My listing has been deactivated without warning

[Kristen101]

Yesterday I received an email from Airbnb notifying me that "they will no longer be able to support my account due to violations of there terms of service"

I logged into my account thinking there must have been some type of mistake. When looking at my host page, I see that all of my upcoming reservations have been canceled and I have access to nothing in my account. But my listing is still showing "listed"

I immediately called and emailed. There was no reason given in the email. Once I got through the 20-minute hold, I was told I would have to wait to hear back by email, that there was no notes on the account and it was a different department that handles this type of situation. I waited a couple of hours and called again because the last representative said it would take about an hour for the person to get back to me. I got the same song and dance no information is available, but they would let the person know I had called. 

I woke up today with still no email or phone call and no information listed on my account. I again called in and was told the same thing there is nothing they can tell me. I sent a lengthy email with as much detail as I could. It has now been 27 hours since the email. I have not gotten an email/phone or any explanation as to what has happened or the reason for my listing "no longer being supported"

Just to add insult, I was just given super host status 1 or 2 days ago. How can I go from being a super host to now no longer being able to use their services?

I am a good host with all positive reviews. I have been hosting since September 2016. My rental is a 5-year-old town home. All brand-new furniture. I just spent almost $1000 on adding new decorative additions, painting and new bedding. As well I had scheduled an appointment to have someone come over and take all brand-new photos for my listing.

I am at a loss of understanding what has happened and how to resolve the issue? I am getting no response from Airbnb to my emails or calls. I also feel awful for my guests who were booked and are now left scrambling around to try and find other accommodations.

The worst part of all of this is the lack of information available to me as a host. Or the lack of warning.

I need advice & help

Thanks

Kristen

[Julia1049]

The same situation was happened to me yesterday. I still have a shock. This is unbelievably what stupied people who work in the airbnb office did. 

[Lizzy40]

Same thing happening to me now. And am just short of word. I have almost 600 review and they just delete all my account with no reason than violation which I have no idea about. Is sad

[Michael956]

I think it is cruel of Airbnb to terminate someone like this without any explanation!

[Kristen101]

@Michael956 I could not agree more with you. It is very unfair and not a good way to do business. I did reach out to them on FB and got a responce. It was the same as the email, they could not help me in anyway and to email "Luke" for answers. I just do not understand there reasoning 

[Monica4]

@Kristen101I think I know what happened, if government rules in Nova Scotia are the same as in Quebec. Here in Quebec the CITQ (Quebec Government Tourist Bureau) is cracking down on all illegal establishments. By "illegal" I mean that these are not registered and classified with the tourist bureau, they don't have the required liablity insurance, they don't have a letter of compliance from their municipality, they don't have proof of ownership or a lease agreement authorizing a business of renting out short term, and they don't have classification and inspections. If you read the terms of service you will see that Airbnb states that you must comply with laws in your area. My gut feeling is that someone complained. It could be a competitor that is "legal"...it could be a motel or hotel. Get legal and re-list is the only advice that I can give you.

[Kristen101]

@Monica4 Thank you for your advice. I have looked into that on the off chance it could be the case. But when speaking to different departments and speaking with other hosts here in Halifax. No one knows anything. I am the only host here in Halifax that has been affected. It is a small number of hosts here and because I also own a cleaning company who had contracts for cleaning most of the other ones, it was easy for me to reach out to them. But again thank you for the advice and I might call again just to confirm

[Ruth175]

@Kristen0
Unfortunately, you are not the first and not the last one... https://medium.com/@kellykampen/airbnb-why-did-you-terminate-my-account-an-open-letter-to-airbnb-963...

Just forget Airbnb and use on more friendly platforms.

[Kristen101]

@Ruth Thank you for sharing this. This person did a very good job at laying out the timeline and situation. It is truly disheartening to read his story. It gives me little confidence that my situation will be resolved or that I will get any answers as to why. The more I research and read other people’s accounts of the same situation the more I have a better picture of who this company is. I am not alone, and the emails I have received have been word for word what others have received. That to me is not a good way to communicate with your hosts and supporters.

Sadly, for me other platforms are not giving me the business/bookings I need to stay open. Airbnb was 90% of my bookings and without them I cannot cover the cost of house. I will keep trying but as it stands now I will have to close the business and take the loss.

Thanks again for the link, it helped but again it is very sad and disappointing to see someone like him in the same situation as me, I believe reading that has shown me that their is no hope in trying to win this.

[Andrew595]

Hi Kirsten, I'm sorry to hear about this.  I'm a new Host living in your area.  You mentioned your space is in a townhouse.  Do your HOA rules (if that's what it's called in Halifax; I'm used to calling it them Strata bylaws) limit whether or not you are allowed to rent your place?

[Kristen101]

Hi Andrew,

Yes, I am allowed to rent my townhouse out. I have contacted the city to confirm if this could have been an issue and was told a firm "no". From what I know now, this is just what AIRBNB does for unknown reasons to allot of people. I am confident I have done nothing wrong I just had the bad luck of someone having a bad day and decided to use his power. It is sad and unprofessional. As of now, they will not even return my phone calls/messages or posts on social media, I am being completly ignored on all levels. Nothing I can do but move on.

[Peter618]

This is just frightening, and I think it is best for every host to be prepared to be hit by a random and unfair  account cancellation at all times. This means to save all your listing information, pictures and texts offline and evaluate other listing platforms in time.

[Lionel63]

I am so sorry this happened to you! My spouse and I had our account deactivated last night as guests and we are leaving in 30 hour out of the country, currently with no place to stay and money won't be refunded for up to 15 days. Still hoping for resolution. They have recently emailed us saying they think the email was fake, however I don't understand that bc it was more than an email..our reservations were actually cancelled. We are calling Airbnb in the country where we were going to stay to try to get resolved. Good luck with your situtation. Very frustrating! One way I was able to get some help was after calling 4 times to their help number, I posted on their facebook page and then started responding to others on facebook with similar complaints and we got an email from Airbnb with further instructions in about 20 minutes.

[Jill970]

This is happening to me!!

My listing was deactivated and no one at Airbnb will relist it as it was/is an error on their end that they have confirmed....