Airbnb isn't following policies that it expects hosts to abide by. What to do?

[Jared426]

I am looking for suggestions on how to get someone at Airbnb to review evidence on a case they got wrong.

Overview: 
--- Long-term guest. 
The guest made up an excuse to cancel after 10 days. Was very threatening and vocal about it on messages. (I assume this is why Airbnb dis whatever he wanted.) (His personal vehicle had an oil leak and Airbnb doesn't allow him to remove his engine in my 1 car new garage to fix it.)
--- We told the guest that they had to cancel and not us since there are many consequences for the host if we cancel him. 
--- The guest submitted a video of a neighbor's, neighbor's (not even our closest neighbor) doorbell camera (that can not even see our property) as evidence to cancel. 
--- The safety team canceled him and didn't even make him pay for the days he used our property, utilities, and they made mess of the place. 
--- Customer support asked us for evidence in a video. We provided it but the analytics show it was never viewed. 
--- Customer support gives some BS replies like, "Our management team agrees this was handled correctly." 

--- We have a firm cancelation policy on the unit, so the guest should have paid in full for 10 days + 30 days since they had almost 80 more days on the contract. 

Long version- 
I had a guest who booked for 3 months. 

After 10 days, the guest had an oil leak in his vehicle and demanded that we, as the host, cancel his reservation. 

We asked Airbnb, and they told us not to cancel, as there are many consequences with fees and our status. Airbnb advised that the guest should cancel. 

The guest became very hostile, saying that if we cancel, he will give us a good review and sent messages every few minutes about how we need to cancel him because it is against the policy to remove his engine to fix his oil leak in our garage. 

We consulted with Airbnb each time and asked for advice, but Airbnb told us not to cancel him. 

We let the guest know, but he started threatening many different things by making claims about us to all sorts of agencies. 

We initially addressed his messages but eventually told him that we couldn't change the fact that he would need to cancel, and that would be the last thing we could say about it. 

The guest created a video showing a doorbell camera on a property that is not ours and not even our closest neighbor's. The doorbell camera cannot view our property. He submitted this to the Safety Team and harassed them until they provided him with a full refund. 

The Safety team then let us know he is being refunded. We asked about the firm cancelation and the camera policy. They told us the reason was for a camera on our property.

We disputed this, and the Safety team asked us for a video to show the neighbor's camera and our property. 

I provided a video showing the guest's own video and identified what property was ours and which had the camera. We sent it to them along with Airbnb policies regarding firm cancelation and the camera policy. The camera policy says that a camera that is not under our control and cannot see our property has no requirement for us to disclose...

The safety team told us they reviewed the evidence and the video. I checked the video's analytics, and they never even opened the link. The video is on Loom, and it will show me how many times it was viewed and how long they viewed it. It will show a progression if someone starts a 5-minute video and only watches 1 minute. 

We confronted Airbnb, and since then, it has been a total mess. We are passed to different "Closers," who are supposed to get us to agree that the case is closed. 

I have tried to work with Airbnb about this without going to social media or other means. 

The fact is Airbnb has a policy that they expect us to obey. They, however, are not following the policy. At this point, they owe me money and are illegally withholding it from me. Not to mention the time and frustration involved with dealing with something that is IN WRITING ON THEIR OWN WEBSITE! 

Airbnb Camera Policy. https://www.airbnb.com/help/article/3061 (Note the part about someone else's camera not being my responsibility.)

Airbnb longterm firm cancelation policy: https://www.airbnb.com/help/article/475 

While writing this, I spoke with another "Special Escalations Supervisor." I do appreciate that he listened to me. He confirmed that each step of the story I had done nothing wrong and that my interpretations of the policies are correct. 

However, he basically said that the safety team made a decision and they will probably not change it and that many other Airbnb Hosts  are in the same boat!

I asked to escalate it since he is not going to be able to do anything himself. He did. 

Below is the response I got. 

Hi Jared,

Gary from Airbnb Safety team here.

Thanks for following up. I understand this is not the outcome you were hoping for.

As explained before, regarding the further information, Airbnb is bound by the California Consumer Privacy Act for the USA market and the General Data Protection Regulation for the European Market, which forces our company to care and keep any personal information from every user safe and secret.

No information about the process, development, internal procedures, communication with the users or any information about user's profiles will be disclosed.

We do our best to fairly and reasonably assess these cases. In our efforts to be objective, keeping in mind that we were not present during the reservation, we must consider all available documentation and communication when coming to a decision which aligns with our policies and procedures.

The case has been reviewed by the management and they confirmed that the proper measures had been taken.

Regards,

I had asked to have someone be able to verbally tell me how I am being punished when I am within policy. That was the response above. 

Just like an abuser who is manipulating their victim into believing it is the victim's fault. They are acting like they made the "Right Call" even though the lower support agents agree with me on my interpretations of the policy. 

Do I need to disclose that the neighbor 5 doors down has a Tesla and that has cameras? 

This is not fair, Airbnb and you know it. That is why you give such BS responses about not providing any further information. 

[Karen114]

@Jared426  None of this is fair.  So sorry this happened to you. 

Airbnb does not own your home, you do.. You get to decide what or whatnot goes on inside. Time to figure that out.

[Joan2709]

@Jared426 

If everything you say is true (and I have no reason to believe it's not about the cameras) then Airbnb is wrong. However, they may have refunded the guest based on the fact you didn't disclose before booking on the listing that the property is in an HOA that have strict rules that would apply to them during the stay. You mention they are provided at check-in. See below.

Did you restrict the guest from doing mechanical work in your garage (fixing the oil leak)? Do guests even have access to the garage?

Are you the owner of the property? The listing is showing a "Maria" as Host with you as Co-Host?

House Rules Missing On Listing

I took a look at the House Rules and that section is missing alot of standard House Rules BTW...might want to update that. There are (7) standard House Rules and your listing only shows (2)?

I didn't see anything about garage access in addl house rules? I too would not allow a guest to do oil changes or fix an oil leak on the property (even without an HOA rule). Plenty of local car repair shops they could do that at and your home is not a repair shop. Also addl liability and if oil gets on the concrete, impossible to clean.

The guest mentions he was not told about the HOA Rules for the condo complex for vehicles before booking? Your public reply says:

"outlined in the welcome materials provided to guests upon check-in and prohibited by Airbnb guidelines." 

You may have to start including the HOA rules in your addl house rules and/or refer to them on the listing page and that guests must comply with the HOA rules when staying. 

Amenities Missing On Listing

The listing is only showing 12 amenities? Normally there should be about 35-45 amenities. Airbnb says you don't have:

Heat

Essentials (TP, towels, linens)

Hot Water

All that said, the camera claims was just this guest's attempt to get a refund out of Airbnb (which he succeeded in doing). He probably did an internet search on how to get a full refund on Airbnb. He admitted the cameras were not on your property, but were neighbors cameras. It's possible that Airbnb is providing the refund due to the fact you didn't disclose the HOA rules on the listing prior to this guest booking. This falls under "Listing Accuracy" and since you didn't disclose that Airbnb guests must comply with HOA Rules when staying on the listing, the refund was probably based on that. The camera claims are unfounded and really don't pertain. That could be the reason the video you provided was not viewed.

Listing Accuracy

https://www.airbnb.com/help/article/2895

• Amenities and house rules: The listing page should disclose applicable house rules and accurately represent all available amenities (hot tub, kitchen, gym, etc.) and features offered in the listing. If the listing advertises “essential amenities”, all amenities from this list should be available to guests. If there are restrictions associated with amenity access, these should also be fully disclosed on the listing page (for example, a pool that is only available during certain hours or months of the year).

Guest Refunds 

https://www.airbnb.com/help/article/2993

Many Hosts with properties with HOAs, note this on the listing and that the guest must sign and agree to HOA rules when staying. They advise on the listing that guests will have to sign the document and return it within 48hours of booking. Not sure if they use e-sign or not. Lots of apps out there to do that and I believe Adobe provides that for a fee. Think you can do that on DropBox for free. Other Hosts simply state the property is part of an HOA that has rules that will govern their stay and only list the most pertinent ones (in your case, no car repairs in driveways/garages). Some HOAs have restrictions not allowing certain types of vehicles in driveways or on the street (boats, trailers, RVs, commercial trucks or vehicles). Some have specific rules about noise...you get the idea. Some HOAs outright ban short term rentals and only allow 30+stays. Looks like this is a new listing with long term stays, so my guess is you are required to only offer 30+ stays by the HOA or by local ordinances.

Not sure this one is worth pursuing with Airbnb, but that is up to you. I would suggest you go through the listing though and add all the missing information.