Advice on purchasing an existing Airbnb

[Zach716]

Hey guys, I’m considering purchasing an existing Airbnb that has bookings through the rest of this year. I’m aware that Airbnb does not allow transfer of renters to new accounts and I’m also aware many people suggest the current host can offer the renters book under the new owners profile. 

However, I wanted to see if anyone has advice or experience on a successfully recapturing those renters? Is it successful? Do you see a drop off? Did you and the previous owner work out some kind of different arrangement? I would love to hear some thoughts, experiences and creative solutions! Thank you! 

[Joan2709]

@Zach716 

Can't really provide advice on this, but I would be very cautious about purchasing a previously listed Airbnb property with the intention of putting it on Airbnb after the purchase as a new listing.

Airbnb is now flagging listings that have be created by a new owner and suspending them as a "duplicate listing" in violation of their Circumvention Policy. This is dispite proof of new ownership. Just type "duplicate listing" in the Search the community box and you'll see what I mean. Difficult if not impossible to overcome this, as Airbnb uses an automated AI to flag the listings for suspension.

Circumvention Policy

https://www.airbnb.com/help/article/3566

I also wouldn't rely on assurances from Customer Service that this won't be a problem. Frontline CS doesn't always provide the correct information and you can't contact anyone in the "Specialized Team" that handles this.

[Zach716]

Wow I didn’t know about this! Thank you! 

[Joan2709 · Accepted solution]

@Zach716 

Keep in mind it is relatively easy for the AI bot to flag the new listing as it will have the same adddress as the previous listing, even if you change the photos and description.

Here are two other threads to take a look at..there are many others:

https://community.withairbnb.com/t5/Ask-about-your-listing/Duplicate-listing-NOT-A-DUPLICATE/m-p/201...

https://community.withairbnb.com/t5/Ask-about-your-listing/Issues-with-a-duplicate-listing/m-p/21140...

Airbnb Suspensions

Also, if the new listing is flagged and suspended, it could take months for it to be resolved (if at all). Meanwhile, you you have no cash flow, cannot accept bookings and have already invested time and money in preparing the listing to use as an STR. Ultimately, if Airbnb doesn't accept your appeal, you may have to sell the property. Legally, I believe you would have to disclose to a new buyer the possible issues if they wanted to also use as an STR. 

Seller Doesn't Disclose 

The other issue is some new owners don't find out the property was previously used as an STR, but the listing was deactivated or deleted. Airbnb can still flag these properties as duplicates when you create the new listing. 

New Listing Operates for Short Period - Then Suspended

The other situation is you may be able to create the new listing just fine and accept bookings for a few months, only to have the listing suspended as a duplicate and all the reservations cancelled by Airbnb. I believe these cancellations stay on your Airbnb profile and could hamper you if you were to purchase another property not previously listed on Airbnb. I suppose you could list another propery under a different owner name and SSN or Tax ID.

Other STR rental platforms may have similar policies, but I'm not knowlegable about that. When searching for properties to use as an STR on Airbnb, I would be sure to include a clause that the seller warrants the property is not (and as never been) listed on any OTA platform, if you want to avoid these issues.

[Zach716]

Very helpful thank you Joan! 

[Helen3]

What did the current owner say when you discussed these issues with them @Zach716 

if an owner knows they are selling they should not accept bookings they know they won't be able to honour but should block their calendar so this doesn't happen.

what sort of ratings and reviews does the current host have as @Joan2709  says if the ratings are low you might get caught out by Airbnbs policy if you try and set up a duplicate listing .

the owner would need to cancel any bookings they can't honour and pay the cancellation fee. They can tell their guests that they can rebook with you.

[Zach716]

They have a 4.95 rating and are a super host. 

If the original owner deletes there listing and I took different pictures and changed up the description it would hopefully not get dinged as a duplicate right?