Reporting a Listing

[Rick1]

https://www.airbnb.co.uk/rooms/10572692

Clearly this is not a genuine listing. Contact them via some dodgy email to check if it is still available. Photos being pretty generic and a host with no credentials to them. The report listing button is missing when I scroll down - How come it becomes so hard to find this button on Airbnb????? It is not under ".....More" (next to Email | Messenger |)

[Christine615]

How does Airbnb even allow this. You pay Airbnb for a tiny bed then have to pay cash for a blanket, electricity, etc. Honestly - Airbnb needs to establish some standards.

[Mike-And-Jane0]

@Michael716 This is classic. In addition to the extra charges the host is also claiming the enhanced cleaning badge whilst telling guests they have to clean for themselves!!!!

@Catherine-Powell How is this possible? Makes a mockery of the whole system surely.

[Peter3246]

Regarding the initial topic of reporting the listing , I was just informed by airbnb that You can only report a listing if you stayed there. Which is quite strange because the button to report a listing is available to anybody who goes to view that listing. My story is quite long but to make it short let’s just say that I have reported the listing I stayed in because it’s illegal short term rental and I was forced to move out. But there are eight other apartments in the same building in the same situation and I reported them all but then Airbnb says that I cannot report them because I didn’t stay in all of them . Isn’t this contradicting a general policy of Airbnb to protect the safety and well-being of the guests? If they know that the short term rentals are illegal in this building shouldn’t they take action on all of those listings?  I attach the notice form the building management for you to comment on  

[Sarah977]

@Peter3246  As it says on that notice, the place to report it was to the local authorities.

There are millions of listings- Airbnb can't keep track of every regulation in every area of every country. They do suspend listings in places where they know that local licensing and a number that goes along with it is required, in the US. 

Being able to report a listing you didn't stay at would be open to all sorts of abuse. 

[Peter3246]

Thank you @Sarah977 for your reply.   I have indeed reported the listing to the building management as stated on the notice.  And I will report it to the authorities as well.  I don’t expect airbnb to have the capacity (nor the will) to follow up on the legality of the millions  of listings they host on their platform in literally almost every country on earth. 

BUT - and call me crazy - doesn’t airbnb have a moral, ethical and/or legal obligation to act upon legitimate reports of illegal listings ? Or, does the need of securing their service fee trump all that ?  

Yes, fine.   They don’t run due diligence on every listing.  But when one of the community members such as myself provides overwhelming body of evidence that the listing is illegal I would have expected them to step in and act in accordance to their own policies which state , among other things, that safety and well-being of the guests is of top priority for them.  

Being able to report a listing you didn’t stay at is currently possible.  The button is visible and available to report such listings on any property page, regardless to whether you stayed there or not. So, why is that ? So that when you do report a listings they can turn around and say : sorry you can’t use that button?  Then remove it from the property page.  

I understand that it is open to potential abuse but is  it less severe than the actual abuse that is being committed by the host of this property by putting his/her guests at risk of being fined, arrested and/or jailed ?

Besides, since I have stayed in one of the properties in this building and the illegality of the listing is derived from the notice applicable to ALL apartments in that building, doesn’t this give me the right and the obligation to report other properties in the same building? If the apartment I’ve stayed at is illegal, so are the other apartments in the same building. 

Look, I’m extremely disappointed to see how airbnb doesn’t take this more seriously. Instead, they send template responses to say how much they care but they really just prefer to do nothing so that the service fees pour in.  So what if guests end up in jail? They will then say it’s the host’s fault.  They just provided a platform.

yeah, sure.  They provided the platform to commit illegal acts by the host.  And they knew about it and did nothing to stop it which by the way is against their own internal policies.  

it’s absurd wouldn’t you agree ? 

[Sarah977]

@Peter3246  Yes, of course it's absurd and unethical that Airbnb doesn't remove illegal listings, that their profits take precedence. They don't even remove listings where the tenant has listed on Airbnb, in violation of their "no subletting" lease, even when the homeowner contacts them saying the tenant is listing illegally. The homeowner's only recourse is to evict the tenant, which in most places is a lengthy process. 

Reporting it to the building management and local authorities is about all you can do in these  cases, as well as leaving a review warning future guests. That doesn't mean you shouldn't report it to Airbnb, you definitely should, but as you say, that doesn't mean they will act on it. Maybe if they get several reports, they might, who knows?

As far as not beiing able to report a listing you didn't stay at, I do agree with that, because, as I said, it would be too open to abuse. Anyone with an axe to grind against a host could report them for some bogus complaint- a disgruntled ex-girlfriend, another Airbnb host in the neighborhood trying to knock out the competition, or a guest who was upset with a host because they didn't get a refund they weren't entitled to could get all their friends to report the listing. Airbnb has no way of knowing if the reports would be legitimate. Just because your issue is, doesn't mean they can or would examine every report in depth to find out whether it was valid or not. 

[Peter3246]

Thank you again @Sarah977 for your comments.  I do understand.  I just would have hoped that a corporation worth billions of dollars could spend a few buck to pay staff to investigate the validity of such reports.  it's easily verifiable if they really want to do it.  But I guess profits prevail.  It is serious stuff though as guests are threaten with jail time and fines yet airbnb turns a blind eye on it.  I hope that once I get a court order or the municipality ruling on this airbnb will act on my report.  

[Peter3246]

@Sarah977

[Helene511]

It seems as if the previous owner of my home used it was Airbnb, and account is active on website.  How do I get it removed.

[Helen3]

ask the previous owner - they are the only one who can do this @Helene511 

[David9438]

Sorry for posting here but any idea who to contact to report a property?

[Helen3]

Depends what you are reporting the property for surely @David9438 

[David9438]

🙄

[Jenny]

Hi @David9438 

As @Helen3 says, we'd need to know why you were wanting to report the property, as there will be different options for different scenarios.  e.g. is there a party being held at a property, is the property not as described, things like that.

If you can elaborate then I'm sure we can help.

Jenny