Airbnb telling us to ask guest to leave as soon as possible -- no explanation

[Ana22389]

Here's a new one on us:

Yesterday we received a voicemail and an email from Airbnb.  Has Airbnb ever actually called you? Our first thought was that it was some kind of scam.  The message was to the effect that Airbnb would not "support the reservation" of a guest who had signed up on Airbnb, made the reservation, and checked in earlier the same day (we were aware of this when we accepted the last minute reservation). We were being told to contact the guest, and if they had indeed checked in already, to have them leave "as soon as possible."

Checking the reservation (at 11:00 p.m., mind you) everything seemed to be in order, i.e. payment had been made, not refunded, reservation still in place on the calendar.  We jumped through the Airbnb helpbot hoops and actually got to talk to a live person very quickly and she was very nice to talk to  and seemed to be doing her best to help us figure things out.  She was able to confirm that the phone call and the email were from Airbnb but was not able to give any explanation.  The payment had successfully gone through and was received by Airbnb.  I told her that I was not keen to go over to roust paying guests out of bed at midnight to throw them out on the street, particularly with no explanation and that we would still expect to be paid for hosting them, as the service had already been provided.  She understood, but was not authorized to make any promises and said she would send our concerns on up the ladder and a representative with authority to do something would call us later.  Of course she was unable to promise when they would be calling, whether it would be a few minutes, hours, or in the morning.

It wasn't until 4:00 p.m. the next day I received a call from some very concerned guests, that they had gotten a call from Airbnb to leave the property right away -- and NO explanation!

More calls to Airbnb, still no explanation except the [very polite] technician did advise me that she suspected the only reason that Airbnb would do such a thing is for some kind of safety issue.

Wait, what?  SAFETY ISSUE ???  What am I supposed to do with THAT?

So here I sit, two hours after another promise to have someone with authorization call me.  Wondering if Airbnb has any intention of making sure we are paid for the stay and why Airbnb has gone through such lengths to make sure both the guests and the host have something to worry about.

Has anyone else ever had such an experience?  Did you ever get any kind of explanation?  How did it work out in the end?

Any insight would be appreciated.

[Emiel1]

@Ana22389 

It is a rediculous story, but you must indeed ask the guests to leave..

The reservation will no longer be supported by Airbnb.

[Branka-and-Silvia0]

@Ana22389  this is crazy!  hm... Long shot.. but.. did you have any problematic guests recently? Maybe someone reported you or your listing, building, neighborhood... as unsafe?

[Colleen253]

@Branka-and-Silvia0 Not a long shot, no....but if it was something like that, @Ana22389 's listing would be suspended. It has to be a problem with the guest. 

[Colleen253]

@Ana22389 This type of thing usually happens before a booking takes place, not during. How unfortunate. But going off the message you got ("Airbnb would not "support the reservation" of a guest ")  I would guess that this guest has violated the T&C somehow, and they may be removed from the platform. At any rate, as they say they 'won't support the reservation", you should get the guest out asap. I wouldn't worry about payment at this point. And no, they will never give you details.

[Sarah977]

@Colleen253  It was a brand new Airbnb user who had just signed up, made the booking and showed up the same day. Last minute reservation. 

Yet another good reason not to take last minute bookings.

So much for Chesky's proud announcement of how much easier they were making it for guests to book. As we used to say as kids, Smooth move, Exlax.

[Dimitar27]

Cancelling a reservation without a clearly stated reason is absolutely unacceptabe. In some countries, it will be also a law violation and a good reason to lose your license and permissions. 

[Mike-And-Jane0]

@Dimitar27 It is Airbnb cancelling the reservation. They will have a reason but they are just not disclosing it to the host.

[Kath9]

@Ana22389  how bizarre. It's the 'no explanation' bit that is the most concerning. That would be like being arrested and thrown into jail and not being told what for. It seems like the guests are just as baffled as you are! How long are they there for? I would maybe just have a candid conversation with them about it - tell them you've also been contacted but given no explanation. Perhaps its just a glitch in the system - as we know they happen all the time.

[John5097]

@Ana22389 

I agree this is bizarre. Asking guest to vacate at midnight? That could cause all kinds of risk and liability. 

If you haven't already, at this point I would confirm through the ABB message with guest that both host and guest have been notified by phone call that the reservation has been canceled by ABB and that both have been informed that guest should vacate without any reason given, and have discussed the situation with each other. 

You would have to decide if you would set a time frame to let guest stay until you hear back from higher level customer support based on your assessment of them. That's not an ideal situation or solution but at this point that would be my best assessment. 

I'm assuming the reservation is showing its been canceled by ABB?  I'm Also curious how long reservation is for? 

All the speculation has been covered: payment issue, ID issue, safety issue with guest or host, or glitch with the system. 

[Sarah977]

@Ana22389  Either a glitch, or something egregious about this guest has come to their attention- they paid with a stolen credit card, they just trashed someone's home, or stole everthing, or are wanted by the police.

In the past two days I've read 2 separate posts from hosts who had criminals book.

One poor host had the police arrive 3 hours after her guest checked in and haul the guest away in handcuffs (it was the host's very first guest), the other loaned a guest who had stayed for 2 months her car when his broke down, only to have him steal it, and her find out that he had a record for car theft, assault, and sexual assault.

While it may be a glitch, which would be a real shame, that's for your guests to deal with Airbnb about- they need to leave, as Airbnb has told you they won't offer support if they stay. And you or your property could be at risk.

[Ana22389]

@Sarah977 

Thank you for your interest and your support.  I have seen your many contributions and have appreciated the advice you have given the many contributors here.

Unfortunately I can't agree here.  I do believe it is a glitch in the system and wholly created by Airbnb.  Like it or not we not only represent our own properties but as far as our guests are concerned WE ARE Airbnb.  If Airbnb tells them to vacate, they will feel that the property owner has told them to vacate.  And from what I have read here, many would take revenge one way or another.  To expect the guest to just say "Oh, ok.  I guess we will leave." and politely pack up and drive off into the sunset is unrealistic.

Airbnb needs to be held to their promise to support hosts for reservations that Airbnb has approved.

If Airbnb is demanding the eviction then they need to perform the eviction themselves and provide documentation and/or evidence of cause, and uphold their promise to support the host until the eviction is complete.  After all these are people who Airbnb, in their infinite wisdom, has approved.  If they expect hosts to perform evictions, which seems reasonable to me only if some violation has happened on the property during their stay, then they need to provide documentation and/or evidence of violation of T&C and that violation must have occurred AFTER the time of the cancellation window.  To evict someone for something that should have been discovered earlier is just not right.

If Airbnb is going to withdraw their "support" they also need to provide the host ample time to perform the eviction and continue the "support" for damage done during the eviction.  And many of our guests don't live very far away and now know where our property is located.  Is Airbnb prepared to "support" hosts should the angry guest return with a vengeance?

Rug pulled out from hosts and guests alike.

[Sarah977]

@Ana22389  I'm not quite sure what you disagree about that I said. I never discounted that it could very well be a glitch. 

And I'm certainly not condoning Airbnb's behavior here. There is nothing acceptable about it. I agree that it's ludicrous to tell you to boot the guests out and refuse to tell you why. 

I have "suggestions" on my dashboard urging me to accept last-minute reservations, among other things I would never do, like turn on Instant Book, because I know how Airbnb operates and am under no illusions about them supporting me.

So my settings are such that I am protecting myself as much as possible- 2 day advance notice for bookings, 3 day minimum stay, 2 week maximum. No instant book.

We can b***h till the cows come home about the multitude of ways that Airbnb's policies and actions are insane and unsupportive, but you know as well as I do that they aren't going to send some eviction team to your house to physically remove guests who they, for some top secret reason a host is not allowed to be informed of, have deemed to be some sort of risk. Maybe. If it wasn't a result of a glitch on their end. That they'll never admit. 

I have long referred to Airbnb as Kafkaesque, after the writings of Franz Kafka. Here is a definition of Kafkaesque by biographer Frederick Karl:

"What's Kafkaesque [...] is when you enter a surreal world in which all your control patterns, all your plans, the whole way in which you have configured your own behavior, begins to fall to pieces [...] What you do is struggle against this with all of your equipment, with whatever you have. But of course you don't stand a chance. That's Kafkaesque."

[Christine615]

I think this is a legal issue. Another guest just posted about getting a call 9 days into his stay about his host not being supported. Is Airbnb being sabotaged from inside? If Airbnb allows a guest to book on the platform - that's a contract and they need to own it. If it's a host issue they need to put the guest in another home at their expense or a hotel. If it's a guest issue they need to call the police and not put the host in danger.

Either way - this could be easily fixed if they would start vetting the guests and hosts and not allowing people to book a home within minutes (or hours) of first signing up on the platform.

This is nuts!

[Sarah977]

@Christine615  It's nuts and incredibly dangerous. But like the party ban, which required several shootings at Airbnb parties before they sat up and took notice, it's probably going to take a host being hog-tied and pistol whipped or shot before Airbnb does any real vetting of their guests.