Airbnb says I'm being investigated

[Thomas2184]

I need help. I use Airbnb to host the other rooms in my house and a few days ago I got notification that my account is under investigation and airbnb called me asking them to give them information about any incidents that occurred at my place. I don't have any incidents that required reporting and there weren't any recently but I recalled an issue with two guests about two months ago since I wasn't sure what to tell them. They wanted me to recall an issue but wouldn't tell me what the problem was or why I was being investigated. I was then told there would be correspondence about this 72 hours later. I heard nothing back and sent several emails and finally was told they were still investigating and that one of reservations that was upcoming would be cancelled (which was just a guest extending their stay at my place).

The next day that guest came down and told me that Airbnb called him trying to get him setup somewhere else and told him that I violated airbnbs terms of service and that my listings will be inactive. They told the guest this but not me and I'm not aware at all of any violations I've committed to Airbnb's terms of service. I have over 100 reviews most of which are positive and can't begin to understand why this is happening. If there's any help as to what I can do i would appreciate it.

[Emiel1]

@Thomas2184 

"but I recalled an issue with two guests about two months ago since I wasn't sure what to tell them"

Can you explain more ?

Issues to think about:

- off site payment (promoted)

- security / safety issues

- non discrimination policy breached

- camera's

- complaining neighbours

- issues with local regulations / law

It is annoying Airbnb is not mentioning in the issue(s), this happened to other hosts (search community)

Best regards,

Emiel

[Ann72]

@Thomas2184  I have no wisdom or advice but a lot of sympathy.  I believe other experienced hosts will say fight and don't give up.  I hope you win through.

[Mike-And-Jane0]

@Thomas2184 Another host reported a similar issue a few months ago. He was finally allowed to continue as a host but told his listing might be pulled if he 'misbehaved' again. His frustration was that Airbnb wouldn't tell him what he had done wrong and hence he didn't have a clue what not to do!

Good luck in the twilight zone that is Airbnb investigations.

[Mike-And-Jane0]

@Thomas2184 Having looked at your profile I think its fairly obvious that the issue is based on your August review. Not knowing you or the guest I have no idea where the truth lies or how Airbnb could ever determine the truth. Certainly it appears an outlier with respect to your other reviews and I hope Airbnb take this into account. 

Have you removed the listing associated with this review? If so be aware it doesn't hide the review.

[Thomas2184]

To be honest I have no idea how that could be the reason for banning me from the platform and cancelling my reservations. I also don't get what makes it obvious? Even with the ambiguity of that situation I'm not sure how they can say I violated terms of service??? This is the second guest I've had that lied and gave me a bad review, even rating other parts of their stay at 1 star just to try and make me look bad. But to suggest that I violated rules and deserve to be banned is quite a stretch here.

[Emilia42]

@Thomas2184 It's extremely likely that the guest reported you and Airbnb is now taking action (they are super backed up and months behind on handling guest/host issues.) 

[Mike-And-Jane0]

@Thomas2184 I'm not saying it happened but hitting on a guest and taking illicit photos are almost certainly not allowed and hence a violation of the terms and service.

[Thomas2184]

Yea neither of things ever happened. I have a shared house and that guest went through her boyfriends phone and caught talking to another guest who was previously staying there. She thought it was me and tried to confront me and then felt silly when I told her she was mistaken. I pulled out my phone and said she could prove it by having him message me, she got frustrated and decided that I was lying. Her boyfriend was in no position to say much because of he just got caught talking to another man and he left. She felt I should pay her back for her stay basically making it free. I told her no and told her she was welcome to cancel the remainder of her stay. She left, wrote that review and then rated me 1 star even lying and saying that I listed an incorrect address for my property. Quite honestly the only part of this that bothered me was the fake review but now I'm very curious to see how Airbnb is going to pursue this. I still don't know if that actually was the situation that caused this investigation but I can't fathom how this can be proved.

[Lisa723]

@Thomas2184 unfortunately for you it does not have to be proved. There is no due process on Airbnb.

[Kara-and-Jessica0]

We have been going through the same situation this week with AirBNB. On Monday when we called, we were told the issue was on the software end of things. We called our software company and they said they would get it fixed. Then a day went by and they said nope, this is on Airbnb's end! We called AirBNB again and at that time were told we were under investigation and would receive a report regarding the investigation within 24 hours and our listings would be active again by 10:30am. It has been 3 days since that phone call. We have called 15+ times and I have talked to Erica, Cheyenne, Marvin, May, Chris, and a few more people and every single one of them has told us something different. Cheyenne and May told us they have escalated the account to urgent. The crazy thing is that Cheyenne told me yesterday that we were not under investigation and that we would have been notified prior to all 62 of our listings being suspended.... Then today May is telling us we are under investigation but she that is all she is able to tell us.  I do not see how this is legal??? We are losing thousands of dollars a day which may not be much to AirBNB but these 62 properties and the thousands of dollars we are losing is my livelihood and my 4 children's livelihood! I am at the point of just wanting to cry because I am so frustrated! I am hoping someone from AirBNB monitors these forums and can help me! 

[Helen3]

if you look back on your recent guests it's likely one has complained. About a safety issue @Kara-and-Jessica0 

62 properties wow you have an empire - presumably with such a large business you also list on other platforms and directly so aren't just reliant on Airbnb as you're only marketing channel. 

[Koa26]

Hey guys! I have the same issue since 72h. They just suspended for no evident reasons, and magically 3 of my upcoming guests just cancelled for different reasons : I am sure they were told by Airbnb or something like that. 

Was your problem solved? According to them, there is an investigation on-going and we have no clue what is going on. This is totally insane. 

Did you get back your listings and account? 

[Koa26]

Hey Thomas how did it goes at the end?