Closed Account Horror Stories - What's the Deal?

[Anthony608]

So, we’ve all seen them.  Stories on the web, as well as this community about wonderful AirBNB hosts, some of them Superhosts, glowing reviews from hundreds of stays, no problems ever with guests, and then…one day…a cold and harsh e-mail form AirBNB simply stating their account has been closed.

The shock and horror of the person is enormous.  They reach out to AirBNB.  Customer service can give no answers.  The account is simply closed apparently for no reason.  Future stays are all cancelled, the host is out hundreds if not thousands of dollars.  More e-mails and phone calls to AirBNB go unanswered.  They are devastating.  They have bene kicked off AirBNB without a clue why.

So, my question…obviously.  For the stories that are true, what in fact is going on?  The only thing I have heard even coming close to a real explanation is that a lot of these people might have been cancelling too much or not pre-approving.  There is also the odd story about kicking someone out who was doing illegal things, only to find this was a gross violation of AirBNB’s terms of service.

What does everyone think?  Does this happen and if it does, how and why?

[Ana1136]

@Anthony608 I believe that many hosts don't know the real reason why they got delisted and Airbnb should be more transparent, everyone deserves an explanation. In the end we all put so much effort into this. But there are also many hosts who claim they don't know what is going on but they very clearly broke the rules. We just had an example here of a Superhost who was under investigation and claimed he did nothing wrong and the guest was falsely accusing him but in the end in turned out he asked for money outside of Airbnb and they removed his listings. I believe that many hosts are victims but there are maybe more others who claim they did nothing wrong but in reality they are just trying to avoid the responsibility. 

[Mike1034]

@Anthony608When a guest files a false accusation of a violation of Terms and Service, Airbnb will take off the host's listings without investigation or getting explanation from the host.

I would think that normally those violations of Terms and Service would be serious ones, for example, sexual harrassment, crime, and discrimination related. Airbnb do this is at the hosts' huge expense because they are afraid of lawsuit against them.

Some violations such as undisclosed surveillance cameras in the common area and front door in the property will put a host's listings temporarily on hold till the listings are changed to add those. I have seen some hosts's posts here about those incidences.

[Lisa723]

@Mike1034 @Anthony608 @Ana1136 nobody outside of Airbnb can answer this (until/unless it happens to us, whereupon we will not be here on this forum).

[Anthony608]

@Lisa723- I think people with closed host accounts can still log on to the forums and post messages

[Lisa723]

@Anthony608  Really? That seems not to have been true for hosts who previously posted about being delisted shortly before their accounts vanished. Do you have an example? (Of course, one could always create a new email etc. if one cared to.)

[Mark116]

It seems like there is maybe some period of time between when the hosts listings are delisted and the  host is fully banned...I remember Dave from Como was able to post for a short while, and then he was totally gone, same with a couple of others, first the listing disappeared but eventually the whole profile was gone, though there was a time lag on the second.

[Mike1034]

@Mark116Yes, I think that is the case. Normally Airbnb take off the host's listings first. After a few days, his account and profile would be removed. And you will see a oops! error when you try to view the host's profile page.

[Emilia42]

@Lisa723 @Mark116 

 David was still posting for days after his account was closed. I was under the impression that he stopped posting because what would be the point. He still has a 'About David' community forum page and I can still attempt to send him a private message.

[Ann72]

@Emilia42 Yes, here he is:  https://community.withairbnb.com/t5/user/viewprofilepage/user-id/21131

But the Oops Ice Cream Lady is standing there in place of his hosting profile page...

[Emilia42]

@Ann72His Airbnb account has been deactivated but we call still all see his community forum profile page which links to his e-mail address. So I'm pretty sure @David126 could still post on here if he wanted to. But then again, why would he want to?!

[Linda108]

I understand the angst of hosts who feel unjustly suspended from this platform.  I understand why Air BNB does not provide explanations as that detail will only serve to fuel a law suit.  Hey, this is a business and Air BNB is a tool for this business.  Hosts of listings that can be listed on other platforms, just transfer their business to another platform.  Hosts, like myself, who have a private room, really don't have any other options other than Craig's list.  As I have posted before, I am in this  business until it no longer works and I do not recommend any host develop a financial plan based on this business and speficially based on Air BNB