The Rise and fall of AJ the Superhost - Will it affect your listing?

Alexandra316
Level 10
Lincoln, Canada

The Rise and fall of AJ the Superhost - Will it affect your listing?

All my fellow Canadian hosts, and doubtless some further afield as well, will probably have heard about AJ the Superhost:

 

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/airbnb-montreal-aj-host-suspended-accounts-1.5252233

 

Yesterday, I got calls, in-person conversations, and texts about it from people who weren't fellow hosts. Friends and co-workers wanted to talk to me about it, and some expressed concerns about future Airbnb trips they had booked.

 

Coles Notes version: this guy was the 4th biggest host in Canada, with over 90 listings in Montreal. He was playing the shell game with the listings, claiming that he was double-booked and sending people to properties that were nothing like they had booked. He also had hundreds of fake reviews from fake guests - the same "guests" reviewed him many times. The issue was known to Airbnb and they suspended his listings so he couldn't take any new bookings, but they didn't let guests who had already booked know about it. Guests continued to turn up for their reservations and either have the bait-and-switch pulled on them, or stayed in properties that were dirty and unsafe. He was under review in the spring, and he just had his account de-activated now.

 

The first I heard about this guy was back in the Spring, when the CBC published another article about him and other hosts like him:

https://www.cbc.ca/news/business/biggest-airbnb-hosts-canada-corporations-1.5116103. This guy has been on the radar for a while.

 

How do you think this is going to affect you as a host? It concerns me as a host in Canada that people will be turned off of the platform - particularly those who are on the fence or haven't used it before. Does it worry you? I find it disheartening that it took Airbnb so long to deal with this, and let so many guests down so badly in the meantime.

53 Replies 53
Paul154
Level 10
Seattle, WA

I want to find those same fake guests and have them leave me great fake reviews!

@Paul154 They all had their profiles pulled. You'd have to come up with some sock puppets of your own.

Mark116
Level 10
Jersey City, NJ

@Alexandra316   My guess is that these types of multiple listings will be a thing of the past within a few more years.  Many cities have already clamped down on airbnb by limiting the number of days of a STR and by adding many layers of bureaucracy and cost for all hosts.  I would envision that airbnb will ultimately consist of hotels and traditional B&Bs, some luxury listings in areas that will permit it, and then the traditional in home/on property listings.  Where we are the city has mandated that STR are limited to 60 days a year unless you are on site, which will in effect kill the listings that are either investments or 2nd properties.  Making it even stranger that airbnb gives so little support to it's traditional hosts, since when the dust settles, they will be one of the few channels airbnb will still have. 

Gordon0
Level 10
London, United Kingdom

This sort of stuff is great fodder for the anti Airbnb brigade and I can hear them now: "See, I told you it was all a scam".

Airbnb could have handled this so much better.

Emilia42
Level 10
Orono, ME

@Alexandra316

I have been following this for awhile after a host called BJ from Montreal posted about it in the community center last winter exposing AJ. BJ contacted Airbnb about it and they dismissed it and his post is now gone from the CC. ( @Susan17 posts about that here https://community.withairbnb.com/t5/Help/Post-Exposing-quot-Host-quot-With-97-Listings-Fake-Profiles...)

 

I have been imagining all morning what the real AJ looks like, since his gorgeous profile photo was a stock image. Maybe he was a little chubbier and had less hair in real life? We will never know.

@Emilia42 Yes, I do remember that thread. It makes me wonder if perhaps BJ was involved in alerting the CBC.

 

I suspect that AJ doesn't exist at all: with 93 properties, there must have been a team of AJs, and I'd be surprised if any of them are Instagram models.

@Alexandra316 @Emilia42

AJ exists. He's Alexander J. Zakowski, former software engineer (aren't they all??) Now describes himself as an event planner/bachelor party organiser. Says he doesn't use his own pic, for his family's safety.. "When guests do have issues, we don't want them, like, taking it out on me"

 

You can see where he's coming from! His guests certainly had a lot of issues... mice, rats, bed bugs, filth etc etc. It's a miracle the man hasn't been beaten to a pulp ten times over.. 😉

 

@Susan17 Indeed... it's not paranoia if they're actually out to get you!

Glad I don't have to host with a paper bag on my head.

Kimberly419
Level 4
Ontario, Canada

Our condo board, without notice or consultation, immediately passed a resolution to ban Airbnbs under the Toronto Condominium Act as of Sep 21. So we're out of business.

 

I suspect the ban has been in the works for some time (we have a loud complaining neighbour) but the AJ case on top of recent horror stories about partygoers trashing Airbnb homes in Toronto and London, ON, probably pushed them into decisive action. 

 

I posted a brief rant ..err.. explanation ... about my case on the Toronto Airbnb forum but that's a pretty quiet discussion board so will link it here: 

https://community.withairbnb.com/t5/Everything-Else/Condo-board-is-shutting-us-down/td-p/1113081

 

I have to say, it was good while it lasted. We are kicking ourselves for hesitating for so long. The horror stories had us worried too. But our experience has been excellent. It's a shame that the actions of a few ruin it for the rest of us. 

@Kimberly419 Yes, I'm sure things like this don't help at all when condo boards - and even cities - are looking at coming up with rules. Toronto keeps taking about having rules around short-term lets but it keeps being set aside, so your condo board may just be ahead of the rush. Hard to say.

@Alexandra316 

It's difficult to imagine that the CBC reports in recent months, and the resultant bad publicity, won't  have a bearing on the rescheduled LPAT hearing in Toronto next Monday (26th). The timing of the latest article was rather unfortunate. 

Jennifer1421
Level 10
Peterborough, Canada

It does concern me, @Alexandra316 , for a few reasons:

 

1. The bad publicity around this particular case shines a light on the mockery that Airbnb has made of it's own standards. Specifically, the Authenticity and Reliability standards found here:

https://www.airbnb.ca/trust?locale=en

If the public is lead to believe that the company does not take its own policies seriously, how much faith will new users have that they will be protected when traveling? Bookings, therefore, will drop as fewer people use the platform.

The repercussions as a host are obvious, and something that is discussed ad nauseam here in the community centre: if guests believe that policies and terms are not going to be enforced, why should they care to follow host's rules/standards or even engage in common decency or behavioural mores? They may feel (correctly) that there will be no consequences to poor behaviour and thus, hosts are left with potential damages, cleaning headaches, illegal activities in their premises, or even worse. The entire enterprise becomes a race to the bottom.

 

2. Have you ever read the comments that follow stories like this? I realize that often the kinds of people who feel compelled to comment on news stories do not represent the vast majority of people I would consider to be reasonable. With that said, the negativity that gets spread to the general population of people reading reputable new sites through these comments, cannot be understated. The vast majority of readers are unlikely to be Airbnb users. Dollars to doughnuts, if I were unfamiliar with the platform and read the comments (many of which are about the commenters bad experiences), you can bet I would never, EVER be tempted to join. Result: an ever smaller pool of guests being chased by a much larger pool of hosts. As above, as were are forced to compete with each other for less business, prices drop, standards drop and again - a race to the bottom.

 

3. Personally, I have struggled with my social conscience about using my apartment as a short term rental, as the rental stock in my small city is badly undersupplied. I've justified it to myself thus far by knowing that my offering has never been part of the city's rental stock, so I haven't removed anything and by knowing that I am serving a market (mainly younger and older travelers whose funds are limited). Sadly, though, as these types of stories pop up, and as the STR market, of which Airbnb has become the face, is demonized, I feel we all run the risk of becoming pariahs in our communities. I have reasonably thick skin, but I'm not sure how much of a bollicking I'm willing to take from my neighbours. As this type of publicity becomes more prevalent,I expect I will stop hosting.

 

4. I recently read Dan Ariely's excellent book, "Predictably Irrational". In it, he discusses the dangers inherent in mixing social  (doing a "favour") and market (charging for a thing) norms, which is precisely what Airbnb has built their brand upon (calling us hosts and guests, but money is changing hands). As we become more mainstream, more people will become caught up in the strange duality of the two, leading to more people being disappointed, simply because neither the social nor the market expectation is being fully met. Result: Ever increasing poor publicity, 'cause ain't nobody happy.

 

The original model of Airbnb was brilliant. No capital expenditures or inventory costs, getting hosts and guests to provide service and support for each other, rather than needing to pay an army of service teams, making a system that relied upon social norms rather than market norms. Brilliant!

However, I am very concerned about the sustainability of the model - especially as it grows to include investor class hosts, ultra-luxe properties, hotels, experiences and even days long trips - the multitude of all of these things is setting expectations too big for the original model to contain or service.

 

Gee, I really do waffle on. Sorry for the monster post.

 

@Jennifer1421 

@Alexandra316 

 

Hi Jennifer, aside from the increase revenue we earn from airbnb, it's very important to note the increase rights we have as landlords with this STR vs traditional long term renting. For me, I prefer STR for both of those reasons.

 

I am not sure why you should feel social conscience for doing STR. The fact that you lose all of your rights when you do long term rentals is a very compelling reason to do STR

 

The government has basically stripped us of any rights. If a tenant does not pay their rent, it can take 6 months to evict them and you likely will never receive the money. If you want to move into your own home or do a renovation, you have to pay your tenants 1 month rent. If your tenant is loud, dirty or even a criminal, you can't just kick them out. For me, the way the system is set up now provides me no incentive to do long term rentals.

 

The issue with rising rental prices has a lot to do with the fact that the government's communist style approach to landlord rights has pushed a lot of real estate investors away from long term renting to either STR or just another sort of investment all together.

 

For me, I would rather go through the hurtles that are on the horizon with changing STR laws then to ever go back to long term renting.

@Sean433 I feel very much the same about tenant rights: if Airbnb and other short-term letting sites were outlawed in Ontario, I would just stop letting the space. I am not prepared to put up with the risks associated with being a traditional landlord in Ontario. I'm not taking anything away from the housing market by hosting. My property would not be part of the province's housing stock if I was not hosting.