SuperHost for 3 years straight - InstantBook ability for my properties was removed

[Adam58]

I have been a SuperHost for 3 years with no cancelled reservations. A month ago the electricity went out in my 2-unit Airbnb. I had to cancel a week's worth of bookings to get the electricians in there to replace the meter stack between the two units. It cost me $8K to get it accomplished quickly so that I could honor the rest of my bookings. I showed Airbnb my coorespondance and final invoice from the utility and electrician. They told me I was ok and that I would keep SuperHost; that there would be no penalty against me.

All future reservations after this insident have been "requests to book". Instant Book is not available on my properties in the search results. The Airbnb service center is extremely puzzled each time that I call because it shows to them that my Instant book is still active. But no guest is able to instant book, they must request to book.

After a week, they finally explained that this was an experiement in January by Airbnb to handle "high risk" hosts who are not actually updating their calendar or cancelling multiple reservations. I have been a SuperHost for 3 years, with over 300 reviews, never cancelled booking before and have multiple bookings across my 5 properties every week. This has had a profound impact on my level of reservations and level of time to respond to each booking request right away.

They say that it is system generated and that the service center can do nothing at all to help me. That I have to wait for them to review my activities every 7 days but for an unknown number of review periods or what they are actually reviewing. I have accepted every reservation and completed about 15 reservations since this happened a month ago.

This is truly a terrible way to treat a host who has been so dedicated for many years. I am at lost so now turning to you all for your thoughts and help in this situation. Thank you for your time.

[Dennis83]

I absolutely understand!  I also expierance tgd attitude at times is strait Black when you know you are in the White. Its like being in court,   your sentence is a result of which Judge you have. Sometobed call back and hope to get a different host customer service attendant. Majority of times all is great on their end, , but times it is just not unfathomable what they are or are not saying. 

[Adam58]

I have called them about 10 times now on the issue hoping to get someone who has the ability to help. Takes them about 20 minutes to figure out what is happening. They agree vocally that this should not be happening to me but also say that there is zero they can do for me because it is “system generated.” That the issue is system generated and that they have no access to fix the system. That I just have to wait an unknown time for it to be removed....it’s so frustrating and time consuming which each call back. 

[Branka-and-Silvia0]

@Adam58

service center is extremely puzzled  .... this was an experiement in January ....  it is system generated .... can do nothing at all ....

NO COMMENT

[Ange2]

I'm betting an algorithm, or a gang on them, escaped the clutches of their developer, or Airbnb is letting them 'play' .  I wonder if there is a collective word for a group:  an "Assault of Alogrithms"

[Jayesh0]

@Adam58

We had a guest whose name was a flag for me and a phone call cleared up that she had accidentally booked on her “fake” profile. She was forthcoming and did provide her real name. We called and had the booking cancelled for being uncomfortable. We had IB privileges taken away for 3 weeks because we were also deemed “high risk”.  Hope it does not take too long for you. I would imagine your punishment should be just about completed by now. We did get an email with an explanation about a week after this happened. Surprisingly, the guest lost her service fee with the cancellation as well so it’s not even like they lost their fee on the booking. Who knows what they are thinking with this new initiative.... Good luck to you, Lisa 

[Rachel177]

@Adam58 I had the same thing happen to me in December. The advice I got from the community centre (Airbnb CS were useless and kept closing my case) was to go into your calendar daily and change it - just one day for a dollar or two. It took about 2 weeks after discovering it for IB to come back on, tho it disappeared then for a week. It's been back on since mid-January. I had a guest cancel the day of his booking last week so I'm waiting to see if I'm punished again & IB disappears. It sucks that it happens, you just need to realise that there are thousands of superhosts out there, so penalising a few is no big deal for the company.

[Adam58]

@Rachel177 what do you mean about going into your calendar and changing by a dollar each day? Do you mean lowering the price some each day? Thank you for replying!! So very helpful to see this happened to others and came back on. 

[Rachel177]

@Adam58 it's not lowering, just changing the price. I don't use smart pricing, so I go in and change my prices regularly & at times my listing description. So Igo in and change a price for a particular day (usually up not down).

And what I've read is on forum that what ever algorithm airbnb use, the more often you check your listing, change prices, update details etc the higher your listing appears. The new performance stats that have been rolled out seem to be verifying that for me, my listing is higher, gets more views etc so there may be some truth to it, but I'm not an SEO expert

[Adam58]

@Rachel177 so very helpful! Thank you. 

[Jennifer1421]

@Adam58

I, too, am currently in Instant Book Jail for cancelling a third party booking. I received the same comments from Customer Service (after a full week of back and forth), in that although the system shows this cancellation as "Cancelled by Admin" the penalty is system generated and cannot be changed. The advice given to me was as follows (this is a cut and paste of our conversation):

"Unfortunately, I don't have a link for the guidelines (Note: in an earlier conversation with this CS rep, she had said that this was a "guideline", which I quite reasonably asked to be provided with). The system looks at your overall listing activity, including denied bookings, cancellations by host, and other listing activity such as calendar views and reviews. If there are activities in a short timeframe that it considers higher-risk, a host may be temporarily switched to Request to Book. And while re-assessments are done every 7 days by the system, there is no set timeframe for being converted back to Instant Book. Being active within the listing, such as booking reservations and responding to requests, is what will trigger the system to switch you back to Instant Book. This is the extent of the information we have regarding the conversion experiment."

This began on January 22nd for me, and I have (presumably) now passed 3 "7 day review periods", but am still in the penalty box (Request to Book). I've had 2 guests cancel their bookings this week. Unsure if this means that I'm still considered "high risk" and will continue to be penalized.

Very frustrating and demoralizing to be penalized for upholding Airbnb's Terms of Service. As a relatively new host, I am still struggling with whether I wish to continue a relationship with this company.

[Rachel177]

@Jennifer1421 it's pretty disappointing & happened to me in the peak season here in Australia. From what I've read & experienced it's more than 7 days you're in purgatory. It took me 3 weeks for IB to come back on completely (it was over the Christmas period so I was understandably not updating every day).

[Jennifer1421]

@Rachel177It's been more than 3 weeks for me now, even though I've been updating daily and even accepting requests that make me very uncomfortable. I'm still on Request to Book. In spite of all this interacting with my listing and yada, yada, my listing has dropped in the search rankings, and I've no idea what to do about it.

[Jennifer1421]

I'll also note that my listing is now ranking below some hosts that have not updated thier calendars in weeks (or, in some cases, months).

[Rachel177]

@Jennifer1421 sorry to hear that, it's stress that none of us want as hosts. All I can say is hold out for a couple more weeks - keep tweaking your prices & listing description. And don't accept bookings that you're uncomfortable with. Superhost is not the holy grail that it's made out to be, your own safety & security of your property is more important than that.