Yes, this happened to me and my listing for my villa this last summer. I was really surprised
and thought it was very strange because my villa is in Marbella and literally 2 minutes by car or taxi to THE PARTY ZONE of Puerto Banus where all of my guests go to party and have for 10 years gone to party, whilst renting my villa to party because it is so close to this party and nightclub zone, and have always left my villa in impeccable condition !! which I explained over and over again to Airbnb ambassadors and their phone staff when I called and begged them to please let my enquiries book, and explained that I would be missing income amounting to at least 18,000 but to no avail as they would not lift the ban. They did not seem to understand what was happening at first when I called, and apologized because they were using a ''new system that still was not fine tuned and not working very well'' So asked to be connected to a supervisor, where I was contacted by the personnel at the Ambassador level. The problem was not resolved though and I am totally shocked by it and I guess it comes after using AI to stop large groups, or it is a new rule set that is controlled by an ap, I am not sure. It was awful to see potential reservations begging me to let them book and call Airbnb to tell them that they wanted to book my villa and not others that were being suggested. I could not believe it and I really felt humiliated by it, and I felt betrayed too. I do not know what to say about it anymore, other than it does not seem to be fair because if Airbnb feels that a potential reservation is a party risk, then why send them to a different villa. I guess they have their reasons but I am still very hurt by it, morally most of all. For the people who did find me and book thru other means, it was embarassing for them and me, because we could not understand why we were being controlled like this, and it felt a little insulting as well, and caused the guests to be suspicious of me and myself too towards them, but then when they arrived I could see they were very nice people just like the guests I habitually get. It definately stops people from booking a property last minute...which means maybe two weeks before the arrival date or even up to a month before the arrival date. I think it is an autoblock according to how close to the arrival date a guest tries to book a property. I had guests begging me to let them book and said they were being sent to other villas, but they wanted to book my villa and not the other villas suggested. (I was truly shocked, hurt and confused that Airbnb would do this to me because I have been hosting with them for many many years) There wasn't even any notice, as far as I can remember that this would be happening. Or it could be that they are trying to equitably distribute reservations among properties because villas like mine, who work hard to gain a good reputation, have too many bookings...but this should be rewarded and not punished, because I work very very hard. These guests, almost all of them, found my villa on other sites and got in touch with me anyway. I took a few of them and gave them reservations and can tell you they took very good care of my villa and were not having parties at all, I know this because my neighbor allowed me to stay in his villa next door which he had empty to let me be sure I could stand vigil and be on alert in case there was noise or partying. I stayed awake and was in close touch with the person who made the reservation on whatsap and made sure this person agreed to my rules to be in close contact and that this was not a party house. I had full cooperation from the few of these lost reservations, I think there were 8 or 10 of them that were refused by Airbnb, a huge loss of income for me, so it was really disappointing to see this happen to my account, but now I see by reading reviews and this community centre that I am not the only one to have experienced this. I have not had the time yet to try to do something about it as I was booked as I use another site as well. It came with no notice to me at all from Airbnb which I find quite out of the ordinary and when I called to complain because a few people found me thru social media and by other means as they had booked my villa before, and others were begging to please let them come to stay in my villa and promised not to have a party in my villa and also said that they had no plans to have a party in my villa, I began to wonder if someone inside airbnb could be doing this to me on purpose but instead I guess its an inside ap using AI to automatically screen out risky people from renting properties last minute that could be a party or damage risk to the property. I believe it hurts Airbnb because guests have told me it made them want to use another site, and not go along with agreeing to book a different property that was being suggested to them. I wouldn't either appreciate this kind of treatment if I were making a reservation. In any case, it is hurtful, because no explanation was being given to me either before or during this process which started this last summer. Its a shame.
