What to do when airbnb deactivates your hosting account - for no reason?

[Dave192]

My account was suddenly deactivated today because airbnb "determined that it is in the best interest of Airbnb, and for the users on our site, to deactivate your account permanently."

No warning, no complaints nothing.

I have nothing but 4 and 5 star reviews! I've been a model host for the airbnb community and have been selected as a community speaker to inform the community about how to host a property for airbnb guests.I am at a loss for words. This is unreal, a total and complete shock and the most unprofessional thing that has ever occurred to me in my professional life.

I had just put my house up for rental in September and have already recived over $2,800 in bookings in 6 weeks! Things were going great. Was I making too much? Charging too much? I dont get it.

I had one guest stay Oct 23-25 and he has not left a review. If he called to complain for some reason, would 1 guest complaint be enought to deactivate my account?? Im stunned. 

Is there any way to get answers from airbnb? Who should i contact?

[Steve428]

Dave, did you ever get a resolution. I'm a Superhost in a near identical situation: 4.9 Star status, 93% five-star ratings, the rest 4 stars. Last month I got the same notice you did and have no idea why. 

[Dave192]

Hi Steve. Nope, never heard anything back from Airbnb except emails that said they would call and explain - they never have. I sent a letter in the mail to their SF address and the legal team about 2 weeks ago and demanded a response within 90 days so we'll see if that gets any results.

Its odd - they said my account would be deactivated and the listing removed but i can still log into my account, view my listing, emails, etc. Its just blocked from public view. Very odd and annoying.

I feel your pain.

I talked to someone else who this happened to and they were under the impression they got deactivated because of something to do with finances. The bank account that bookings were deposited into was under a different name and in a different state? Thats not true on my end so i still have absolutely no idea why this happened.

I'm hopeful my letter gets results and wish you the same. Its very frustrating. 

[Steve428]

Hi Dave, I genuinely hope it's as simple as payments being made to a bank account with a name different than the bank account name. Our rental unit is a condo that is owned by an LLC that is held in a self-directed IRA that is solely owned by my wife's retirement plan. I manage the property, and all payments and expenses go through the LLC bank account. Our Airbnb listing is in my name (my wife and I have the same last name, it is on the bank account, and we use the same bank). 

I can understand how mistakes can be made when there are 4,000,000 properties managed by 640,000 hosts, but you would still think that a $30 billion company could afford to more personally and effectively respond to issues similar to ours. 

Please let me know how things go, and I will do the same. Best regards, Steve

[Christopher187]

I would really really really like to know why this happens to hosts.

[Andreas-and-Anna0]

Perhaps when guests file complaints about inappropriate behavior, I surmise or the landlord made a complaint?

[Tracy279 · Accepted solution]

Dave, did you ever get a response from the Trust and Security team? I'm a Superhost and was just deactivated this week, with vague reason: "for violating the Terms of Agreement" but no specific Term provided.  After piecing together the two cryptic messages I received from "Trust and Security", I figured out that ABB has the right to deactivate any host, even a Superhost, if we:

1. Accept a guest who arrives but who is not the person who booked the reservation ("Third-party Bookings"). This happens more and more on ABB and it puts hosts in a hard situation of telling someone who's just arrived (with their luggage) that we cannot accept them, and that we have to call ABB customer service to have ABB cancel the reservation. Rather than cause a confrontation, I have welcomed them and mostly had no problem, until recently ...

2. A third party guest caused a problem and tried to elevate it to ABB (and youtube), which triggered the "Third-party booker" violation and exposed ABB (and me) to the risks of defamation through social media. Deactivating the listing is their way of minimizing risk exposure.

3. Encourage a guest to contact you or pay outside of ABB. After ABB first temporarily suspended my listing and cancelled two upcoming reservations, the guests messaged me asking how to confirm their reservation (they still want to stay at my property, why punish them?). I replied back assuring them we still had their reservation and to call me. Within 3 days my account was permanently deactived due to "violation of the Terms of Agreement".

Trust and Safety never called to speak to me, only 2 brief email messages informing of deactivation.  Apparently we are presumed guilty until proven innocent, even with a 3 year history and Superhost status. Although ABB prides itself with the quality-control, peer-to-peer review platform, the mass volume of ABB users are now causing all kinds of problems - and if your problem reaches ABB Headquarters, they will deactivate you (and probably the guest account) to simply reduce their risk exposure.

Heading to VRBO.com now...

[Steve428]

Tracy, if you believe you are in complete compliance with the Terms of Service, and you want to retain your Airbnb membership, and you believe the cost of having an attorney send a letter requesting that Trust & Security review your deactivation and respond as to the reason for your deactivation, I believe a letter from your lawyer will be the most expedient way to resolve your issue. 

[Andreas-and-Anna0]

Perhaps to protect guests they need to be silent if, let’s say it’s related to dangerous- inappropriate activity.. Trust and  Safety was involved so that could explain it

[Anonymous]

Hello,

Question: I wander if it is not possible to restart ones account from scratch after a permanent account suspension?

When mumtiple listed, one could only go further just with the accommodations with topreviews, not?

Ok, then you start again with no reviews.

But question is, is it accepted by Airbnb?

Stefan

[Sarah977]

I imagine that some guest made some false claim that they were discriminated against, sexually harrassed, or something like that. And since Airbnb operates like a 3rd world dictatorship, in which you are guilty until proven innocent, they just take the guest's word for it and refuse to provide an explanation.

[Sorin0]

 Another one here, given the  unprofessional and cold deactivated” emails.

   They are going very corporate(mini boutique hotels, big buildings) and normal hosts(people) not needed any longer. We build up the company we work very hard to make this company famous and now they are getting rid of us little by little.  I had 300+ guests, 160+ reviews. 

    Also in 2019 is their IPO , The employees will get a cut in shares and like I said they’re going corporate. 

   Everything will be to a higher standard -  bedsheets/beds/ etc...  interior aspect of the hotel or building. 

    We can easily form a legal alliance( all hosts that had build up this platform and establish a legal case upon finding a powerful law firm to pursue this.

    Look at Uber, Grubhub, and many other gig companies they are left and right ABusing the people who HAD work very hard for them to get them where they are.

   That is my opinion after a very thorough research through their data, financial , social and human( employee discussion).

   Actually, i no longer need them , AIRBNB,  you have been deactivated from my loyal and trustworthy business partners. 

  I have a business and starting up my own REAL  person to person hosting. 

Sorin C.

[Marianne301]

Hi all!

I have used AirBnb for over four years now. About a month ago I was trying to book a camper for my husband and I to stay on our Christmas vacation. Wanted to get a property that hosted pets as well, as we wanted to bring our dog. After some difficulty with completing a transaction (literally couldn't pay for a booking), I contacted customer service and they said they were looking into it. I haven't booked on AirBnb in over 2 years, and the last time I was a guest I got a 5 star rating. This morning I got the email with this vague explanation. Here is a portion of that email, that many of you seem to have gotten too:

"Thanks for reaching out. We regret to inform you that we'll be unable to support your account moving forward, and have exercised our discretion under our Terms of Service to disable your account(s). This decision is irreversible and will affect any duplicated or future accounts.

Please understand that we are not obligated to provide an explanation for the action taken against your account. Furthermore, we are not liable to you in any way with respect to disabling or canceling your account. Airbnb reserves the right to make the final determination with respect to such matters, and this decision will not be reversed."

I can't think of anything I did wrong. I have absolutely no clue what is going on and I am very concerned I was hacked. If I was hacked, I can't even rectify the situation because my account has been completely deactivated. I called their customer service again, and the nice woman on the phone couldn't access my account, but assured me there was something technical going on with my account and they should be getting back to me soon. I won't hold my breath.

Thanks AirBnB for making a nice, respectful, paying customer feel like a piece of trash. Good job.

[Nate68]

This  just happened to me. I was trying to make a booking and the payment kept saying it needed to be verified so I uploaded a credit card statement.

I’ve stayed several times with 5 star reviews with no Issue. 

I tried to log in today to see if the status of the payment had cleared and I was notified I’ve been banned. 

Same canned message with no need for explanation. 

Off to VRBO for now. 

[Sarah977]

@Marianne301  A few months ago a guy who had been hosting for many years, with good ratings and hundreds of satisfied guests, who was a regular contributor to this forum, was delisted suddenly with zero explanation and they absolutely refused to tell him why he was delisted. It's outrageous. I can see them not giving out personal information about hosts or guests, but closing someone's account without being forthcoming about the reason? Can you imagine getting fired from your job and your employer refusing to tell you why? They'd be taken to court or labor relations board and the employee would win, no problem.

I hope in your case it was just a tech glitch that gets remedied quickly, good luck.

[Marianne301]

Yeah I can't even imagine if I was a host and this happened to me. That is so freakin awful. Thank you for your kind words, and I too hope it gets resolved quickly!