Today at 2:16 p.m. I received a message from Airbnb saying Action needed, update you listing to continue hosting. At 2:17 p.m. I received notification that 42 of my bookings had been cancelled by airbnb. 42 of my guests received notification of cancelation and credit card refunds.
Then the hell started. Within the next 30 minutes I received messages from 19 of the guests asking me why I cancelled their stay. I tried to explain it was a problem that was bit within my co tool and I was looking into it.
I contacted Airbnb to find out the issues. I was informed the city of Toronto canceled and I needed to contact the city.
For next 2 hours I tried to reach the city of Toronto short term rental department. Busy, busy busy. Finally I managed to get into the que and after 10 min spoke to someone. The told me that they were busy fielding calls from other hosts in Toronto about the same issue. It was an Airbnb platform issue. The city had not done anything or sent any request lists. This is 100% airbnb. I asked her just yo be sure yo check my registration number. She took the info, looked it up and confirmed my registration is valid and has been valid since Sept 21. No change.
When I called back airbnb to inform them they were less then helpful. I was told to update the information on the email from airbnb.
After doing this I contacted my guest arriving the next morning and asked to try to resend booking request. (Guest was arriving from the UK and very distraught) . The booking did not work, I called back airbnb and they told me to go to setting and change length of stay to 2 days. It defaulted to 28 days when they cancelled my bookings. After doing this my guest was able to book. ( Now Airbnb had double payments for him)
Then the fun started. Within 15 minutes I received 12 new booking requests. These were new booking requests, not my originals.
I contacted one of the new requests and told them I was unable to accept there booking as it had already been reserved. I asked them if they had a request for same time from other Toronto airbnb. Yes, turns out they had and it had been cancelled for no reason. So these were all displaced guests that airbnb had cancelled in error from other hosts.
I contacted Airbnb to ask them what to do about new bookings...I felt I had obligation to origional bookings. The told me to reject these booking. We all know as hosts, if we reject bookings it is a mark against us and our superhost status. Airbnb told me no big deal. Then I said it I reject Airbnb block these dates automatically so even the original guests will not be able to book. I was told I had to manage that. (Great customer service...right?)
Some of the guests I contacted were suspicious. Many said they would not rebook until Airbnb and returned the money. Rightfully so.
This is my response from 1 guest. Cut and paste:
"
Hey Phillip thank you for replying
To me I contacted air and they advised me for my own safety and that off my wife and daughter that at this time it was not safe to use your accommodation I can only take there advice so sorry Phillip I won’t be (Website hidden by Airbnb) you for your prompt reply John"
Really airbnb, this is the messaging your ambassadors are telling my guests who try to rebook?
Airbnb and not assumed responsibility. No doubt this is there error, a platform issue, and update gone bad.
This is the response from one of the ambassadors about the issue.
Hi Phillip,
This is Ronnie, one of the Support Ambassadors here. I hope this message finds you well. After your call with me, I received calls from other hosts who experienced the same issue. Hosts are only able to update their listing registration and make it work through Airbnb after contacting the city. As it stands we confirm that we only followed the information provided to us by the city.
Base on my experience today, host who haven't contacted the city yet are unable to resolve the issue on their listing while hosts who contacted the city prior to being able to reach me are all able to reset their listing and set minimum nights to their preference again instead of 28 nights.
My colleague told me about John's reservation. I agree that the guest was given an incorrect information, and I am very sorry. I will contact the guest about this and clarify what happened. Please let me know if you will have other questions. I will be here to help.
Regards,
...really Ronnie? You think we believe this...that a phone call to the city fixed the issue. This is pass the buck at its highest level.
Oh...for those of you wondering how Ronnie dealt with my guest John being told it was unsafe to stay at my airbnb?
Well here it is....
"I already reached out to John about this. I clarified that this is a registration issue and not a safety issue. I informed the guest that you are able to contact the city about this which enabled us to be able to fix the issue with your listing.
I also informed him that he can rebook with you if he is still interested"
How very helpful Airbnb. You place the blame solely on the city and on me as a host. Airbnb will not admit it is there screw up.
Shame on you Airbnb. Shame on you. You have impacted countless hosts...and worse likely hundreds of guests. Hosts and guests who pay money for your service.
Take responsibility and fix this programing issue.
