Thanks for that detailed advice- I will try twitter. I won't hold my breathe, but perhaps I can learn more about what happened to my account (and the payout they haven't sent me for a guest stay while my account was deactivated. An internet search reveals many examples of 'drastic' decisions Airbnb has taken to the disadvantage of guests and hosts- I would like to have believed something like this was unlikely too, but I think they have grown too big to tend to their culture so well. And I still have some hope to find someone there who is able to provide good customer service, but I have found it to be lacking when I've had previous troubles.
Since you asked about the backstory, I will share- perhaps this could provide some experiental wisdom to others that remain in the communnity. The short of it is that Airbnb was reviewing a claim I made after some recent guests damaged my front door security camera, had additional guests stay, and brought a sizable amount of illegal drugs, edibles, and smoking paraphenalia into my home in Ohio. I requested my security deposit to go toward the cost of repair of the camera and asked Airbnb what, if anything, to do about the drug situation. They had some questions for me but then terminated my account before I heard any decision. I can only speculate that the guest kicked up some story about privacy, and perhaps any threat of legal action on their part compelled Airbnb to just get rid of me.
There may some technicality I missed that went against policy, but the camera only faced the point of entry (not the living space), was in plain site, and was noted in my listing. The guest and I even messaged about it (though he is the first one to ever be disturbed about it) and I reassured him on these points. I only installed it because that listing was burglarized in between guests stays while I was traveling earlier this year. The drugs etc were observed when delivering requested linens and had been alerted the unit would be entered.
Airbnb requested footage of the camera, descriptions and explanations- all of which I provided in detail and reminding them of the burglary earlier this year and the measures I was taking to increase security. After that I simply received an email stating my account had been deactivated and I would not be able to discuss or change the outcome, nor expect to be able to communicate further.
I reached another person today to at least inquire about the missing payout (and was told they will look into and get back to me...)
I am most heartsick about the guests who were canceled abruptly when my account was closed, however. I have a bad egg every once in awhile but mostly get to have wonderful visits at times in peoples' lives when big things are happening, planned weeks and months ahead- and so I care very much about the trust they put in me during these times. One was a grandmother arriving to stay near her daughter's newborn for 3 weeks and another needed the space for her family arriving to help her move cross country this past weekend. No other listings were as close as mine for these occasions and I can only imagine how stressed they were to try to find something in a hurry at the last minute.
To make travelers so vulnerable, with unexplained cancelations, is truly unforgivable.
