Anyone get de listed yesterday.

[Hassan-And-Hussein0]

Hi There,

Did anyone get unlisted Yesterday ?

Some of my flats got delisted last night without any explanation from Airbnb and i have got an email today saying this

Dear Hassan And Hussein ,

We have received your message regarding your account. Our mission is to allow Airbnb guests to connect with hosts who provide local and authentic experiences that make the city a better place to live, work and visit. We routinely carry out initiatives for quality purposes and adherence to this mission. The outcome cannot be changed.

Regards,

Airbnb Team

I Have seen that a lot of hosts in london was getting emails last 2 weeks about being delisted but i can see that no one actually got delisted.

Anyone knows what's going on ?

Thanks Hassan

[Stephanie-And-Steven0]

Can someone please remind me why we're so concerned with preserving the health of major hotel chains? Cause that is one thing I do not understand at all.

Travel is changing. Hospitality is changing. Airbnb can choose to be a leader in that or they can choose to stumble. 

I'm not going to get on a high horse about being a hands-on host, (the angle is not flattering) but I don't think people who provide shared rooms in their home are better or worse than me. Although, full disclosure, I would like to point out, our homeowners association made a rule that we can't have paid guests in our own condo and then several of the board members listed their properties on Airbnb - so I have a certain amount of intolerance for people who say one thing and do another. That is why we bought a second home and began renovations. Our area has a very high demand for unconventional lodgings. With the Howard Johnson's charging $320. a night on some summer weekends, I don't feel the least bit guilty about "cutting into their business" quite the contrary.

The thing is, I think we're buying in to how these arguments are being framed and what Airbnb WAS instead of looking at the situationas it is right now.

Do I need to protect the wealth of shareholders and hotel owners who are already wealthy? No I do not.

Do I have a right to use my property as I choose, provided it falls within the limits of my neighborhood zoning? Yes, I do. That is a fundemental right of ownership.

And Airbnb should be fighting for that principle, not crumbling under the weight of a few rich companies that have the time and the employees to put pressure on local city councils, all the while trying to make it look like the objections are coming from the grass roots.

I cannot support the rights of the people who are being delisted in NYC, and there are a lot of them, because they are renting - they down own the property they lease out. The risk of damage, insurance, etc. is not theirs to take. But I can, and do, support owners in doing what they want with their homes, especially if it means the difference between keeping and losing their home, which it certainly did for us. I had heart surgery 18 months ago. Without our Airbnb property, we would be bankrupt.

I think, because the original Airbnb guys started out as a few young guys in a rental apartment, they have a very weak understanding of what it means to own a home and cannot truly stand up for the rights of those who support their current lifestyle.

I also think that whatever the original version of Airbnb was, it is not that way now. Pretending it ever will be that way again is, frankly, stupid.

If the company continues down this road, I feel fairly certain they will break their business. They've made a lot of mistakes - this "community center" is a good example of one of them, the office design that copies "their favorite hosts" listings, was another. But this is going to make most of the money coming into their business look for another home. 

Some hotels should fail. They should change into something else. They're a product of another age when people traveled in a different way. There's nothing to fear there. That's how life moves forward.

[Monica4]

Hosts with multiple listings have a business. If they are in the tourist business they should be registered as such and pay hotel tax. This tax goes towards promoting the tourist industry in tv ads, flyers, and pays for the the tourist offices, maps, etc. I have no sympathy for those hosts that are in the hospitality industry that do not pay this tax. Also, any legally registered tourist letting property is periodically inspected to ensure cleanliness and safety standards are met.  I agree whole heartedly that Airbnb provides a need for tourist to live like the locals do...in hosts' homes if they wish. But for those Airbnb tycoons that have a big business going on under the legal wires, get licensed as a business and comply with tourist industry laws.

[Stephanie-And-Steven0]

And if they're paying the tax - as many, if not most, do?

Then what? Are you still in favor of protecting hotels and delisting airbnb listings?

[Stephanie-And-Steven0]

We have the health inspector in once a season. He has told us, we're the only BnB in town that does this.

I don't doubt that is the case in most towns. 

I think you assume an awful lot when you assume "businesses" are paying so much more than you are - look into it, most of them aren't paying nearly as much - they're charging more, sure. And they're demanding more support from local governments but they're not giving back any more to the community and their standards, in my experience, are not nearly as high as ours.

[Stephanie-And-Steven0]

Your imagination is running wild if you really believe there's such a thing as an "Airbnb Tycoon."

[Carlos28]

@Stephanie-And-Steven0

Someone in my neck of the woods was running 22 listings.

[Sara2]

Were they delisted?

[Sara2]

@Lizzie I got a lovely box of books too Lizzie with a handwritten thanks from ABB many thanks

[Robin4]

@Stephanie-And-Steven0 .....10 out 10 for that one....could not disagree with a thing you say here  Apart from perhaps the dig about the 'hands on' bit! Cheers....Rob

[Stephanie-And-Steven0]

Sorry Rob, 

I don't think I meant it as a dig but in the old groups, there was a woman who would constantly attack people for not being "true to the spirit of Airbnb" because she rented out her own bedroom in her condo and other hosts rented out a whole apartment.

I stopped using the groups because of her so what you may be peceiving is some residual burn on my part. I apologize. Everyone should be able to do what they want with their own way of doing Airbnb and - maybe this isn't the right place to say it but since we're waiting for two sets of guests to arrive at our house (one will be staying in our upstairs apartment and one will be staying downstairs - we will be staying in the middle during this cold blast rather than decamping to our studio/loft as we usually do) the whole issue of how we differ from hotels is much on my mind.

We've had four star reviews from people who expect better than five star hotel service and we've managed to maintain our Superhost status anyway. It's a ton of work, the apartments are spotless, We jump at their every whim and are they even a tiny bit considerate? Usually - not really. 

Our last guests left every single thing in the apartment on while they went out for the evening and then were baffled that a fuse blew in their absence. What kind of person leaves everything on and then goes out for the evening? Too many times it feels like they're just trying to make sure they maximize our expense out of some weird sense of entitlement.

Anyway,  we had the electrician in yesterday to rewire some of the circuits and make sure everything can take any load they throw at it at any time. Needless to say, we won't be making any profit this month.

Two thirdsof our guests act like spoiled children and that's partly because I've spoiled them. We are going to start reining them in because if we don't train them to behave like better guests who will? I expect Airbnb to support us in doing that, just as when I am a traveler I expect Airbnb to qualify my hosts before I arrive and discover they've lied about many of the things that are crucially important to us. (they say they have no pets and send the dog out to a friend's house for the night thinking they can fool my allergies, list something as a "real bed" when it's a trundle bed and don't get me started on standards of cleanliness - I expect Airbnb to vet that kind of thing so we can book somewhere to stay with confidence.)

Anyway, I guess the thrust of my point is this: We are not hotels but we are the future of hospitality and it's up to us to shape that future.

And personally, I think we're better than hotels.

[Robin4]

@Stephanie-And-Steven0 @Izzie0  Hey Steph and Steven......you are way better than a hotel, you don't let.....you host! I say that because it comes across in the passion you express in what you say and how you write! And you are right, we each host in a way that suits us.

On a personal level, I have set my cottage up as an image of what I would like to walk into if I was the guest in another city...another country. There are lots of our personal things including items that go back centuries in this family! When I started this 8 months ago a few people said to me..."Don't put anything out there that you aren't prepared to lose!"....

I have never lost a thing, and I don't ever expect to. I just provide the experience that I would like to receive....and I won't deviate from that.

@Izzie0....Yeah, a few posts have said that single listings are disappearing but, from what I am reading here....and there are not many posts that escape me, the only one I have read that comes close is Thomas who hosts four rooms in his apartment in London. He lists them either seperately or as a four bed listing. and Anna and Mark in Barcelona...although I suspect theirs may be caught up in the strongarm government action there, as in Chicago....I can't find any others.....but I will certainly be corrected if there are.

Izzie, That's the only logic I can provide for this current purge. Any company that can turn its back on the 8% of its customers that return 40% of its income must have an incredible amount of turmoul going on within!!! And, outside pressure on the Government hotel regs thing is the only thing I can think of......Maybe @Dave-and-Deb0 can provide more info, Dave has the best mind on things relating to this platform that I have come across.Cheers....Rob

[Maxine0]

@Stephanie-And-Steven0 I agree with much of what you have said - particularly the naivety of the young founders setting up an 'elevated' sofa surfer business based on the shared economy trends - whilst having very little experience of running such a business nor themselves being experienced home owners. Their vision wasn't backed up by the reality of the legislation in place designed to support the safety of guests and the taxable income of the businesses providing paid accomadation.

The part I slightly disagree with is your statement about not caring about hotel and bnb busiesses that you sweepingly state as already wealthy people. That is not the case as many boutique hotel and bnb owners, start with one property and work extremely hard building and maintaining their businesses and have a tonne of legislation to abide by.  Many only have the one property, whilst many  ABB hosts (the 8% you cite) have accumulated a portfolio of properties and are avoiding the same legislation and other expenses the licensed BNB's and boutique hotels have to abide by - including in some locations a 'tourism tax'. Boutique hotelas and bnbs also provide jobs to employees who are anything but wealthy. Those jobs may be threatened if multi-listing property portfolio owners cut into the income of their employers to the point it leads to redundancies. multi-Listing ABB hosts, do not create jobs.

I say this as an ordinary home owner host with just one ABB space within my full-time residence. And where the ABB income supports my ability to continue working on a start-up business pre-funding (no salary) to turn it into a successful business that generates new jobs for others. Just like the ABB founders did.

I am not taking sides - just countering a balance in the debate. I do agree that ABB need to be more trsansparent and at least communicate respectfully with hosts of any type who they have allowed to use the platform and have earned $$ from them.

[Robin4]

@Maxine0 As usual Maxine...your spot on!! Cheers....Rob

[Stephanie-And-Steven0]

I am talking about hotel chains. Not small B & B owners or boutique hotels owners ALL OF WHOM are listed and competing for guests on Airbnb as well as on other platforms not available to Airbnb hosts. At least, that is the case in the U.S.

Marriot, Hilton, etc are the ones lobbying against Airbnb not the small owners. I am a small owner myself, using Airbnb as a way to figure out if we can do this and succeed or if it will, given the competing major corporate forces, with their many, many advantages in the market - wholesale equipment, linens and laundry services being only a few - will drive us out of business and cause us to lose our home.

I have noticed a trend in these discussions, people who rent a room in their home are never sympathetic to people who have apartments they rent out. Okay, I get that the lines are drawn there and there is a group that doesn't like the other group. What I don't get is why you'd be supportive of an action that will, eventually and inevitably, take your ability to rent your room, in your home away from you as well.

The people with multiple listings are just the beginning. If you don't think the big chains are coming for you too?  well, you're just being gullible. I can't help you with that.