@Lisa723
That's fantastic news, Lisa! Well done to you for challenging the vague, undocumented "clawbacks". How appalling though, that Airbnb should just blithely take any host's money without giving them a clear explanation as to why, then shut down all further communication on the issue, leaving the host with no other option but to take their case to the small claims court in order to reclaim what's rightfully theirs. And even then, Airbnb hadn't got the decency or respect to respond.
Let's spell this out for exactly what it is - a $38 billion global corporation taking hard-earned cash directly from a regular person's pocket, then repeatedly refusing to clarify why they feel entitled to take that money. It's immoral. It's unethical. It's unconscionable. And it sure as hell can't be legal.
At this point, we're all painfully aware that Airbnb cover their own arses every which way, by forcing hosts to agree to their ludicrous T&Cs, in order to gain access to their accounts. However, much of what is written in Airbnb's T&Cs does not comply with local laws in many of the jurisdictions in which the company operates, and indeed, legal professionals in many regions worldwide, are already calling foul on the terms of service under which Airbnb is forcing its users to operate.
In July of last year, the EU Commission ordered Airbnb to bring certain clauses in its terms of service into conformity with European law. Press release below, see paragraph under the heading
"Clarification of terms or removal of illegal terms"
https://europa.eu/rapid/press-release_IP-18-4453_en.htm
Although a number of the enforced EU changes do also loosely relate to - and have associated impact on - the hosting community, the primary focus of the investigation, and subsequent changes, was mainly on how the company's terms of service affected users from a consumer (ie guest) standpoint - which is perfectly understandable, given that it was the Norwegian Consumer Authority (Forbrukertilsynet) that took the case to the EU, and initiated the joint assessment into Airbnb's business practices.
There absolutely needs to be another in-depth EU investigation, but this time, scrutinising the legalities of Airbnb's T&Cs from the service providers' (ie hosts') standpoint. Broadly speaking though, authorities will only act upon complaints brought to them by affected parties, so if we want things to change, we need to collectively ensure that our voices are heard, loud and clear, by the relevant bodies in our respective countries, that do have the power and governance to initiate the processes that will eventually bring about the change we seek.
If the tens of thousands of hosts who have completely wasted their time and energy airing their grievances here in the CC, on various other Airbnb groups and forums and via the black hole that is the utterly worthless Airbnb "feedback" link, had instead brought their complaints to the official small business and local enterprise protection and advocacy channels of their respective countries, there's no doubt whatsoever that many of the punitive and exploitative T&Cs that Airbnb uses as a stick to beat us with, would have been challenged and outlawed by now. But it's never too late...
Thank you for posting about your successful outcome @Lisa723. This particular "clawback" issue has come up again and again in recent months, across all the various Airbnb-related groups and forums, but most affected hosts have been completely unaware that the small claims court is an option for them to reclaim their misappropriated funds (or indeed, to challenge unfair or unethical treatment by the company) Hopefully, your post will open many eyes to the fact that we do have options, and we do have many official (external) avenues available to us, through which we can challenge - and overturn - Airbnb's more deceptive and host-punitive policies and practices.
Let's follow Lisa's example, and start having the balls to stand up for ourselves, people. We've all been bent submissively over the barrell for far too long now.
