UNJUSTIFIED UNLISTING

[Γιάννης-and-Ρένα0]

Hello

I am Yannis and  i own 7 apartments in Athens. I am a superhost for the last 7 years in Airbnb. I have a problem since yesterday as one of my listings was unlisted. This happened without any warning or communication from an agent in Airbnb. The listing i am talking about is active for the last seven years, it has a 4.98 average after 249 reviews, it is an Airbnb PLUS listing which means that AIrbnb has verified it and photographed it. For the last 7 years we have hosted over 1000 guests in this apartment. I have tried to reach the agent but she/he doesn't respond. I have talked with three other agents who all of them are unauthorized to do anything since it is a matter of another department that is called Airbnb Safety Team. The only phone though i have is theirs. So i am feeling very depressed and angry (i have to admit) because i realize that no matter what you do for the last 7 years (i got my renewal of the superhost badge yesterday also!!!!) an agent has the power to take you out without even communicating with you.

I want your help to guide me in what i should do from now on. 

Thank you very much

[Helen3]

@Γιάννης-and-Ρένα0  if you do a search on this community you will find multiple hosts complaining about the same thing.

If you have good ratings, what is likely to have happened is a recent guest raised a 'safety' concern about your listing. This is sometimes if you have CCTV, or you have a problem guests who makes up a revenge complaint if you have caught them out breaking your house rules.

If this is what happened Airbnb will not tell you what the issue is or give you an opportunity to put across your side of the story. Then after 5-20 days hopefully you will get your listing back.

This is an appalling policy on Airbnb's part and despite concerns raised they refuse to do anything about it.

[Gwen386]

@Γιάννης-and-Ρένα0 I’m really so sorry that you’re experiencing this at a time when you should be celebrating your SH status and all the wonderful guests reviews you have received. I’m tagging @Sybe in hope that he can assist.

Stay strong, it will get figured out. 

[Sybe]

@Gwen386 Thanks for the tag!

@Γιάννης-and-Ρένα0 I can imagine this is frustrating, I'm sorry to hear about this! I'll be more than happy to send a message over to the team, hopefully we can get your listing up and running quickly. They'll get in touch with you and if I hear back in the meantime I'll let you know.

[Γιάννης-and-Ρένα0]

Thank you very much Sybe. It means a lot to us. It is not just frustrating. It is disappointing and it makes you fear. We are trying to build something for the last 7 years with tons of work and a lot of love and suddenly you realize that anyone can shut you down in a heartbeat. Without even having a conversation with you. Skye at the other end of the world shut us down because someone said that he/she had a safety issue. We  don't know what the issue is yet. And it makes you wondering. They shut us down for what? Are they certain that there is a safety issue? If so shouldn't they let us know in order to protect us? Furthermore there is an Airbnb guest inside our home right now. If they care so much shouldn't they send a message to this guest in order to protect him?  These are very  strange things that show lack of professionalism and respect for their associates and guests. I am trying to find someone that can talk to us since yesterday but no one cares. I had 4 phone calls where I demanded a written answer and  the opening of a case. No one did that. They were supposed to do it by themselves but all four of them forgot to do it!!! It seems that the Airbnb  policies don't apply there. I hope that you can help because I don't see any other option. 

[Sudsrung0]

@Γιάννης-and-Ρένα0 

There is lots of experienced host here in the CC forum unfortunately we dont have the answers to why Airbnb do this, without any communication,

[Γιάννης-and-Ρένα0]

Hi Sybe. This is Yannis from Ma Maison. Skye from the safety team called me yesterday afternoon. Our biggest fears came true. She didn't say anything because she is not allowed to!!! The only thing we can  do is cross our fingers and wait for her decision. We don't have the right to know what is wrong with our listing nor to respond to the accusations. It feels like I am in an Orwell book. Skye is the judge that will decide on our future without even hear our point of view.. We are already talking with our lawyer because this can't be legal. He said that this is illegal and that anyone has the right to know about the accusations that someone else did. Furthermore we have the right to know who did that because we will likely take legal actions for defamation and compensation for all these. We don't want to do that and we believe that this is a  

misinterpretation regarding the policies of Airbnb. Can you please help us or direct us to what we should do?

[Gabriel4034]

Hello Yannis, if your lawyer says it is illegal, maybe it's time you get a new one, hopefully one that has at least 10 min available to scan through the Terms of Service that you signed as a Host.  https://www.airbnb.com/help/article/2908/terms-of-service#13 

article 13.3 specifies black on white  with or without prior notice

Hope this helps

[Γιάννης-and-Ρένα0]

Thank you Gabriel. That was very helpful. Just have in mind that any signed agreement between two parties is not above the law. So there are laws that can cover someone even though he accepted these terms if the court decides that the terms are illegal. Furthermore have in mind that I am putting this here because i want everyone to know that they can be terminated without even now why and this is a major issue. You may think that this doesn't apply to you but it may in the future. We are talking about a PLUS listing, I am a superhost and it has 4.98 average after 250 reviews. Just take a moment and think about that. Thank you

[Gabriel4034]

I never said I liked the decision imposed on you or that I am on board with everything mentioned in the T&C of this platform. Many us users are in this mainly for the experience of travelling/hosting yet when I see a lawyer that touts BS without knowing that the devil is in the details....it's sad.

I would like to think that no one is indeed above the law , in that respect it should NOT matter whether you are a superhost with 1 mil good reviews or a newbee on the platform, everyone should receive fair treatment. Fronting your status does not make you more  "right" . It just looks like  entitlement

I do hope you receive a reasonable explanation of what happened and your "PLUS" listing back online.

[Γιάννης-and-Ρένα0]

Thank you very much. Our status is not an entitlement. It is a fact. Of course everyone has the right to be treated fairly. However if you have a status like the one I am referring to you expect that you will be treated as a valued partner as they mentioned in my renewal of the superhost status at the same day the pulled my listing out. I don't want to argue with you but in every democratic country you have the right to defend yourself before someone makes a decision that has impact on you. Hopefully I will be able to do that with your help also. Because this is a community that has been built with our work and effort. 

[Gwen386]

@Γιάννης-and-Ρένα0 Your listings are activated. 

[Γιάννης-and-Ρένα0]

Hi Gwen. Thank you very much. We just received a mail about that. These are very good news. You can't imagine the way we felt during these two days. I want to thank you for being with us from the beginning. I don't know if it had anything to do with the outcome but for sure it was really nice to feel that we have support. Our main concern though is that in the mail it is mentioned that we didn't follow the guidelines and to be careful not to do it again in the future. That could be ok if first of all we knew what we did!!! We don't have a clue. Also it is mentioned that this will be held in our record. So I wanted your help about this. We have to find out what really happened. It is a major issue for us because we realized that if someone wants to harm you he can do it very easily without even know who it was. This is a major issue for our community and I want to bring it in the surface because it has to do with all of us. We have to demand something more because you can't speak with anyone in this case. The phone line is not authorized to do anything and there is no way to reach the Safety team. This has to be resolved.  

[Sybe]

Hi @Γιάννης-and-Ρένα0 ! I'm glad to see your listings are back up and running, though I can imagine these were incredibly frustrating days for you.

Your feedback about this is very valuable. Hopefully we can find a way to provide more clarity in these situations. I'll make sure to pass it on and it'd be great if you could do the same using the Feedback Form.