice from AirBNB threatening to suspend my account for **.  The AirBNB support person told me **

WHY IS AIRBNB TELLING ME **?   THAT'S NOT RIGHT !

In addition the information on AirBNB's web site about short term stays is WRONG and violate current short term rental laws.  

I have bookings I don't want to lose.  Why would AirBNB suspend my account when I have active bookings? 

Anyone else having the same issue?  How do I contact the AirBNB advocate/liaison person or someone at AirBNB to discuss this issue?

Thank you

**[Content redacted due to its misleading nature]

[Douglas353]

@Sarah977 

NO, what you are saying would be illegal and violate local laws.  The law states people have to book 14 consecutive nights for my property.  Any refund would imply the booking is for less than 14 nights.  The law is people must book for 14 nights, and pay for 14 nights.  What's strange about that?  

[Sarah977]

@Douglas353  Why would a guest book and pay for 14 nights when they only want to stay for 4 nights?

[Douglas353]

For the same reason I have done it with Airbnb hosters, I want to stay there.  I have done this many times.   Are you trying to tell me you have NEVER paid for something you have never used? 

[John5097]

@Douglas353 

"The AirBNB support person told me to violate the law by allowing guests to stay for less than the minimum or lose bookings by imposing a minimum booking."

I think what you are saying is that you can only accept minimum stay of 14 days to remain in compliance with your local STR laws. This would imply that you don't have a STR permit and you can only rent 14 nights or longer. You would simply need to go to your settings and change this to minimum nights to 14. 

Is this what Airbnb suggested you do?

If you are accepting bookings for less than 14 days and then canceling them, your account would be terminated.

There is something you aren't being forthcoming about. Are you requesting more money after they book? Your listing says to message you for shorter stays than 14 nights. 

That's the best I can make of this and I don't expect any clairty from the OP. 

The contact info is in the Help room, how to contact Airbnb.  

[Douglas353]

Legally booking is not the same thing as number of nights stayed.  My property like most others Berkeley can't ever be a str because because they were rented once in past 10 years.  If turn on the 14 night stay then I'm missing out on bookings.  It's some guests are not reading what's on the first line in my listing that's causing the issue.  AND what's on Airnbnb's web site about Berkeley is not illegal. 

[John5097]

@Douglas353 

I read your listing. It says, "message me for reservations 14 days or less" So I'm guessing you had it set to 14 night minimum then were requesting guest to contact you and you would try and book them off platform? Airbnb told you that you can only book on platfrom, and to do that you would need to change the booking settings to what you have now minimum of 2 nights but that violates your STR laws. 

That's the best I can make of it. 

Another option would be for you to create your own website and have a blog where you try and grow your own direct bookings. Airbnb is very strict about the host and guest using the booking process as its designed. 

Not trying to be rude. It was just confusing. Airbnb won't allow off platform bookings.

You would need to change your booking setting to be in compliance with both your municipality and Airbnb policy. 

[Douglas353]

NO!  All of my booking are through Airbnb otherwise I am in violation of the city ordnance and rent control laws.  

You need to read the str and rent control laws.  By law the minimum booking MUST be for 14 consecutive days.  Booking is not the same a stay.  Do you get the difference?  

[Sarah977]

@Douglas353  No Doug, the issue is that any guest would be thoroughly confused by what you are trying to do. Because it's convoluted and bizarre.

If you are not allowed to take bookings for less than 14 days, your minimum stay setting has to match that. Why would a guest book for 14 days, if they only want to stay for 5?

You've had 5 experienced hosts reply to you here, none understanding what you are doing. How could you expect guests to understand? And of course you are going to get requests for less than 14 days if your minimum setting is for less than that.

[Douglas353]

No!  What do you mean that's bizarre.  It's the terms and conditions and legal reequipments for the booking.  Haven't you ever booked a RT flight and only taken a one way trip?  Or booked an Airbnb property for 10 nights and only stayed 7?  I've done this many times. 

Not sure why you say it's confusing.  I've hosted many people who understand and have stayed with me.  I can't control how many nights people stay with me, but I can control the number of nights they book and the cost per night.

You might all be experienced hosts, but how experienced are you with the City of Berkeley's str ordnances, Berkeley's Rent Control laws and City of Berkeley's zooning?  There's only one city on Earth that has all of that.

That is why Airbnb dedicated an ambassador/liaison type of person to us.  I think he was also dealing with San Francisco and maybe Oakland. 

How does one get the info about the City of Berkeley's str/rent control laws on Airbnb's web site updated?   What's up there now is ILLEGAL. 

Experts does Airbnb still have ambassadors? 

[Sarah977]

@Douglas353  It isn't necessary for me to know the exact laws in Berkeley. You have said you are not allowed to take less than 14 day bookings by law. Fine. But what you are trying to do is to try to get around those laws by trying to get guests to book for 14 days, and then, what, refund them for the nights they don't stay? 

Fact: As long as your minimum night setting is less than 14 days, you will continue to get requests for less than 14 days, regardless of what you wrote in your listing description. Lots of guests don't bother to read the decriptions.

Fact: If you insist on doing what you are doing, you will have to keep declining bookings and your listing will get suspended.

[Michelle53]

@Douglas353  I haven't been looking the information up on Airbnb, I've been looking online via a search engine. 

I'm posting from the City of Berkeley site. 

Further to the information I posted earlier, I did see this, which seems to apply to you, since you mention your unit was rented long term after April 1, 2007:-

You cannot use a unit as a short-term rental if it:

• is an accessory dwelling unit that:

• was built after April 1, 2017
• has been used as a long term rental since April 1, 2007
• is a Below Market Rate unit
• has had a no-fault eviction within the last five years

https://www.cityofberkeley.info/str/

So if you can't be an STR, I don't understand how you can be listed on Airbnb.   I don't see how the number of days makes any difference. 

If you're saying 14 booked days = 14 consecutive calendar days, the person pays for 14 days, but only occupies the residence for 5 days, how are you even taking bookings like that ?     Staying for 5 days puts the guest within the maximum allowed stay of 13 days , for which you require a registration. 

[Douglas353]

Read the rest of the City's laws.  Never said I had a str.  Never claimed to be a str.  Take a look at what Airbnb has on their web site and tell me if Airbnb is telling people to break the law.  Airbnb's  support person told me to break the law. 

[Michelle53]

@Douglas353  Well, I'm not a lawyer, and I don't even play one on TV. But what seems clear to me is that the intent of Berkeley's ordinance is twofold.

1. To keep historically long-term rentals on the market for long-term renters

2. To implement requirements for units defined as short-term rentals, listed on the short-term rental platforms, including Airbnb, and conforming to registration requirements and stays no longer than a certain duration. 

I'm not sure anyone here can help you wordsmith and construct a suitable scenario for how to not be a short-term rental while offering stays less than 14 days, via a short-term rental platform. 

[Douglas353]

You are only scrapping the surface of what's going on with Berkeley's housing, rent control laws and the homeless.  Off topic, but you asked.  If I rent my property now to anyone long term rents are 25% below market value.  When the students return to campus in the fall rents will shoot-up 30% or more to pre-covid rates and then some.  IF we rent long term now, it will take 30 years of legal Berkeley Rent Control board rent increases to bring the rents to 2019 pre covid rent levels.  At the same time Berkeley wants landlord like us to take in the homeless and criminals.  Read up on the new rental laws about to go into effect.  And if that's not bad enough.  If we ever decide to sell our property, since it was a rental all of the tenants have first right of refusals to purchase the property with the city offering funding.  Bonus bucks if you can prove you were homeless.  The city has second right of refusal.  The process of selling a property which was once rented could take about a year.  

Fellow Airbnb hosters please don't tell me I'm trying to skirt the law with what Airbnb did to get hosters in Berkeley in this mess in the first place.   I have one small apparent and am trying to survive in the most most expensive area to live in the world. 

[Lisa723]

@Douglas353 I still do not understand the difference you assert exists between a booking and a stay. A guest who books for a certain number of nights is obviously never obligated to sleep at the residence for the entire booking/stay. If your municipality requires a 14-night minimum, you can easily implement a 14-night minimum on Airbnb. Is it that you want to give discounts to people who don't intend to sleep at the space every night? You can of course do that, too.

Your post, and what you want, remain remarkably unclear.