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.

[Huma0]

@Evan-And-Anja0 

@Lizzie is no longer part of the team of moderators. She posted a few weeks back to say goodbye as she was moving on to a role at another company.

[Evan-And-Anja0]

@Huma0 I can imagine why. Customer service at Airbnb is atrocious. 

I've been with them for 12 years now. Fondly remember the good old days **[Inappropriate content removed in line with the Community Center Guidelines]. 

Your account status (# and rating of reviews, superhost status, # of years hosting) were taken into consideration.

Can anyone imagine being arbitrarily suspended before an investigation 5 years ago? 

@Quincy 

@Catherine-Powell 

[Evan-And-Anja0]

@Jenny @Stephanie 

Any help here admins on getting this horrible policy implementation changed?

This forum is filled with hosts being suspended without contact or investigation. 

[David9313]

After 4 days I was finally contacted with an absolutely ludicrous question from the “investigation”:

*Private conversation removed as per the Community Guidelines*

 

 They pulled a photo from my own listing and asked if the shower head was a camera!

My listing was suspended for this “investigation”!!!!

[David9313]

 

4 days to contact me and this is what they were doing in the 4 days. 

This has cost me literally thousands of dollars.

[Gillian166]

that is UTTERLY OUTRAGEOUS

[Huma0]

@David9313 

I'm so confused...

So, did a guest complain about undisclosed cameras, or does the 'trust and safety' team **[Inappropriate content removed in line with the Community Center Guidelines] randomly go through listings, and highly rated ones at that, looking for random issues that they could potentially suspend hosts for? Or, will they simply not tell you? SMH.

[David9313]

@Huma0 I believe the guest complained about a camera (which I disclose in the listing according to Airbnb's guidance!).

The support person refused to share the complaint with me.

I can only infer that the guest's mere mention of a camera hits me with an automatic suspension, despite the fact that I have already disclosed in my listing, so that the guests know, Airbnb knows, that YES I HAVE A DRIVEWAY CAMERA!

[Huma0]

@David9313 

Yes, this is also baffling, but I've read about it here on the CC many, many times. How difficult would it be for Trust and Safety to first look at the listing and see if the camera/s were disclosed? 

However, even if outdoor cameras are disclosed, sometimes guests complain of additional, non-disclosed or even 'hidden' cameras, but then surely CS would expect the guests to produce photos of these before suspending the listing? Why would they be asking you what kind of device the shower head was??

[Evan-And-Anja0]

@Catherine-Powell 

@Quincy 

@Huma0 

The guest is not required to provide any documentation, much less provide documentation and Airbnb actually investigates\looks at it. 

All a guest had to do is bring up (that's it, just say it) a health or safety hazard and the listing is suspended while they investigate. 

Let's here from these admins as to whether this seems like a bright idea? 

[Huma0]

@Evan-And-Anja0 

Well, it's clearly not a bright idea. However, the admins here are just monitoring the responses on the Airbnb CC. They don't actually have any power to change Airbnb policy or decisions at all. While we can flag things up to them and hope that they will try to exert some pressure on Airbnb to deal with the issues, they don't actually have any say in them, nor are they really allowed to report their own personal opinions.

What concerns me more than that is that it seems to be impossible to find any kind of official complaints procedure at Airbnb. I have literally never seen that at any other large company. Do they have a complaints department? If so, how do we contact them?

[David9313]

@Huma0 

Then Airbnb CC seems like a pointless platform, if the above is true on how it operates.  We are just here whining to one another, and no action is taken by Airbnb.

@Catherine-Powell @Quincy @Jenny where can a formal complaint be filed to Airbnb?

[Huma0]

@David9313 

Well, there is a feedback form, but that's not a formal complaints procedure as far as I am confirmed because there is no case number assigned, no follow up, no way of knowing if anyone is looking at it or not...

Apparently, some of what is posted here on the CC is fed back to Airbnb. Whether that results in action or not, it's hard to tell, but I think it does occasionally, e.g. I suspect that the titles were returned to listings after the Summer Release due to the protests of hosts here. I could be wrong though.

[Stephanie365]

@Quincy  @Lizzie @Catherine-Powell 

Why is this even a Thing?  Why are listings suspended without ANY communication with the Host? 

And why does it take For-Freaking-Ever to get any kind of a response?

[David9313]

Great questions @Stephanie365 

Can anyone from Airbnb ambassadors please respond to these?