Mass Shooting in Airbnb house in Orinda last night, 4 dead

Lan1
Level 10
El Cerrito, CA

Mass Shooting in Airbnb house in Orinda last night, 4 dead

Breaking news:  4 dead, many injured in  an Airbnb party house in Orinda CA last night ( 10/31). The house is just few steps away from my second residence in the same street. About 10:00pm, My daughter and I were driving back to our residence, noticed that the street were full of cars. After a while, we heard police helicopters and ambulances arriving ....Neighboor next door told us there was a mass shooting in the Airbnb house few steps away.

The head of Airbnb trust and safety announced that  they will conduct serious investigation, according to the news.

My dear fellow host, I have been posting  many times regarding my concerns to Airbnb unsafe booking process.  My own house has been targeted several times for huge parties/criminal activities, but it couldn’t get enough attention from Airbnb trust and safety 

department.

 Please protect yourself and be safe!

周蘭
837 Replies 837

@Branka-and-Silvia0  Yes, it's every bit as nauseating and angering as you could imagine.

Here's a little excerpt: "....if it is determined that a guest has violated the new standards, the first violation will result in a warning and required education on Airbnb rules. Further violations may result in account suspension or removal."

The "new standards" listed are simply that guests may not smoke in a non-smoking listing, bring pets to a no-pets listing, arrive with extra guests they haven't paid for, throw an unauthorized party - the exact same things that guests were not supposed to get away with in the first place. 

@Sarah977 @Branka-and-Silvia0 et al

 

I find this excerpt disturbing:

Hosts who attempt to circumvent this ban and allow guests to throw large parties will be subject to consequences.

1.  What host in their right mind, who is not set up for "parties", would be looking to circumvent this? Which leads me to:

2. Should we be reading this as, "any host unfortunate enough to have a guest throw a party will be subject to consequences". It seems to me that this particular line throws the onus onto hosts in an unacceptably vague way. If we don't scour social media looking for open invite parties and our address, and/or have not specifically messaged a guest that we don't allow parties, or have not written same in our listing description, will we be de-listed? Or, should a host live off-site and not have security cams/ring doorbells, will s/he be deemed to have "allowed" it?

 

 

@Jennifer1421 I think this is intended more for hosts who when messaged if it is OK to have a party reply with it’s OK. Which there are plenty that do. And yes, it is wise to put something along those lines in your description. Takes a minute, protects you a lot.

@Sarah977 @Susan17 and everyone: Okay, so, does this mean that the guest that lied to the Orinda host (saying she was not going to have a party and making up a sob story about wanting to get family away from the smoke from the California fires) technically would not be kicked off the platform after the 5 tragic murders that she herself ultimately helped to facilitate under these 'new' (but not-so-new) policies?

@Rebecca181 Honestly, at this point, I don't know what more can be said. The whole thing is just demoralizing, depressing, and disgusting. And senseless. Why would Airbnb want to allow horrid guests to remain on the platform? Logic would tell any sane person and any smart business person that whatever amount of booking fees the company might stand to lose by booting off these liars and animals would be offset by the number of complaints they have to pay CS reps to field and the bad publicity that they spend a small fortune trying to counteract.

I couldn't help but notice that Laura has very conspicuously absented herself from any and all threads on the forum, even those where she is tagged in and used to respond, saying she'd look into something for a host. Perhaps she's busy packing for her next listening tour.

Or job?  @Sarah977 

Michelle53
Level 10
Chicago, IL

I just got an email from Airbnb entitled "Short-term rentals at risk in US".    As  I expected, small, independent hosts are expected to pitch in and call members of Congress to state how our livelihoods are being put at risk by "Big Hotel".    There was recently a news article about a 600-plus unit building in Florida being built just for the purposes of Airbnb. "Natiivo" condo tower in Miami. Since Airbnb is, effectively, "Big Hotel" these days, I'd like to know what's going to be in it for us small hosts if we do this.  

 

Full text follows. 

 

Congress considering new rules that would affect all Americans who use platforms like Airbnb
Hi Michelle,
As we continue to advocate for fair short-term rentals rules around the world, we want to keep you informed about legislation that may affect you. Typically, short-term rental legislation is created at the city or state level to ensure the rules address the specific needs of each community. It’s rare to see federal legislation addressing a local policy issue like short-term rentals. However, former hotel executive and US Congressman Ed Case did just that when he recently introduced the Protect Local Authority in Neighborhoods (PLAN) Act.

The PLAN Act would change long-standing internet laws to make platforms like Airbnb liable for user-generated content, like host listing pages. This would effectively require online short-term rental platforms to police users’ listings on behalf of cities. These changes could curtail consumer choice and limit the ability of hosts to responsibly share their space when and how they want.

Congressman Case and the big hotels are actively seeking additional co-sponsors for the bill, and now is the time to make our voices heard.

Email your member of Congress and ask them to oppose this hotel industry-supported bill, and stand w...
Email your member of Congress
The PLAN Act serves just one purpose: To stifle any competition to the big hotels and boost their record profits on the backs of American consumers. It willfully ignores solutions Airbnb has championed in city after city that provide governments with the information and tools they need to effectively enforce local short-term rental rules and collect taxes.

Members of Congress should not just hear from the big hotel chains — they should hear from hosts like you who share their homes or properties to make ends meet. When our community makes its collective voice heard, we can make real change, and prevent harmful overreaching legislation from becoming law. Send an email today.

Want to learn more? Here are some helpful resources about the PLAN Act and the f...
Airbnb: Communications Decency Act Section 230 & How the PLAN Act Could Change it
Travel Tech: Statement from Travel Technology Association President Steve Shur on Introduction of the Protecting ...
The Internet Association: Statement on the Introduction of the Plan Act
Thanks,
The Airbnb team
 

@Michelle53 Kind of ironic - and even sad - given one of the topics at one of the big short-term rental conferences attended by Airbnb Corporate recently was: "Is The Independent Host Worth Chasing?" (posted by @Susan17).

@Rebecca181   I saw that posting. My thought at the time was yeah, sure, we have a value, to the extent that we are a key front in the PR battle to represent the company as "small, homey, local, neighborhood" etc etc. While, at the same time, giving all the benefits to the big guys - preference in search listings being probably the biggest threat to the small guy/gal. 

It is all so very twisted and distorted, isn't it, @Michelle53? I guess we independent hosts are the proverbial 'Trojan Horse' used to get the towns to open up their gates and let Airbnb in - And then, surprise! All the commercial property listers jump out!

Rebecca181
Level 10
Florence, OR

Based on today's post from @Inna22, I'd say the '10-Day Sprint' has done nothing to curtail 'bad actor' guests who wish to abuse hosts' homes by turning their listing into a 'Party House'. 

 

@Laura_C this should really concern everyone at Corporate - How could this be happening?  From Inna:

"I got a reservation for this weekend from a local guy with one 1.5 star review. According to review, he threw a party. I read him my party riot act (I check IDs, have counter installed, etc). Silence for a few days, my calendar is blocked. This morning he tells me that he was planning on bringing "a few" friends over and they tend to be loud so he better cancel. Now airbnb is calling me to give him full refund so they can rehouse him "and help him have a good time"! When I questioned the caller how this works with the new anti party policy, she said she will not discuss it with me. When I pressed further, she said they would only do anything if it is active party in progress. And what are they going to do at that point? Send out a SWAT team? Which is short for Stop Wild party Airbnb Team who are a group of professionals trained in speed dialing 911 and putting out press releases?"

 

Link to post here: https://community.withairbnb.com/t5/Hosting/Guest-booked-for-a-party-and-Airbnb-is-rehousing-him/td-...

Rebecca181
Level 10
Florence, OR

So here we have a prospective guest who has blatantly stated they will violate the house rules and bring more guests than the host allows. Yet, hosts now have no way to 'block' a  guest such as this - only 'report' (which will not help the host in the short-term).  https://community.withairbnb.com/t5/Hosting/Refused-reservation-request-but-guest-is-trying-to-book-...

 

If Airbnb is serious about protecting hosts and guests from harm, then hosts need their right to block 'bad actor' guests restored.

So you decline the inquiry and reported the profile,  You don't need to block.  You just need to react to the inquiry.  I am wondering what else you think is needed, besides Air BNB actually reacting to the reported profile.

Hi Linda,

 

Given Brian Chesky's response after the five murders at the Orinda Airbnb, hosts should be able to report such guests so as to have them removed from the Airbnb platform. And, we should have our 'block' feature restored.

Rebecca181
Level 10
Florence, OR

I can barely believe what I am reading: From Inna22 - Here is an excerpt:

 

"To make a long story short, this person was just canceled by another host because the host realized they were planning on having a party and Airbnb was calling around to see who would take them.

 

First off, they were not upfront with me as to why this guest was being rehoused. It took a lot of questions to get to the bottom of it and CS was being very vague.

 

Second of all, my initial reaction was to trust Airbnb. If they’re calling and asking me on someone’s behalf, this must be a good reservation. They would not knowingly give me a house party reservation, not at least after everything that happened, I thought."

 

Yes. Airbnb WOULD, it seems. Imagine, Airbnb CS trying to trick an unsuspecting host into accepting a 'party house' reservation. This is in complete defiance of Airbnb CEO Brian Chesky's speech about 'party houses' being banned following the Orinda mass murders. 

 

This is nuts. @Laura_C how could this be happening?

 

Full post from Inna here.  https://community.withairbnb.com/t5/Hosting/Airbnb-called-me-trying-to-re-house-a-party/td-p/1204494