Quebec Registration - Airbnb Not Accepting Certificat d'Établissement

[Terre-and-Neige0]

Hi!

I'm at a loss for what to do. I have tried 5 times over 12 days to upload my current registration and Airbnb fails to validate it every time. I have checked with both the Ministère du Tourisme and Camping Quebec but both say we are up to date and our latest certificate was delivered in September 2025 and is valid until October 31st, 2026.

We have tried reaching out, in french and english, to Airbnb for answers, but keep getting the same generic responses, and we are unable to contact the team that validates Quebec certificates in order to ask why ours keeps getting refused.

Lastly, we have bookings coming up in less than a week, and Airbnb won't allow us to cancel the bookings, but won't pay us out until our certification has been approved by their team.... essentially they won't pay us. 

Has anyone had any experiences like this? I'm tired, losing sleep and money with every passing day. Please Help!

[Joan2709]

@Terre-and-Neige0 

Glad you are moving in the right direction at least. 😊

One never knows why procedures change with Airbnb. I did see there was quite a bit of publicity about "fake" or "duplicate" registration numbers in Quebec as some Hosts tried to circumvent the regulations with hefy $100,00 fines.Perhaps Airbnb is required to verify your renewal by matching the registration number with the Camping Québec database now before approving? I'm sure this is the reason for the increase scrutiny of all listings by Airbnb.

Airbnb Could Face $100K Fines - Illegal Listings Quebec

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HaPrh49JaM0

I would suggest you not wait so close to the expiration date next year though.

Thank you for posting here and do let us know when it is resolved and your experience may help other Hosts avoid this situation.

[Terre-and-Neige0]

Thank you Joan.

unfortunately I cannot update my registration earlier as Quebec only issues certificates one month before expiry. Making a host wait a month to resolve an issue, especially when I have provided every possible detail and not trusting, especially when renewing I feel is truly unfortunate. Airbnb may face a fee but the true loser here are the small businesses who rely on the visibility provided by Airbnb and who aren’t able to rent while their verification process completes.

This being said, it will be our final decision as a small business to stay with Airbnb or decide to try a different approach and remove our listing.

Thanks so much for your help.

[Joan2709]

@Terre-and-Neige0 

Totally agree.

You did say you received your renewal mid September and waited until October 17th to submit as you wanted to wait for a lull in bookings? I would not do that in the future to avoid any issues with renewal such as what you experienced. I would suggest renewing as soon as possible. If renewal is 30 days prior then I would renew in September at the earliest date possible. 

It seems part of the delay was you didn't receive the email from Airbnb initially? Was it sent to a spam folder? That also contributed to the issues you were having and the delays. 

The fines being imposed by Quebec would be on any short term rental platform I would guess; including Vrbo and booking.com. Not sure if you are listed on those platforms and what procedures they have in place? 

[Terre-and-Neige0]

I did wait as my calendar had lots of availability in September and when you update your registration it automatically shuts off your calendar (usually for 48hours… this time 16days and counting).

Shutting my calendar during availability is not the best move, and so I waited for the cabins to have a) no Airbnb bookings and b) no big availabilities thinking that the 48 hour period would pass quickly and while my cabins did not have availability.

Not only does it block future bookings after my certificate availability but also bookings up to the 31st which had been approved by Airbnb last year. If the system didn’t do this I would of course have uploaded it ealier… but this is a faulty system Airbnb has as my valid certificate (ending OCT 31 2025) gets scrapped and it’s like starting fresh. Maybe this is something you could relay to Airbnb as a future improvement? Seems silly to have to tactically upload a certificate based on booking availability so as not to interfere with our visibility on the site.

I definitely understand the fines but limited (or non existent) contact to the team specializing in Quebec registration is really frustrating and impersonal, and considering I was able to get both confirmation of validity from both the registration issuing office and the ministry of Tourism Quebec within 48hours of the initial issue popping up but still waiting two weeks later for Airbnb to update my listing and confirm registration (when I have sent them direct contact information) is truly sad.

It’s unfortunate when a government obliges international businesses to comply to local regulations but we have to admit there is definitely room for improvement on how Airbnb processes Quebec registration certificates.

[Joan2709]

@Terre-and-Neige0 

Agree.

I do think the issue with you not seeing the original email compounded the issue with the delay. Did you try and find the original email? did it go to a spam folder?

I'm not an Airbnb employee, but am a Co Host and have a short and mid-term rental consulting business. I just try and suggest solutions to other Hosts in the CC based on my experience with the platform and my other Host clients. 

Unfortunately, Airbnb is not very transparent when it comes to changes on the platform and informing the Host community on issues like this. Governmental regulations will continue to increase and it just makes good business sense to anticipate that and put in place procedures to coordinate with regulators and have a good process for handling them. 

Hosts also need to keep a close eye on changes to the platform and local regulations and anticpate potential problems and prevent them from happening if at all possible. Now that you know of these issues with your renewal, sugguest you immediately renew as soon as able next year and monitor your Airbnb email account for messages from support so as not to inadvertently miss any emails from Airbnb.

[Nathaniel200]

I am having the exact same issue at the moment. They have no idea what to tell me, I also have a chalet that is on a campground in Quebec.  I have submitted 3 times and they escalated it to a special team but even they give me generic responses. Fingers crossed , I get this sorted out soon.   Have you been able to figure it out?

[Terre-and-Neige0]

Hi @Nathaniel200 !

No not yet. There are other hosts in our area having the same issue (domes, cabine “pret à camper”) that are with Camping Québec that also arent able to host short term rentals. We have tried more than 10 times now, and we were in touch with the “specialized team” that deals with this issue but they told us on the 31st of October it would be resolved in the next two weeks. We tried again on Monday and no luck. Two weeks is this Friday (November 14th) so we’ll see. Otherwise unfortunately there seems o not be anything we can do aside for seek another platform. I’ve been in touch with both Camping Québec and Tourisme Quebec and although they are supportive they unfortunately can’t do anything about Airbnb as it is a private business. It’s so frustrating!

i hope you have better luck than us!

[Joan2709]

@Terre-and-Neige0 

Sorry this is still ongoing 😠

@Rebecca @Bhumika can you forward this to the appropriate Team at Airbnb as it is affecting multiple Hosts in Quebec?

[Michelle4769]

Ive been told by Camping Quebec that the tourism association of Quebec has a meeting with Airbnb to try and solve the problem. They have adviced me to continue reaching out to Airbnb, to keep calling customer services until we get a answer. Best of luck to everyone in our situation. 

Here is a list of other plateform lime Airbnb:

GreenGo

Flipkey

HomeExchange

Wimdu

Misterbnb

Home Away

Booking.com

VRBO

Broke Backpacker

Hostelworld

Stays

Fairbnb

Homestay

Housetrip

HolidaySwap

Noirbnb

Bud & Breakfast

Hip Camp

.... to name a few

[Joan2709]

@Michelle4769 

No idea how Airbnb is confirming valid registration numbers with Camping Quebec? However, I'm guessing Airbnb does some sort of "matching" with their Database to Camping Quebec and there is an issue with that not working? If the file comes back as "not valid" (for whatever reason) the listing is suspended automatically. This is because of the hefty fines that would be imposed if Airbnb did not crack down on illegal Hosts. I'm guessing they put in place some sort of automatic system to prevent illegal listings.

Hopefully Airbnb and Camping Quebec can figure out where the issue lies.

[Michelle4769]

Every Camping Quebec registration on the platform, including those for Pourvoirie Quebec, has been removed, affecting thousands of ads.

A simple phone call could resolve this issue; I’ve already provided all the contact information for Camping Quebec, but no one has reached out during their "investigations."

I believe this is a tactic to pressure our government due to the fines they've received. As a small business with only two rentals, it’s frustrating to see multi-million dollar corporations using such pressure tactics, leaving small owners like us, who follow the rules, unfairly blocked from operating. 

Still waiting for our rentals to be unblocked... 14 days and counting

[Joan2709]

@Michelle4769 

😠

 I was not aware that this is affecting ALL Hosts in these 2 categories! Airbnb is losing out too as they aren't collecting service fees for all these listings since guests can't book if listings are suspended? I'm thinking it is some technical "glitch" on their end or how they are verifying registrations are valid with Quebec? Meanwhile, Hosts are left with not receiving payments due to no fault of their own it seems?

I'm sending you a direct message.

[Michael-Liberty0]

Facebook group started for issue 

https://www.facebook.com/share/g/1GVsrosE3n/?mibextid=wwXIfr

[Michelle4769]

Having the same issue as well, it's been 12 days since they transferred

 me to the "specialty team". Also registered with camping quebec and not getting any support. It's really frustrating.

[Michael-Liberty0]

Same with us,  let’s connect ****