This post is not misleading. I provided the address the host registered under and then the address I was told to go to through private message.
Why would you imply that with all of our experience as hosts that we don’t know the difference between intentional fraud and an IT glitch?
Airbnb clearly gives out the listing address during the confirmation process. Then the host sends a private message asking the guest to go to a completely different address. That’s not a “mix-up!”
It’s a well-known scam in Los Angeles. List as if you are in West Hollywood because Airbnb does zero diligence to verify that you have the rights to that address or property. Then the host sends a private message with a completely different address in Los Angeles to avoid taxes and regulations.
In my case I posted frequently about my adventures with a host that I booked in West Hollywood. I let it play out with Airbnb to see where things were headed.. I booked a back up hotel when the host refused to answer my questions about checkin. Up to an hour before check-in even Airbnb Customer Service also could not get the host to respond with check in information. The reservation was canceled and I began referring to the host as “ghost host.”
Catherine Powell assured me that the listing was removed. But the listing was not removed only my ability to see it. My husband was able to find it under his own account, and there was yet another guest complaining of the same bait and switch. All of other guest reviews were fake. Each one of those guests saying what an amazing place it was had never been reviewed by the host or any other host.
Too easy to game the system.
So, don’t tag me with an assertion that this is an IT problem when you know it is not. Airbnb does have IT problems, but this isn’t one of them. Airbnb has a fraud problem, and if someone who is like me, an experienced host, is reporting it, and they still aren’t responding and there’s a problem in the system.
By the way, Airbnb also ignored me when I told them they had a problem in Kansas City. As a result yesterday, the City Council unanimously voted to ban short term rentals owned by non-occupants in residential neighborhoods. They now have to go to commercial or mixed use areas. This happened after Airbnb asked us to help lobby the city for a law five years ago that would make rentals legal, then allowed close to 1600+ absentee owners to set up rentals that weren’t registered which also increased competition for bookings. (Only 292 of us are legally permitted). My neighbor’s bookings plummeted from being booked almost every day to a few weekends a month.
So we are anticipating that bait and switch is going to happen here too. That people will move their addresses to Kansas City, Kansas because Airbnb doesn’t verify if the listing exists or if the person owns the house, and then those hosts will just redirect people to the Airbnb‘s in Kansas City, Missouri because most guests don’t know we are two different cities in two different states. (we are adjacent but separated by a state line)
But we have a back up system here now. Residents can report illegal activity and the fine will be up to $1000 per day for the host AND Airbnb and VRBO
Btw…People have been reporting the West Hollywood scams to an organization in Los Angeles, which is also tracking them because Los Angeles taxes and regulates Airbnb‘s and West Hollywood does not.
Airbnb is going to lose the battle if it doesn’t pay attention to loyal hosts who are telling them where the problem points are and get on top of it.
This is a lack of leadership at Airbnb. This is not an I/T problem.
* **[Private conversation removed in line with the Community Center Guidelines]
