Hello -
I've been a superhost for 2+ years, with 5 star reviews across all categories and booked 90% of the time in Brooklyn, NY. We have a 2 unit house, a rental downstairs and we live upstairs. We always rent downstairs, and very occasionally we also rent upstairs when we plan to be away for an extended period of time. We have very strict rules regarding guests, especially upstairs as it's the home we actually live in.
Over the 4th of July, we rented upstairs to a single guest who was a photographer and stated he would be out all day and then just spending the night. We told him that's fine and let him book, despite not having reviews (normally a big flag for us). We have a 3 year old and have cameras in common areas (family room / hallways), along with her nursery (a room we normally keep locked). This is mentioned in the listing and the guest has to agree that they are aware of the cameras. We also explicitly discussed this with the guest and told him about the cameras before he booked. A few hours into his booking we get a text from our neighbor saying there are a lot of people going into our home. I check the cameras and he's having a party with about 10-12 guests. He moved the cameras, but you can still people coming. We call him, and ask him to leave. He's very polite and says he will get everyone out. Long story short, we had to threaten to call the police and then eventually he left after our neighbor went over. They made a mess, smoked pot in the house, left the backdoor open and left a used condom on one of the beds in my mother law's room (the one we rent out). Disgusting...
On Thursday (July 11th), I get an email from Trust and Safety stating that there has been a complaint about cameras in my unit and they want details on them. I replied immediately explaining that this is disclosed on my listing, along with details about where the cameras are. Normally, Airbnb is great about responding and I assumed this would quickly get resolved. They disabled my listings and inbox - which includes my other listing that has nothing to do with this complaint. 3.5 days later a $600+ booking on Friday was cancelled, and nobody has responded. I've emailed 6-7x, tweeted twice, and called about 5x - no one has any idea what is going on, and can help other than saying they will escalate the situation to "urgent". Three agents have all said this... no one from Trust and Safety has contacted me back.
Almost every situation i've ever had with Airbnb has been super positive, on both the host and the guest side. I'm a huge evangelical for the company, and even recently listed Airbnb as one of 3 brands most influential brands in my life on a survey. Needless to say, this is quite stressful and saddening. I would have no problem addressing the issue if they could simply reply and let me know what the concern is. Does anyone have any advice on how to handle this or have experience dealing with this?
Thank you so much for reading,
Vik