Airbnb keeps canceling our guests bookings!!!!

[Blair110]

I am writing for my wife who is  a super host in Toronto for many years now. Her nerves are shot and cannot take any more.

5 days ago ALL of our bookings in one of the two bedrooms we host in our family home were cancelled by Airbnb.

When questioned she was told there was a problem with the city of Toronto registration. We  immediately contacted the city and we’re  told there is absolutely no problem with our registration as far as the city is concerned.

After 2 days of back and forth communication with all of her guests most of them were able to rebook.

Now after just one day,  she was horrified to find the exact same thing has happened to all of her guests bookings again!

We have been on the phone to airbnb host support a half dozen times now and keep getting the run around blaming the city and the city say not them. Every time we are told it will need to be escalated to an ambassador to get back to us. Like I said it has been 5 days now and we have yet to hear back from any ambassador from airbnb.

[Sybe]

Hi @Blair110 , I'm so sorry to hear about this. I can imagine your wife's patience is running low with this.

I'm sending your case over to the team right away, they'll be in touch with you. If I get an update in the meantime I'll let you know, and please do let us know how you get on!

[Blair110]

It has been 8 days now, there has been no contact from Airbnb,  except for a dozen automated messages and emails saying they will forward onto someone else.

[Blair110]

Sadly this has happened to my wife again today and all of our bookings have been cancelled by AirBnB.

[Janelle-and-AJ0]

Man, I think I had a booking with you not even kidding.

[Michael6813]

Too bad your team treated me, a guest, like trash over this issue. 

[Nar3055]

Hi Blair,

We are having exactly the same issue with tens of cancellations happening. City of Toronto is claiming that the registration is valid, but Airbnb keeps on telling that city issues a notice of removal, so all reservations get cancelled. 
Unfortunately, Airbnb case managers are not helping an simply claiming It is a bug on the platform.

Now, It has been 3 times that Airbnb makes these automatic cancellations making It very frustrating for the host and the guests.

[Rozeda0]

Hello everyone, 

Ive been a host for sometime now without any issues. 

I have been experiencing the same issue with my listings as well. Without a warning or an email that would ask for Verification of the registration with the city of Toronto all my bookings have been cancelled. It is very heartbreaking to me to see that happen. Not only the host suffers but plenty of guests as well. 

Have been in touch with the city of Toronto that have verified that my registration is in good standing and they don’t know anything about the issue that happened with Airbnb. 

When I contacted Airbnb they said that this was all happening because of the city , but I have provided Airbnb with the proof of my valid registration with the city of Toronto and that didn’t change anything . 
After going through this issue the first time a few weeks ago I though that they had an issue with the system due to the update that is coming to the platform but no. This happened to me again today leaving lots of guests without a place to stay at tomorrow which is absolutely unacceptable. 

I hope this reaches someone at Airbnb and we can get more information on how this can be fixed so no host and no guest are left in a stressful situation. 

[Blair110]

@Rozeda0  @Nar3055 @Sybe 

We have discussed this issue at length with a dozen different support staff, each promising to escalate the issue to the ambassador but we never hear back from an ambassador.

One message states that the particular they were unfortunately leaving for the day and will not be able to look into the issue until they return on the 15th

Today we spoke to support staff and were told someone would be contacting us by telephone within a maximum of 3 hours…it has now been over 8 hours and nothing from the ambassador 

[Michael6813]

I also got fobbed off with we are going on our day off or whatever. Nuts. This just doesn't happen on vrbo or booking. Com

[Louise1073]

Maybe get some of your guests to put in a complaint as well? Not sure if they get treated any better than hosts!!

[Nar3055]

@Louise1073 @Blair110 @Sybe 

This definitely has nothing to do with the guests complaints. I called the city of Toronto a week ago where they mentioned that their phones have been ringing non stop with hundreds of hosts having these issues with the cancellations in our city.

in fact, we reactivated our listings again, and received a bunch of bookings from the guests claiming that their reservations got cancelled, I am assuming it’s a similar reason as ours.

Airbnb really needs to look into this as soon as possible. I bet there are hundreds of hosts and guests in city of Toronto who are quite frustrated with this situation.

City of Toronto is pointing fingers at Airbnb, claiming it’s Airbnb who has a glitch. Airbnb is pointing fingers at City of Toronto claiming it’s the city who issues removal notices. 
I wish anyone on Airbnb would be knowledgeable enough to address this issue.

[Catherine3628]

I am going through the same issue right now. In my case, it was time to re-register and I was a day late. When my registration lapsed, airbnb kept my listing active and switched it to long- term accomodation (more than 28 days). All my guests were cancelled and I got an email notice of cancellation after the fact. This happened yesterday, 3 days before my next guest was coming for the Taylor Swift concert. Same for my guests this weekend. They are telling me it's almost impossible to find another reasonable place to stay on such short notice.  The City of Toronto has approved my renewal, and Airbnb accepted my new registration but won't update my listing to short-term until the City approves the listing on their platform. The thing is, in another thread here, someone said that the City won't approve if a property is listed as a long-term accomodation, not  as a short-term accommodation, which I can't change because Airbnb won't allow you to switch to short-term until approved by the City.  I don't even know where to go for help and I am feeling horrible for possibly putting out these young girls who were planning to stay at my place for the concert.  Can anyone shed some light on this for me or give me some advice? This is highly time sensitive. 

Thank you,

Catherine

[Sybe]

Hey everyone @Nar3055 @Rozeda0 @Blair110 @Louise1073 ,

From your replies it looks like this is a widespread issue affecting multiple Hosts in Toronto. I'm forwarding this to the team for them to look into. I'm forwarding your accounts @Nar3055 and @Rozeda0 so support will be back in touch with you, and if I receive an update in the meantime I'll let you know!

[Chandra114]

And how did your “forwarding” of this issue go? It has now happened month after month and Airbnb continues to refuse any responsibility - or even find a solution to this problem. Hosts are left with angry customers who blame us for the cancellation and lost bookings mean lost income. This baffles me! Ethically, how can Airbnb allow this month after month? Continuing to take money from new bookings while leaving hosts to clean up from an error with the Airbnb system. The time and $ this has cost me is beyond description. It’s time for Airbnb to step up!