Feeling Unsafe in AirBnb

[Alexis419]

Hi Community! 

I wanted to reach out about a situation we had recently at one of our stays. Let me know your thoughts/experiences if you had something like this happen to you as well and how you handled it. Thanks everyone.

Last week we were staying at an Airbnb in an apartment building. You should know that this was a four-plex and the air bnb was located on the bottom floor. On Friday night at 10pm, the neighbor that was staying above our air bnb broke into our room (kicked open the door without knocking) while we were present in the living room demanding us to "shut the **bleep** up and listen" and then proceeded to scream at us for being above a whisper. We asked the neighbor to step outside so we could have a civil conversation. She did not leave and instead she threatened us verbally and physically. We were terrified that she would pull out a weapon and harm us. When we told Air bnb support about what happened they ignored us and instead told us to vacate the premises immediately since we were breaking the "rules." We were confused as to what rules we were breaking but they would not tell us. Did they want us to leave at 10pm on a Friday night to find another stay? I'm wondering if this is how Air bnb handles all situations of this nature. How were we being asked to leave when OUR privacy was violated and we were the ones being threatened?  We told the owner of the Air bnb and they never responded. When we wrote a review to warn other future guests, Air bnb removed the review. After hearing what happened in Orinda, CA you would think Air bnb would have a better system to handle this type of situation. Any advice or help is appreciated. 

Let me know if you experienced something like this and how Air bnb handled it. Thank you and have a great day.

[Anonymous]

@Alexis419  Based on the orders you got from the agent, it sounds as though Airbnb had received a complaint associated with your booking prior to your call. Instances in which they might tell you to vacate immediately, rather than resolve it with the host, might include the presence of unregistered/unpaid guests, suspicion of drugs/criminal activity, or a report from a neighbor that there was a party. The last point is one they would be especially sensitive too after Orinda.

I don't quite understand the nature of the situation - perhaps it needs more context - but I wouldn't say that what you experienced was typical of Airbnb. Unfortunately, what is pretty common is that when a suspicion is raised, they take actions without explaining the reasons.

[Alexis419]

Hi @Anonymous Thank you for taking the time and helping me solve this. I really appreciate it! I have a further question that you may or may not be able to answer. If that was the case, that the neighbor called saying we were doing one of the above (which makes the most sense since Air Bnb asked us to leave), would Air Bnb just go off the word of the neighbor and ask us to leave? Or is there proof they would have to provide for Air Bnb to make that call? Also, in this case, does that make our situation of having our privacy violated an irrelevant complaint? Do you think any action will be taken against the violent neighbor? Do you know if this is why they took down our review as well?

If you are unable to answer it's ok but thought you'd be the best resource since Air Bnb has been radio silent. Thanks again for your help and have a good one!

[Anonymous]

@Alexis419   If Airbnb has a specific protocol for third-party complaints, it's not something they've made public. I would think that they would try to reach out to the host before taking action directly against the guest, but it might depend on the severity of the complaint. Generally, when neighbors have an issue with guests they're far likelier to go to the host or to the police than to call Airbnb, so it would be surprising if this is what happeend.

What's most unclear to me is where the host comes into all of this. If the host had contacted Airbnb wishing to terminate the booking, they would be within their rights to do so without needing to supply any proof of wrongdoing. If this were the situation, I'd expect that you'd see your booking marked as cancelled and the unused nights refunded. 

Airbnb is not going to take action against the host's neighbor, because there's nothing that they have the authority to do there. If the apartment was entered unlawfully by a third party, that would be a police matter. If it was the host who broke down your door and threatened you,  that's something Airbnb could legitimately take action upon.

As for the review, the Content Policy used as a basis for these decisions is here: https://www.airbnb.com/help/article/546/

This might be the relevant restriction:

• Content that provides specific details or outcomes of an Airbnb investigation

To be clear: I'm not an Airbnb insider or a legal expert, so these are all educated guesses at best.