Got my listing Suspended by Airbnb - 3 years hosting 4.8/50 rating with over 225 reviews

[Koa26]

Hi, 

Tonight while looking our calendars, I realized our listing were suspended. we had NO CONTACT from Airbnb. We tried to contact them on what's going on and there was no transparency or answer on their behalf.  

We believe we had a booking last night at 10:30 pm from a guy that we already had in one of our listing and which ended with hookers and the Police in the listing 4 months ago, we have the instant booking option, and we asked him to directly cancel and that we are not going to host him and we reminded him what he did. We believe he may reported us as we were so mad how these people never learn and keep hurting hosts. We don't see any other reason otherwise. 

We still have 225 reviews, with 80-90% of them are 5 star reviews. How can Airbnb suspend and ignore hosts with such an experience because of 1 stupid guest booking at 10 pm to bring hookers in people house? 

[Hanan-and-Joe0]

Did you ever get any resolution? They did the same thing to us when we reported a guest who had received noise complaints from our neighbors and wasn’t responding. Instead of suspending the guest account, they suspended ours. It makes no sense at all as we are the ones that reported it thinking that we were trying to stay ahead and keep them notified as partners in our business. Wondering how long it took for them to end suspend your account. It’s been five days and we have not even received one word from them

[Koa26]

Make sure you diversify your bookings and don't get stuck with Airbnb suspension and misstratemant in the future. 

[Koa26]

Hi Hanan, it took probably around 7-10 days of intense efforts : Facebook, Twitter, here and calling/messaging to have the suspension removed. But yes, Airbnb will rather give more credit to a guest with 1 review than a superhost with 400 reviews. Since we have changed and went from 100% of our booking through Airbnb to now 65% airbnb and 35% others. 

[Khizar1]

Hi Koa, Just wondering what other platforms you are using? AirBNB also suspended my account due to complaining about a guest who was smoking. 

[Bhumika]

Hey @Hanan-and-Joe0 ,

Please be assured that I have raised this to the related teams as well for further updates. I hope someone reaches out to you soon regarding this.

[Koa26]

we can’t cancel a booking made at 10pm for the same night even with the 3 cancellations and when someone that make you remember bad memories it’s hard to keep in a cool mood. We asked him to not come and stay away of your place and he was just pushing coming. Yes we should have called Airbnb right there and explain but we need to protect our self even if we have to intimidate people that want to hurt us. It’s called self défense. We 237 reviews with 4.8/5 rating and hosting since years. You guys are like Airbnb you are focusing on the one thing and forgetting 99.99% of the great things abs the commitments abs the good reviews. In which world are we living? 

put yourself in people shoes because seems like you have no clue how it feels to have that kind of people that end up bringing the police in our listings.

[Helen744]

@Koa 26 I think what you point out is that we are in no way protected through IB from these types of problems . I put a cut off time of 8 , after which people cannot either book same day or arrive. Also two day plus bookings. People turning up at very late hours are very few and simply not accepted. I think a certain group who used to use cheap hotels or motels as fly by ,spur of the minute bookings need to be avoided. Some are legitimate travellers and that is obvious immediately but many are not.These people exist . Airbnb is not the place for them , so just make what adjustments to your requirements that you can. H

[Helen744]

@Koa26 I believe with Instant book you have three cancellations within the standard 48 hours per year. host discretion because IB can sometimes allow unsavoury people to make unsafe bookings. This does not allow you to say bad things to the person though. A simple cancellation and a note to Airbnb  that your history indicates that this is not a guest you wished to host again . Be persistant and look for a better explanation . Such as you were over your three cancellations ,or you had not marked 'will not host again' or you in fact also had not refunded money. If you do not refund then you could risk suspension or not really suspension but blocking of those days especially if you have been paid even partly for them H

[Koa26]

Because we refused to host a guest that bring hookers and prostitutes into our Airbnbs (not the first time) and that reported us for refusing him and being rude with him. We feel that Airbnb gives more credits to trouble makers and criminals than good host.

[Emiel1]

Your initial post:

https://community.withairbnb.com/t5/Hosting/Got-my-listing-Suspended-by-Airbnb-3-years-hosting-4-8-5...

The increase of "suspended listings" is a concerning matter for all hosts.

[Koa26]

So all we got after 12h, is a safety customer service, that is off now for the next 3 days, calling us and telling us she will get back to us once their investigations have concluded.... and Airbnb twitter account replying to us that the team handling the case will reach out to use ASAP... 

[Mike-And-Jane0]

@Koa26 whilst this guest experience was no doubt horrific I guess this latest suspension. episode  demonstrates that hosts have to remain professional at all times and not treated guests (however bad said guest may be). Lets hope Airbnb listen to your side of the story and you get back up and running soon.

[Koa26]

They called us 2h after the email : we explained them everything. the issue with this guest back in December, they tried hardly to understand if we were involved with the Police back in December. We said we have nothing to do with. This guest brought hookers and ended up arguing with neighbors in the building and Police came and kept the keys. 

This time we totally refuse to host him, we were a bit tuff with him messaging because he reminded us horrible experiences. 

This was their last communication few minutes after ending the call : Thanks for taking the time to speak with me. The safety of our community is one of our top priorities, so we take reports like this seriously. I’ll be back in touch as soon as I can once our investigations have  concluded.

She is off until Saturday. I can't believe our listing will be suspended for at least 3 days or even more because of a trouble maker guest

[Koa26]

I got an email 2h after I realized the suspension last night : 

Hello Koa,

My name’s Leia 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 at **[Phone number hidden due to safety reasons - Community Center Guidelines] on 30 April between 9PM-11PM (GMT-4, Montreal time). 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 Saturday-Wednesday from 9.00PM-5.00AM (GMT-4, Montreal time). You can reach me directly by replying directly to this message.

We take reports like this seriously. Because of this, your account access is limited while we finish our review. While it’s limited, you won’t be able to make new reservations as a guest or receive new reservations as a Host.

We might cancel upcoming reservations as a precaution. 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.

Kind regards,
Leia

[Jessica2953]

I cannot believe how downhill it has gone in terms of hosting.  I am a superhost (which I have learned means absolutely nothing) and my listing is shut down since the 16th of March 2023 when a guest refused to leave my home, things escalated and she shoved me around my kitchen with my daughter there.  She was cited by the local police for harrassment and had to be removed from my home.  There are SO many terrible things she did while here but long story short I reported her of course for violence.  She retaliates, writes a completely false review, which that I was able to get taken down, but she reported me back saying I was drunk at the listing (I don't drink or even have a drop of alcohol here!) and I was violent towards HER, and BAM my account is done.  Do you think they reached out to me about her?  NO - all I have been doing since is defending myself.  I finally was able to get the police report to them yesterday, I had to jump hoops just to get that, and then they tell me they are waiting to hear from a supervisor whether or not my family member can be a "witness" because she is 17 and not on Airbnb.  She saw everything ass it happened.  Police report states she was cited for harrassment.  I still don't have my listing back up.  I am thinking about getting a lawyer because this has happened multiple times: Guest acts badly, they turn things around and LIE their faces off, then my family suffers financially for it.  WTH AIRBNB!!!!!!

[Bhumika]

Hey @Jessica2953,

I am so sorry to hear all this. It seems like a dreadful experience. Please be assured that I have raised this incident to the related teams for further consideration and hope someone reaches out to you soon.

[Mike-And-Jane0]

@Jessica2953 Your situation is dreadful but I do have some sympathy for Airbnb.  If violence is alleged it is very hard for Airbnb to determine the truth from a distance. Perhaps a long track record of Superhost status should count for something. Lets hope @Catherine-Powell has some ideas to sort this out.

[Koa26]

Poor you. Diversify your bookings and don't get stuck with Airbnb suspension in the future, this is what I did and now have almost 50% of my bookings not coming through Airbnb. 

Airbnb will always protect a bad guest with no review over super hosts.

[Laura2592]

@Koa26 I am sorry to hear this.

We are done with ABB after 2 more stays. Its these types of policies that have made that an easy decision. We have been fortunate in that we don't rely on ABB for income but do appreciate it has helped us offset ownership costs. But if I needed it to feed my family I would never put my proverbial eggs in this very mercurial basket.

Its insane that they value the vague idea of "guest safety" so highly they will shutter hosts willy nilly but GUESTS CAN HAVE PARTIES THAT LEAD TO SHOOTINGS and that seems just fine.

[Mary419]

@Koa26 

That is so ridiculous. A lot of suspension reports have come around lately and sometimes hosts can’t even guess why. I wonder what he told them!? Probably claimed you had a camera. That seems to be the one that’s getting all the suspensions. If you do get an email back from Airbnb about it be sure to keep us posted. Post a screen shot if you can. And I’d say if it’s really insulting do indeed post it on Twitter. Not many people really use this community center in comparison with Twitter lol and this stuff needs to be brought to light to be corrected