Suspended Superhost Account Due to Problem Guests that Threw a Party?

[David9313]

Hello Airbnb community.

My Airbnb superhost account was suddenly and inexplicably suspended.

On Saturday night, 9/17, guests at one of my Airbnb's threw a party.  We contacted them, spoke on the phone, and they informed us they were having a birthday party with several families for their daughter.  I informed them that we cannot allow parties of any type to happen, due to both Airbnb policies, as well as restrictions on our vacation rental permit.  They did not give any assurance that the party would stop.  In the subsequent hours, guests continued to arrive and the party grew.  We contacted Airbnb and they promptly cancelled the reservation and informed the guest to leave.  The guest packed up and left.

Problem solved, right? Wrong - this is where the problems began.

On Sunday I pulled up my calendar to see what the week looked like and noticed that any open days were blocked, and that my listing was suspended.  I opened my second listing and saw the same thing.

No one from Airbnb contacted me to inform me of any suspension.

I immediately reached out to the dedicated super host support team and they informed me that a "specialised" team was handling the matter, that they would notify said team and mark the issue as "urgent".  It is now Tuesday, 3 days removed, and after daily follow ups on my part, I have heard nothing from Airbnb.

I am now running in to open nights that would otherwise be booked, costing me thousands of dollars.  I have a mortgage to pay, and a newborn infant and family to support, and Airbnb is endangering my ability to do so.

Tagging @David6391 as I saw you had a similar struggle that was resolved perhaps with the help of @Emilie ?  If either of you, or anyone else can point me in the right direction to help me find a resolution that would be greatly appreciated.

[Evan-And-Anja0]

@Catherine-Powell @Quincy @Jenny 

This is ridiculous, all three of them came on and did not address the main issue at all. Transparency is only a small part of this issue. The main issue is that you suspend accounts w\o evidence before even looking into it.

Why don't you address what is being done to change this policy? 

Would all three of you not agree that the simple way to do this is to investigate and then suspend. Or if you're going to suspend and then investigate, at least have the requirement for evidence to be brought forward? Or perhaps have many have mentioned, to take into consideration past hosting (reviews, superhost status, length of time hosting) before making an arbitrary suspension?

As a side note, there was a lot of talk from the admins about protecting the community and helping us as host and helping guests. But what they are not mentioning is that all of these awful changes to customer service are to benefit this multi-billion dollar company. Before the push to go public, those of us who have been here for more than a couple years, will remember how fantastic customer service used to be. So telling us that any of these changes are for the betterment of our community is hogwash. 

Now I don't expect Airbnb to suddenly go back to having good customer service. But a simple issue such as this could be addressed and fixed relatively easily. 

[John978]

It just happened to us, Super Hosts for over 10 years. Now suspended over a party that is prohibited by us and Airbnb.  We installed security cameras on our driveways, called Airbnb Support to know where it needs to be disclosed, they walked us through adding that information, we even posted on each property that a security camera is facing the driveway and nowhere else.   Two days ago someone who was a guest had 40-50 people walking through the gate and more cars that allowed inside the property, other cars outside the property.  What did Airbnb do, they said we missed something about notifying guests about a camera (they walked us through where to put the info and it is 1 camera at each property facing the entry gate, and we posted a sign you can't miss when guests show up) and yet suspended.  Oh and our assigned manager is out until further notice.  I guess you are loyal Super Host forever until someone in some Safety Team decides to click a button without reviewing anything.  Airbnb has put people in charge who obviously have no common sense.  

[John978]

@Evan-And-Anja0 @Sele-and-Jesse0 @Helen3

What is going on with Airbnb, I'm following every single rule, even had Airbnb help me mark the area about 1 security camera we had installed at each house facing the driveway with Airbnb many months ago.  Not only is your suspension causing no bookings but it also is messing with our iCal on other booking sites.  Some now thing we have open dates but those are Airbnb Guest Reservations. You are literally making it so Airbnb Guests may end up losing their reservations because of this half thought out plan that includes their Airbnb iCal feature.   See my comment above, this is the weirdest thing I've every experienced with Airbnb and I was allowed to buy 200 shares when it went through the IPO because of how long I've been with the company as a host...  never experienced something like this with Airbnb in the entire time I've been a host. 

[Bhumika]

Hey @John978 ,

We understand how worrying it must be for you.

Please be assured, that I am raising this with the concerned teams as well for further review. And if they can get back to you with any updates.

Can’t find what you’re searching for? start a conversation

[John978]

Thank you,  do you have my contact information or how do I provide it?  I was told my case manager is out of the office and won't be back until March 25th, today is March 21st and my account has been suspended since March 19th. 

[Bhumika]

Hi @John978 ,

I won't be needing any contact information from you.

The team is currently looking into your case. As I am just a Community Manager, we cannot promise when exactly they will reach out to you, but please be assured that your case is being looked into.

Can’t find what you’re searching for? start a conversation

[John978]

Messaging with the "Safety Team" mentioned the person working on my issue was off work for 5 days and I would have to wait until they are back at work.  Is that normal, my situation is waiting for an Airbnb employee to go back to work? 

[Mike-And-Jane0]

@John978 Yes this is very normal. Airbnb support staff seem to have way more vacations days than most people.

[John978]

What is sad is that I make even prior guests book with Airbnb who would prefer to book directly with us and now I'm figuring it all out.   I've lost a lot of trust in Airbnb which is pretty sad for all involved.   Waiting a week for my "Case Manager" to get back to work to figure out how I was suspended, even though a Superhost, follow all the rules and allowed to purchase 200 shares when they did their IPO at investor price, tells me a lot right now.  I don't know who is running the ship but they are not invested in Airbnb success nor care about long term hosts who have helped them as they helped us grow.   It is pretty strange and every support person is overseas and hard sometimes to understand.    I have to clarify exactly what they said, the apologize and say I meant what you said.  ie, I will call you back in over 30 minutes vs. I will call you back within 30 minutes.  Also, chickens crowing in the background and family talking while their Customer Support person is trying to hear me and I'm trying to hear them.   I have a list a mile long of cut off conversations because their internet voice shut off.  I have no idea who is in charge but it certainly isn't Super Hosts or the Customer Service Rep from Airbnb who verifies every detail of my account, every time I call.  At this point going to play it through and see how it ends.  People want our homes, I thought I was making my life a little simple by pushing them to Airbnb to book but I'm seeing that may have been a big mistake.  We never took payments ourself, that now seems like a huge mistake.

[Catherine-Powell]

Hi @David9313,

Thank you for tagging me in this discussion.

I’ve asked our team to quickly investigate what happened to your account and why. They have told me it’s now active. There are a number of reasons we either temporarily or permanently suspend accounts. Oftentimes it’s because we feel the safety of our community is at risk and need to investigate an incident that was reported.

What I do know from reading Community Centre comments, and capturing Host feedback from elsewhere, is that we really need to explain to Hosts what is happening in real-time. This level of transparency is really important and we are prioritizing these changes. In the coming months, our agents will start sharing more details so that the Host can quickly address and understand the situation.

If there are any additional updates, our team will be in touch.

Best,

Catherine

@Evan-And-Anja0 @Sele-and-Jesse0 @Helen3 

[Helen744]

@Catherine-Powell  Catherine I would be interested to see that these changes are actually happening. Maybe I have missed them ?... H

[Luca2573]

Hi Catherine,

my account was just canceled and I was given zero notice. It appears the changes you mentioned above never occurred. I am getting married tomorrow and the Airbnb that we booked for all of the entire wedding party was cancelled along with my Airbnb listing and all of the guests that had booked. No one reached out to me to tell me their was an issue with my account, no notice of suspension. All my friends are arriving now and we have no where to go. It feel like an absolute violation of my trust in this company.  When I call they tell me there is nothing I can do and o need to wait until they email me to tell me why they cancelled my account. 

@Evan-And-Anja0 @Sele-and-Jesse0 @Helen3 

[Mariann4]

Actually, @Catherine-Powell , you don't only need to up your level of transparancy. Your practice of suspending hosts without ANY information is illegal in Europe! Also the hosts (and guest, since the EU decision is about all members on Airbnb) is to be heard with reasonable deadlines BEFORE action to suspend can be made. You know: legal and human rights... And the four rights within the union.

You have been warned by Consumer Europe that that pratice needs to stop. IMMIDEATELY! Or the union and EEC will ban Airbnb from operating on European territory. So you can't suspend European listings pending investigations. That's a matter for the courts to decide. Not Airbnb. 

[David9313]

Hi @Catherine-Powell ,

Thank you for responding.  My account is indeed now active, but this is far from resolved.

I'm confused by your comment, "I'd also like to know more what happened here and if there any additional updates, our team will be in touch."

I am happy to lay out in further detail what happened if you are not following the fact pattern on this thread. 

And if you are unable to ascertain what happened from Airbnb team that handled (or failed to handle) this situation, then this again underscores one of the many problems with this process.

Furthermore, what of the lost booking revenue?

Please keep me updated.

David

[Evan-And-Anja0]

I assume you've heard nothing from @Catherine-Powell ? I'm extremely surprised.

[Stephanie365]

@Catherine-Powell The problem I am reading over and over and over again, not just here but on other social media platforms as well, is when hosts report a guest for having a party and ask them to be removed from the property, the host suddenly finds their listing suspended. 

1. Why are Hosts punished (suspended) for reporting parties that violate AirBNB policy? How is the host creating a safety risk?  They're not the ones who threw the party.

2. More importantly, why are GUESTS not being suspended or banned from the platform for violating policies? 

I had a previous guest attempt to extort me for a refund. The entire conversation where he stated multiple times "I won't leave a bad review if you refund my money" was documented on the platform. He changed his reason for leaving early - first he said noise. Then he said an odor.  Then he said "numerous other issues (unspecified)". But the fact that he was in such a hurry to leave the area that he wouldn't even meet with me to allow me to address his concerns tells me his itinerary changed and of course that would not entitle him to a refund. So he made something up to get one and punish me.  

Not only is this man still on the platform, but my review informing future hosts his behavior that violated AirBNB's Terms of Service was removed. @Sybe  got it reinstated and the guest got it removed again.

3. It is well documented that guests know they can use key words and phrases to get a host suspended with no notice. They know there are things they can say to get a refund and no one ever reaches out to the host for their side of the story.  Why are there not measures being taken to protect hosts from predatory guests?  But a guest claims an outdoor shower is a camera and *boom* the listing is suspended.

4. Why can only *some* hosts charge a security deposit, but others can't? Why are bigger operations with API software allowed to charge a security deposit to deter bad guest behavior, but the old school Mom and Pop AirBNBs are at the mercy of AirCover/Host Guarantee which is hit or miss at best? Isn't this a bit classist and discriminatory?   And why are guests who damage property and who refuse to pay still allowed to remain on the platform? Why would you even WANT these people??

[Huma0]

@Stephanie365 

Well said.

[Jenny]

Hi everyone,

We appreciate all your feedback here, and we understand that this is an issue that you feel strongly about. Your feedback has been passed over to the right people and we hope to come back to you as soon as possible.

However, while we hear your concerns we’d like to ask you to please remain respectful and not make personal and hurtful comments about a person or people here on the Community Center. Regardless of who you are or what you do, we do not tolerate it as per the Community Guidelines. It is not conducive to a healthy, constructive and safe community forum.

Once again, I would recommend you all remind yourself of our guidelines here.

Jenny

[Evan-And-Anja0]

@Emilie @Sybe @Liv @Katie 

Any of these admins want to address the issue here? The forum is littered with the same story over and over. It's an easy policy fix. 

[David9313]

I just had a guest reach out to me who was wondering why they were unable to book my place.

What will Airbnb do for that guest?

What about my lost bookings? No doubt there were others that would have booked that I missed out on due to this nonsense.

*Private conversation removed as per the Community Guidelines*