Airbnb is cancelling reservations after putting a hold on our account

[Stay-Asheville0]

Airbnb put a hold on our account two weeks ago where the listings were ghosted and guests couldn't make any more bookings.  Tonight they're starting to cancel future reservations.  

Has anyone had this happen?  We have over 2500 reviews and have been hosts on Airbnb for years now.   We're all kind of flipping out as we are professionals and this is our full time job.  We don't know what to do, and of course per usual airbnb customer service is of no help.  We're being told to wait on an email from the super secret trust and safety department.  I don't know how they can cancel on people last minute who are arriving this weekend and not even give us so much as an explanation.   

This thread probably won't solve anything, but I'm hoping it gets resolved and I hope we can continue to host on Airbnb.  Right now this is a nightmare for my staff and I.

[Stay-Asheville0]

Please excuse the typos. I was using voice to text. I meant to say “precedent” above. President looks so stupid... haha

[Susan17]

Lol! Sorry @Stay-Asheville0 , I should have phrased that differently - I wan't meaning precedent in the courtroom sense there, I just meant, that Jeannette's already lived that experience, and that there's a lot of learning from her case, for anyone who's thinking of challenging Airbnb, for whatever reason.

The problem is, you signed a class action waiver when you ticked the box to agree to the T&Cs, under which Airbnb says you must instead enter into binding arbitration, rather than pursue court proceedings. So while you do have options, they are limited, and you may just have to go the back door route to get any sort of satisfactory result. I guess it depends on the desired outcome. If it were me, my immediate plan would be to find the quickest, simplest and most affordable route to reinstatement, and restoration of cancelled bookings. By whatever means necessary. 

"How can you justify canceling hundreds of reservation is worth almost $200,000 without so much as an explanation to anybody?"

There's no justification for that. But they do it, because we continually roll over and allow them to get away with it. 

[Susan17]

There's also a company called Fairbnbclaims which is operating out of EU now, but dealing with both host and guest claims from all over the world. They're a team of international lawyers, with expertise in the specific commercial and consumer laws in each jurisdiction. They're operating on a no win, no fee basis, with a fee of 30% on a win.

Fairbnbclaims are already attracting media attention in Europe, and were very recently featured in Le Soir, one of the most popular French-speaking Belgian newspapers. Le Soir's HQ is located in Brussels, which coincidentally, is also the HQ of the European Commission, which just happens to be already keeping a close eye on Airbnb's more questionable policies and T&Cs. Not the sort of story Airbnb needs to be landing on the EU Commission's doorstep right now. Awks...  

I haven't taken any claims to Fairbnb myself, so I can't personally vouch for their operation. During the course of some research though, I have spoken with one of their execs, and they do seem to be pretty well informed. I haven't confirmed this officially with them yet, so it's nust hearsay at this point, but I have heard whispers that they've already taken the first batch of cases to Airbnb, and that the company is engaging with them, albeit after some initial resistance. Presumably, they realised that with the IPO on the horizon, they really don't need that kind of negative publicity blowing up in their faces right now, so they're going to do be doing whatever necessary to keep a very tight lid on it. 

Might be worth getting in touch with them too @Stay-Asheville0. At the very least, they might be able to give you some advice. Best of luck to you whatever you decide to do. Hope you manage to find a way to fight your corner successfully! 

[Stay-Asheville0]

It seems to me that AirBnB is acting like an illegal real estate brokerage.  They are listing property for sale, they are handling trust money, and they are signing leases with tenants on behalf of owners while mishandling security deposits. If you’re breaking the law it doesn’t matter what is in the contract that you agree to. You can’t agree to be OK with them breaking the law, and have them expect to not be sued. It seems one big issue is that federal laws prevent Internet companies from being liable on content that users post. 

Over the years we have bent to the whim of everything AirBnB asked us to do and more. And this is how they treat us and our guests? This has just been driving us nuts all day.  It’s a horrible, horrible thing that they do to people…

[Diane364]

@Stay-Asheville0  any news? Were you reinstated? I seem to be in a similar (although lighter) situation, with Airbnb cancelling a couple of reservations, one of them for the same day and the other one for a guy that is already staying at the house!
But my account hasn't been canned yet, although the mysterious Airbnb Trust and Safety department is still looking into my account, according to what I was told on the phone. My rating is 4.7, so it's not a "bad host" situation. 

[Lisa723]

@Diane364 it appears that @Stay-Asheville0's account has been deactivated. Don't be sanguine, you are on the same road.

[Diane364]

@Lisa723  I know. My process just seems to be lighter so far, with them only cancelling a couple of the most immediate reservations. I am moving everything on Booking and Expedia and I'm sure I'll get rebooked. It just saddens me that I have put so much effort into my homes and soooo much money into Airbnb's pockets and they're repaying me this way, without an explanation.

[Diane364]

I won't go quietly, though. I am a social media guru, they'll hear me 😉

[Emilia42]

@Diane364, 

I see that your account/profile has also been deactivated. Did Airbnb give you a reason or do you have any suspicions as to why it was closed?