Problems with payments to hosts in Ukraine

[Yulia130]

Hi, I am writing on behalf of many hoteliers and hosts from Ukraine.

Since the beginning of the war, we (hosts in Ukraine) have received great support from the inhabitants. People booked us to help financially. We were very grateful.

But since the beginning of the war, payments stopped coming to the card account of hosts from Ukraine from AirBnb. Before the start of the war, there were no problems with payments, we did not change any account settings.

Numerous calls to the support service (by phone, via chat) do not give any results. In the support service We are told "we will transfer it to the support service and contact you." And this has been the case for more than 2 weeks.

Please provide guidance and advice. Thanks 

[Kate867]

@Yulia130 @Sergey60   I am sorry this has happened to you both.  Clearly, looking at your profiles, you have been Hosting in the Ukraine via Airbnb for a very long time prior to the war starting in February.  The only issues I think you might have is if you opened up further listings in March, in which case Airbnb most likely would not accept those new ones, or if you are using Russian Banks, Russian ID and/or payment methods which are currently under sanctions. @Catherine-Powell Is there any way this can be escalated further or perhaps an explanation emailed to these hosts?

[Sergey60]

Dear @Kate867 , 

Thank you for reply. I not used any Russian Banks, Russian ID or another, I use payoneer, now I communicate with some Airbnb staff by e mail, but not sure she understand me, she asked me to show documents thats prove that I have access to apartments listed in my profile after 03 March....Whats is that? As 

1) I told to Airbnb staff in e mail that I not added any apartments not in March, not even in February...

2) What is "documents thats prove that I have access to apartments listed in my profile"... I have my control panel since 2013 and can on line add apartments / delete apartments... I can do what I need, it was always, and never were any papers to prove that... thats is very strange...
I very hope that @Catherine-Powell and anybody who can help me will try help me in that..

As me and many Ukraine hosts suffered of this war... for example me house in village is partially destroyed by rus soldiers, many another people lost there homes..
I not ask some special, I just ask let me work, as I did 9 years,  and just let me take that people all over world send so support me.. I did nothing wrong and hope Airbnb will support me and not kill my account without any reasons this hard time during war in my country. 

[Kate867]

@Sergey60   This really is dreadful and hopefully @Catherine-Powell will step in soon and resolve this for you.  In the meantime, message back customer support and tell them in clear terms that NOTHING has changed in your listings which existed prior to March 2022, that you have a clear and transparent history with Airbnb and ask them to advise you EXACTLY what proof they require.  You should also ask to speak with a supervisor if you feel that there is a language barrier between you and the member of support staff you are dealing with.  

[Sergey60]

Dear @Kate867 , I will try, thank you!

[Yulia130]

As Sergey wrote, I also haven’t changed anything in my account since February 2022, I haven’t added any new objects. You can see it in my profile, including the dates of guest reviews. The support service gives 7 days to provide proof (as Sergey wrote), otherwise  my account will be deleted. Two days ago I wrote a request to the support service, what documents and evidence are required from me? indicate the documents and evidence that I must provide! Still no response from Support Service. I think The support service will not respond  my request and will simply delete my account after 7 days, very funny 😃 Look at my profile, review the place on google maps - only great reviews, there are photos and more.

[Catherine-Powell]

Hi Sergey,

I can only imagine what you have been going through these past weeks, and the additional stress this has brought upon you. I really appreciate you reaching out here to get more clarity. Someone from our team will be in touch with you and work to find a solution.

Stay safe,
Catherine

[Mike-And-Jane0]

just tagging @Sergey60 so that he sees @Catherine-Powell's reply

[Sergey60]

Dear
@Catherine-Powell 
@Jenny 
@Kate867 
@Mike-And-Jane0 

Iam sorry but still not contacted me.. nothing change

I sent what was possible, my personal documents, utility bills, photos. No news.. no reply.. 6-7 mails were sent from my side and no any reply…

So about 2 months my case is going on…2 months while war is on way…

Please, please if you can contact that Airbnb departments and ask them check my request please and let me work.

My USA hosts friends try help me, they contacted regional Airbnb and no result, same from another countries, screens attached.
Iam sorry but it seems that Airbnb now is strong bureaucratic machine, its not like it was before, I read book about Airbnb, and now its not like before.. Airbnb is not only its office, its all over world community between hosts and guests, also hosts and hosts.. And now one hosts are suffer like it never was before in newest history, and another hosts want help, while Airbnb office managers they think 2 months what to do… maybe this…or maybe that… its look like western countries 1 month thinked to give heave weapen to Ukraine or not to give, finally give, but thousands died during that time. just yesterday Russian launched 18 rockets into Ukraine! 18!

I attached photo of my daughter from my city that suffer from war and my house, that was damaged by Russians, hope somebody look into it and can influence Airbnb managers that look my case.

Case #9323, created 55 days ago.
Host - me, Sergey **[Sensitive information removed in line with the Community Center Guidelines]
Airbnb manager that contacted me - Ambrose C

[Sergey60]

Hope all will be fair, we will see soon.

[Алена9]

Hello everyone!

We have the same situation. More than one month we don’t have an answer from support team. We got answer after one month, and now we are weighing new answer.

This situation is terrible because my team (15 people) without job and support. Also i manage a lot of apartments and many ouwners can’t get the donations from many people!

[Yulia130]

@Catherine-Powell 

Hi

AirBnb "Help" updates for hosts from Ukraine ( sorry, spoiler: we haven't received any help from AirBnb support). As I wrote earlier, starting from March we do not receive any payments, Support team cannot help, we tried to change the payment method, but it does not help. 

10 days ago we received a AirBnb's letter about deleting the account with a request to "to provide  for each of the new listing units you have created since March 3, 2022,  with a document (or documents) that proves you have access to... your profile.". 

I asked to specify which documents to provide, but Air Bnb replied with the same message. Ok, as Sergey wrote I also did not change anything in ads since March 2022, all my ads were made long before March 2022.

Ok, so I sent Airbnb

- a video and a photo taken at the accommodation facility (in this video you can see the address and the surroundings (as in the photo in the ad), the interior, in the video my Air Bnb account is shown on my laptop in the hotel. 

- Screenshots that proves that my devices were added to the account before March 2022 and didnt change.

- a letter from the company managing hotel building, which confirms that I have the right to dispose of an accommodation facility at  Andriyivskyy Descent, 38 and have all the necessary rights to place this hotel on Air Bnb.

- other photos.

- i'm ready to provide any additional information upon request.

And? 3 days left, no answer from AirBnb support team. 

I won’t be surprised if there will be no answer from AirBnb, or they simply will delete my account or once again they will write "to wait" and words of support 😃

Today is the 51st day of the war, our issue has not been resolved.

[Mike-And-Jane0]

@Stephanie @Quincy @Sybe Come on guys, @Yulia130 really needs help here.

Surely there is someone in Airbnb willing to do the right thing. It is ridiculous that in addition to having their country destroyed by Russia they are also having their livelihoods destroyed by Airbnb.

I agree that those who jumped on the bandwagon and became hosts post March are an issue but it is easy to see who was hosting prior to this.

Please could Airbnb be as proactive and as capable as the Ukranian military who have resisted the might of Russia for 51 days.

[Yulia130]

Hi! @Catherine-Powell 

Our problem still not resolved. And @Sergey60 problem ist resolved also.

Thats how AirBnb support works:

We received a letter from AirBnb support on 13th April 2022 about problems with opening attachments in my letter (photo and video, scans to check my account). The same day I gave an answer and put the applications in again. Also I asked to confirm receipt and opening of files. No answer.

15th April I asked AirBnb again to confirm receipt and opening of files.  No answer .

Today is 26th April and still no answer. Hey, we are talking about blocking my account, and I want to know that AirBnb received all the necessary information from me. 

Today Im sending AirBnb support additional photos that prove that I personally have access to the hotel and to the account, I took a photo in the hotel with a sign «For AirBnb Bruce W., Hello!!!» . You can see the same photos of the building, hotel and interior in my ads.

[Mike-And-Jane0]

@Yulia130 Lets see if we can get @Sybe @Quincy @Stephanie @Jenny or @Emilie to help. Alternatively I would contact the press at this stage as Airbnb made a big thing of helping Ukraine and yet they are letting down a long term host.

[Jenny]

Hi @Yulia130 (and @Mike-And-Jane0 )

Sorry to hear about this, I'm going to contact Support to try and find out what's causing the delay in replying to you.

I'll follow up when I get a response.

Jenny