Nightmare: 7 Year Superhost v. Guest with 0 Reviews, Listing Suspended

Aj92
Level 4
Dallas, TX

Nightmare: 7 Year Superhost v. Guest with 0 Reviews, Listing Suspended

@Catherine-Powell Like many have posted on here, my account was suspended after an angry guest levied an accusation.  No notice to me.  No requirement of any proof from them.  No end in sight.  The guest has 0 reviews, and I've been a host for 7 years and a Superhost for most of that time.

 

I have a large, Spanish style listing north of downtown Houston that is in a transitional / gentrifying neighborhood. The place is entirely safe. I myself stayed there for 6 weeks with my rescue puppy getting the place setup. It has a giant private gate, ring flood lights on the exterior, and kick in proof reinforced doors on all entrances. My listing location is accurate--I tell everybody it's 5 miles north of downtown, which it is. I also mention the flood light cameras and ring doorbell.

 

My guest Monday night, who has 0 reviews, immediately messages me claiming that they don't feel safe in the neighborhood even before entering the house (it's completely safe, but has some poorer houses). I tell her I am happy to refund the unused days if she wanted to cancel but that I had never had a safety issue at the location and mentioned all of the security features, but that I will not refund that night as it was already 9 pm and the maid had already cleaned the place. To me, this was very reasonable.

 

She then starts sending me and Airbnb an array of photos / claims. First, she claims the doors in the house don't lock. Luckily, I have smart locks and send them proof that not only do they lock, but she's had to enter the access code each time so she knows they lock, and I check the ring doorbell and literally see her asking for the code to enter and  hear her referencing seeing what the inside is like in an effort to get the 1st day also refunded, so she literally checked in knowing she wouldn't be staying there and determined to find issues in an effort to get the rest refunded.  I send the video to her and airbnb. Second, she takes a photo of a piece of tape the handyman used to cover holes he drilled into the wall above the fireplace to mount the TV. To be clear, she literally removed the TV from the mount to find this piece of tape and it was a literal photo of a piece of tape. She claims this piece of tape is a safety hazard and is actually a live and exposed electrical wire. When I mention if she pulls it down she will see a regular wall with a stud behind it and no wires, she then claims the place is in a different area than I advertised and takes photos of trash set outside for pickup as trash day is the next day (the gate is 100 yards from the house, so the trash is nowhere near the home and is exactly where it should be for pickup). That said, both bins are oddly knocked over and I believe she did that based on a statement from my neighbor. She then tries to claim the maid left all of her cleaning supplies in the entryway (she has been cleaning with me for months and would never do that, as they are all kept in the master closet which is behind a hidden / false bookcase).  I receive no photo showing cleaning supplies of any kind.

 

She then threatens me with legal action if I don't give her a full refund.  I tell her I'm an attorney and to go for it.  She then reports my listing claiming the cameras are inside the house (keep in mind I sent her the literal video showing her outside at the front door so she knows they are not inside).  Of course airbnb suspends my account while they "investigate" the cameras without ever talking to me.

 

I get an email from one trust and safety ambassader very early Tuesday morning asking to call me Wednesday at 1 pm.  I tell them this is urgent and to call me ASAP and not wait for the following day.  Nobody calls me.  Next day at 1 arrives and again no call.  Keep in mind I have called airbnb at least 15 times trying to fast track a resolution here.  Nobody calls.  Trust and Safety can't be reached, and never bothers to ask me for info.   I call daily asking for updates and get the same story others complain about here--I get told to wait for an email that I will receive within a timeframe and I never get said email.

 

I take the initiative to send Airbnb my ring listing screenshots for all of my listings, so they can see where the cameras are at every listing, I send them my ring login credentials so they can check themselves, I offer to allow somebody in Houston to search the place if they would like by giving them an access code, I reference the guest issues, I send screenshots of my listing descriptions showing the cameras are on there and match the ring screenshots, and I send a screenshot of Airbnb's camera policy as well and illustrate I am following it.  It's an easy investigation.  All they have to do is read my message history with the guests and check the ring camera account or look at the screenshots of the camera feeds.  It would take at most 20 minutes.  They do none of that.  I have no clue when this nightmare will end.  I am losing thousands daily across all of my listings and employ a full team of maids as well, so this doesn't just impact me.  I'm getting daily messages from guests concerned their reservation is cancelled because they can't find the listing in searches anymore, and my maids are concerned about when their next cleanings will be.

 

Airbnb needs to stop allowing guests who act unreasonably, break rules or policies, and more, to weaponize the review system and trust & safety.  Unbelievably, this woman who didn't like the neighborhood and only checked in to find issues to try to get more of a refund, and then lied about my listing getting it suspended, she is still allowed to leave a review, and if she doesn't cuss I am likely going to have many issues getting it removed.  The review system and safety complaints should be unbiased.  Anybody who gets thrown out of a listing for rules or policy violations are obviously going to be biased.  For established hosts at least require guests to provide SOME proof of the issue they are claiming before suspending an account.  There are no cameras inside any of my listings so I know **bleep** well that guest could not have provided any proof of a camera being on the inside of that house.  This entire thing has been alarming.

27 Replies 27
Stephanie
Community Manager
Community Manager
London, United Kingdom

Hi @Aj92 ,

 

Sorry to hear about that distressing stay and subsequent ongoing ordeal - I've got in touch with the team internally for an update on your case. I hope to come back to you shortly, via DM (direct message.) Let me know if you need help finding that functionality here on the Community Center.

 

Thanks

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Hi Stephanie.  Thank you for helping!

 

I am at a loss for what else to do here.  Anything that could help speed things along is greatly appreciated.  I feel like I'm likely annoying the help line at this point because I've called and emailed repeatedly.  I am just not sure anybody really is working on the case as the screenshots and listings take at most 20 minutes to review, and I'm worried we'll get to the weekend and I'll get the dreaded "I'll be out of office for 48 hours" message from the rep who is supposed to be working on this.

 

I simply don't understand why Airbnb doesn't bother to check if cameras / recording devices are on my listing before suspending me.  I can see it's a common complaint among hosts.

Huma0
Level 10
London, United Kingdom

@Aj92 

 


@Aj92 wrote:

I'm worried we'll get to the weekend and I'll get the dreaded "I'll be out of office for 48 hours" message from the rep who is supposed to be working on this.

 

Quite. Who does Airbnb CS feel they are fooling with this tactic? It happens over and over again. What a coincidence that nearly every case manager an issue gets passed onto happens to be out of the office for the next 48 hours or few days.

 

Maybe less experienced users might fall for this, but it's such an obvious avoidance strategy when they use it time and time again...

This message is regarding Reservation #:HM8KEPSFFA.

Wondering if anyone might be able to assist on this matter. Maybe @Stephanie
I am sending this message from my travel account because this morning my host account was suspended without any prior warning or notice. What's so concerning about this, is that this all happened in the middle of an ACTIVE reservation. Right now, I have no way of communicating with my current guest (since I'm currently overseas) - a guest that is expected to be there for another 6 days. The fact that I have individuals in my home and Airbnb is interfering with my performance and duty as host (landlord at this point) is a HUGE concern and I'm not sure if this is even legal (having folks in MY home and cut off communication).

When I called Airbnb to ask why my account was cancelled the representative's response was "I can't say, it's sensitive information" until I eventually got him to speak up. Apparently my account was suspended due to "privacy concerns". there is a huge misunderstanding here. This so-called "privacy concern" was triggered by ME when I called Airbnb to get clarity on a minor situation that had occurred in one of my listings. However, Airbnb took so long to respond (almost 2 weeks), that I ended up amicably working it out with the guest--the situation was quickly resolved.

The guest NEVER called Airbnb, I called.

However, in their system it got flagged as if the GUEST called, their notes can't differentiate between host inquiries and guest reports, and they escalated everything as if I had received a guest complaint. I just wanted to obtain guidance and figure out options that were aligned with Airbnb's policy in order to remedy the situation. Instead, Airbnb started an investigation which took almost 2-week to respond and never bothered to gather any evidence. According to them, they have been emailing me and trying to communicate with me, but there's NO record of emails or correspondence from Airbnb on my end. I even checked my spam folder.

It's obvious that this Airbnb investigator of "higher authority" did not perform any initial due diligence. The fact that he cancelled the listing in the middle of an ACTIVE reservation is concerning in itself since he could have at least waited for my reservation to conclude. Additionally, as soon as he called me he was accusatory and it was obvious by his tone of voice that he had not done any preliminary research on my case and was just trying to close out my ticket on his docket. By the end of the conversation, he agreed to send me an email where I can share my evidence to corroborate the story. Up to this date, no emails have been sent to me. Even more concerning is that my account has notes on my file that are incorrect and FALSIFIED - according to their notes, I told the representative to "call back at 1 pm" and then "I did not answer" - which is not true.

According to Airbnb, my account has already been reviewed by the "highest representative" and they can't guarantee a positive appeal. It was so obvious that this "higher authority" was cutting corners in his job and had not looked into my claim with any detail because he would have noticed that it was ME who started the ticket. If the "investigator" would have done his due diligence he would have also noticed that the guest and I worked it out, they gave us a great review and he was extremely happy with his stay.  But that's what I get for trying to be a good host and being honest. It's like going to the cops to make a report and then you get arrested for making the report.

Hi @Stephanie,

 

It's happening again.  Can you please help? 

 

Last night I had a guest who booked for 2 people have 20+ people over.  I got a complaint about noise from a neighbor, checked the cameras, saw 8 cars parked outside and looked through the doorbell camera history and logged the 20-25 people.  I called airbnb and reported the party.  I notified the guest as well.  The guest cancelled and left thankfully, but is retaliating by claiming I had hidden cameras that I didn't disclose.  I spoke to airbnb safety about the party and when they asked if they could share the camera video / screenshots I told them sure, but warned them that the guest would likely pull this and that I didn't want my listing suspended, so asked that they PLEASE check my listing to see I have them on the guest safety section, offered to allow them to login to my ring account to see all of the cameras, and advised them to check my auto-messages with EVERY guest in my message history, including the one in question, which discloses the cameras and warns the guest not to bother tryin to sneak extra people in or throw parties because the cameras will catch them.

 

I wake up today and find my listing suspended.  Airbnb tells me someone will reach out to me but won't tell me the issue and won't say when.  They claim I may have violated a term or condition, and I know it's the cameras because this happens every time and there is nothing else that I've done that could be an issue.  All I did was warn a guest that my neighbor had called the cops, that I could see he had way more people there than he had booked for and saw evidence of a party on the exterior cameras, that he wasn't authorized to throw a party, and that they needed to leave and that I had to alert airbnb.  That was it.

 

I notified airbnb before ever putting a single camera at my locations to make sure I was in compliance with their policy.  I have them on the entire exterior of the home and mention them in the guest safety section as they advised me.  I include them in my house rules.  I do more than required by also messaging the guests letting them know they are there.  They are also floodlight cameras that flash at the guests so they are in no way hidden.  Airbnb safety has reviewed this same listing EVERY TIME I have to throw a guest out for a party and always rules I am in compliance with their policies.  Why then, am I still constantly suspended and reinvestigated with NO evidence of actually having a hidden or interior camera anywhere?  The removal of my listing ends up costing me thousands to tens of thousands--way more than if I just let somebody trash my home with a crazy party.  I don't understand how they can honestly believe this is the best way to go.

Mark116
Level 10
Jersey City, NJ

@Aj92 My god.   It is truly unbelievable 1) how incompetent Airbnb customer service is and 2) how evil people can be, all for a single night reimbursement.

 

Airbnb thinks literally nothing of wasting dozens of hours of host time trying to get basic common sense out of CS.

Huma0
Level 10
London, United Kingdom

@Aj92 

 

I was having a conversation about this with a guest just this evening. Even though I don't have any cameras, so haven't experienced it myself, there are so many stories about it on the CC. Claiming there are 'hidden' cameras inside an Airbnb to get a refund seems to be one of the most common guest scams out there. How on earth could CS not be aware of that?

 

How exactly is a host supposed to prove there are no cameras? How does one prove the non existence of something? E.g. no I don't have any pets in my listing, because here are some photos of the listing without pets in it...

 

It's beyond dumb.

Not for the lack of their ability but for the lack of giving a rat's ass.

Airbnb seems to have contracted all customer service out to foreign countries. Employees who sign on and just don't do crap. 

 

Aj92
Level 4
Dallas, TX

As an update, my calendar did reopen, but no word from anyone, so I'm not sure what exactly that means.  I'm hoping it means they realize it is BS.  I'm trying to figure out if there's any way I can recover some of the lost revenue or at least get the guest banned from Airbnb.  Seems doubtful but at least the calendar has finally reopened.

 

Is there a host advocate or somebody at Airbnb who can prevent the automatic camera suspension by having customer support check if the listing already includes cameras?  It's just ridiculous that anybody clicking the report button can shut down my business entirely.  Or else just automate scraping the site to see if that box is checked?  The process itself is a nightmare for hosts and makes 0 sense unless the safety team is staffed enough to rectify it within a few hours or at most 1 day.  I'm having to substantially discount tonight's stays hoping anybody will book, and lost this entire week's worth of bookings, likely costing me about $9-11K at this point.  I'm glad it seems to be mostly over, but this is the third time this has happened to me.  The prior 2 involved guests getting thrown out for parties who wanted retribution.  I just don't understand how this is the process Airbnb has determined is best.

Stephanie
Community Manager
Community Manager
London, United Kingdom

Glad this one seems to be resolved @Aj92  - will still be checking in via DM with latest I get from the team, regardless.

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@Stephanie I just sent you a DM about a similar situation I am dealing with. Our guest threw a party and brought an unregistered guest. Airbnb cancelled their reservation, and now my account is suspended. I suspect due to guest claiming "violation to our privacy when you used your key to enter the apartment". This would have been an easy 5 minute open and shut case as my smart locks log every time a code is entered, however my account has now been suspended for 3 days with no way to contact anyone. Logs were sent to the Airbnb safety department as soon as I received this communication from our prior guest.

 

118 review 4.98* superhost doing my best to be part of the hosting community - appreciate anything you can do!

Hi Stephanie, wondering if you can assist with this matter. @Stephanie 

This morning my account was suspended without any prior warning or notice. What's so concerning about this, is that this all happened in the middle of an ACTIVE reservation. Right now, I have no way of communicating with my current guest (since I'm currently overseas) - a guest that is expected to be there for another 6 days. The fact that I have individuals in my home and Airbnb is interfering with my performance and duty as host (landlord at this point) is a HUGE concern and most likely illegal.

When I called Airbnb to ask why my account was cancelled the representative's response was "I can't say, it's sensitive information" until I eventually got him to speak up. Apparently my account was suspended due to "privacy concerns". However, this "privacy concern" was triggered by ME when I called Airbnb to get clarity on a minor situation that had occurred in one of my listings. However, Airbnb took so long to respond (almost 2 weeks), that I ended up amicably working it out with the guest--the situation was quickly resolved.

The guest NEVER called Airbnb, I called.

However, in their system it got flagged as if the GUEST called, their notes can't differentiate between host inquiries and guest reports, and they escalated everything as if I had received a guest complaint. I just wanted to obtain guidance and figure out options that were aligned with Airbnb's policy in order to remedy the situation. Instead, Airbnb started an investigation which took almost 2-week to respond and never bothered to gather any evidence. According to them, they have been emailing me and trying to communicate with me, but there's NO record of emails or correspondence from Airbnb on my end. I even checked my spam folder.

It's obvious that this Airbnb investigator of "higher authority" did not perform any initial due diligence. The fact that he cancelled the listing in the middle of an ACTIVE reservation is concerning in itself since he could have at least waited for my reservation to conclude. Additionally, as soon as he called me he was accusatory and it was obvious by his tone of voice that he had not done any preliminary research on my case and was just trying to close out my ticket on his docket. By the end of the conversation, he agreed to send me an email where I can share my evidence to corroborate the story. Up to this date, no emails have been sent to me. Even more concerning is that my account has notes on my file that are incorrect and FALSIFIED - according to their notes, I told the representative to "call back at 1 pm" and then "I did not answer" - which is not true.

According to Airbnb, my account has already been reviewed by the "highest representative" and they can't guarantee a positive appeal. It was so obvious that this "higher authority" was cutting corners in his job and had not looked into my claim with any detail because he would have noticed that it was ME who started the ticket. If the "investigator" would have done his due diligence he would have also noticed that the guest and I worked it out, they gave us a great review and he was extremely happy with his stay.  But that's what I get for trying to be a good host and being honest. It's like going to the cops to make a report and then you get arrested for making the report.

At this point, I'm so sick of Airbnb's complete disregard for hosts -- stifling my reputation on this platform. There seems to be a pattern of lacklustre employee training, poor protocols and sketchy policy implementation. I wouldn't be surprised there's a class action lawsuit brewing. I've read over 100 posts and it appears I'm not  the only one with this issue. At least that gives me sanity.

This email is regarding Reservation #:HM8KEPSFFA.

Sybe
Former Community Manager
Former Community Manager
Terneuzen, Netherlands

Hi @Rashen0, I'm so sorry to hear about this! I'm sending this over to the team now, hopefully we can at least get you back in touch with your current guest quickly.

 

@Nick2164 I'm sending yours over to the team as well. In both cases, if I have any updates I'll send you a DM. I hope to have an answer for you soon! 

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@Sybe  is there any way to hold the trust and safety team accountable, or they just completely rogue?

 

**[Private conversation removed in line with the Community Center Guidelines]