Limited access to listings during investigation

[George780]

Airbnb is currently investigating an incident at one of our listings and have imposed limited access on all of them (we have 4) until they finish hearing from all parties involved. Long story short, a returning 5 star guest mistakenly arrived a day early for their stay and their keypad code was already active. They opened the door and immediately realized another guest was in the unit. The early guest apologized and closed the door and never actually entered the unit. The current guest was obviously bothered by this and checked out immediately and complained to Airbnb. We apologized and explained the situation to CS. We are now on day 4 waiting for some sort of resolution. I think our biggest frustration with this is that we have never had this happen before in 10 years of hosting and 6 of those as superhosts but there is no expedited effort on the side of CS. Also, they didn’t limit access for just the single unit where the incident occurred, which doesn’t seem entirely fair. So now we wait. What will the penalty be? More limited access? For how long? Fortunately, we have bookings currently but now that we are going through this we are realizing that Airbnb holds all of of the power and the convenience of exclusively listing with them has really made us vulnerable financially. Should we list on other sites? How much extra work is that? 

[Gwen386]

@George780  I understand that you are concerned about your financial vulnerabilities, but you should be concentrating on bigger issues, like: 

1. Changing your access code the second a guest stay concludes. I can’t even imagine being walked in on by anyone or entering a place that’s already occupied. This is serious! Yes, it may have happened at this listing, but how does airbnb or any guest feels safe that all the codes at all your listings are not changed immediately when someone leaves.  Really count your blessings that neither guest had weapons. This could have been a lot worse. I hope you will be implementing this change immediately—like yesterday. 

2. Also, your access code should NEVER be given out before check-in time. Also, it’s important to touch base with guest a day or 2 before arrival—restating house rules, discussing check-in time and asking ETA, providing directions, and how to contact you. 

Also, 4 days is not a long time to conclude an investigation, especially when compared to other hosts who have had to deal with airbnb CS for weeks with no communication; and issues ranged from guests’ complaints about cleanliness, undisclosed cameras, rental not as advertised, amenities not working, etc. So, the best you can do—while it will seem CS is  taking forever—is to email and call CS  everyday. 

Yes, I agree that airbnb has all the power, but so will any other site you go to. 

Just remember—Guest safety is paramount!

[George780]

@Gwen386 , Sorry, I probably should have clarified why it’s never happened before. Each guest has a unique code to use for their stay that is deactivated upon check out. The unique code is set to be activated at check in time on the day of check in but in this case we somehow overlooked setting the time and date parameter for the keypad so that meant the code was active until deleted. And a new guest mistakenly arrived a day earlier than their reservation. 
I appreciate all the extra,  yet unrelated tips about communicating with guests, but as superhosts we already do those things.