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.

[Louise0]

Just to let you know... I had a very, very similar enquiry - 3 guests, 21 day booking, close dates, the same attempt at passing on a Whats App contact number including the weird little icons, plus the guest had zero profile info and signup date was June 2021.  The profile was called 'Alex'.

Must be this month's favourite scam.  I declined, of course, and did not engage with the guest at all. I got the same warning from Airbnb etc.

[Robin4]

@Rae523 

Rae,  a guest wanting  contact with you outside the platform on whatsapp is one thing.....the fact that they have inserted an icon between the whatsapp letters says that they are deliberately trying to get their contact information past the Airbnb message sanitiser.

If you were to pursue this enquiry you will be putting yourself at risk, nothing surer! 

Just report the profile, when asked for a reason just say 'inquiry wants contact outside the platform' and let Airbnb deal with it from there. It's important that you report the profile, if you just decline, Airbnb may penalise you!

Cheers........Rob

[Mike-And-Jane0]

@Rae523 Agree with @Robin4 except there is no need to decline an enquiry. Just respond with a dot and then your response rate will remain at 100% and you will not get flagged for declining too many guests (as sadly the system cannot differentiate between declining a good guest or a scammer).

[Fred13]

Yes, a "." (dot) will suffice to answer any ridiculous or absurd inquiry. If they are legit they will write back, if not it is a moot point.

To the issue at hand: I do not expect Airbnb to guarantee much nowadays, especially who turns out to be not what they claim or turns out to be an outright lunatic, which the world is chuck full of.  I don't even expect every single Airbnb reservation to even work out; the occasional one that doesn't I use as a break. I am enjoying hosting more than ever now with that attitude.

[Robin4]

@Mike-And-Jane0 

Yeah quite right Mike, it doesn't have to be a detailed response, a dot or a symbol will satisfy the response bot! Well picked up mate.

Cheers.......Rob

[Sarah977]

@Rae523  While it is similar in that it concerned a warning without explanation from Airbnb, the inquiry message you got is a simple case of someone wanting to get you to book off-platform. Happens all the time. 

The OP's case is quite different- instructing him to evict guests who had not done anything wrong as far as their booking with him, while refusing to tell him why.

[Scott-and-Mary-Ellen0]

@Ana22389  (Cue scary music) "Get out now! The call is coming from INSIDE THE HOUSE!" Sorry, realize it must have been a frightening situation but I couldn't resist...  Just shows how alarming, ridiculous and absolutely unhelpful that message was. M.E.

[Melvin128]

Aloha! I hope this message finds you well and well, finds you. I’ve been in panic mode because this same thing is happening to me now! I googled the situation and your story popped up. Did you ever get an explanation or resolve the isssue? This is indeed concerning. I’ve been hosing since 2017 and this has never happened nor has Airbnb been this shady. Is it a scam or tech hack? Hope to hear from you. Mahalo for your time.