Trashed Apartment, Bloody Mess & Deleted Account

[丽萍0]

I am leaving Airbnb for good and this is because of blood, stress and risks. The story must go back to my daughter with Airbnb.

My daughter was an Airbnb host since 2013. She was superhost for a couple of time. Our first trip to Europe as a family was booked on Airbnb. It was fun! There were problems here and there, but it was also nice to welcome people at our homes (we rent out our own 3-floor townhouse). We don't do it as full business, it's just we have this house and spare space. It makes enough income for my daughter to support herself during her MBA.

In 2019, on a Sunday around 6AM, an Airbnb guest opened the door to a RANDOM unknown woman who was knocking. Later we learnt that this woman was 'dating' a man staying in a different room. (I say 'dating' because he said he wasn't but she claimed she was to the policy) She went in and smashed everything in the room, and almost killing the man. When we got there it was already bloody hand prints everywhere until the ground floor, ambulance and police car as well. It was a true bloody mess like Zombie movies. Before that day, we never knew who that intruder was. Well, even today, I have not met this person.

The Airbnb guest who opened the door filed a complaint against my daughter claiming the listing was NOT SAFE. Well, if someone opens 2 doors to random people, we can not do anything to prevent them from entering. My daughter did not file against the guest, but against Airbnb. Finally after a few emails, Airbnb deleted her account, wipe out all the information including reservation history information of 6 years. This way, she can not claim against Airbnb any more, she can not even log into this community anymore. This way, Airbnb doesn't have to PAY for the damages.

At the time I was in China. The following month, I came to Spain and helped her clean up, reset everything and I asked her to take over this rental business because I have fond memories of using Airbnb. Oh I was so wrong! I started hosting for almost a year by now. Recently, we had to remove a guest who invited another unbooked female person to have a romantic night in the common area, making covid risk more dangerous than expected. The house rule was clear, I told him by message before booking, there is a notice on the entrance too! I kindly ask him to leave in a couple of days because of breaking the house rule (he booked 3 weeks). He was yelling at us saying 'where do I find a cheaper and better listing if I get kicked out? If you go to public places, you are at risk anyway, bringing another person doesn't matter.... I made a human mistake but you are kicking me out? Unbelievable!' I have a feeling that if I don't remove him, he would be making a Covid party in no time! I was speechless at this point. Airbnb simply told me:'Call the police.' No follow up for days.

This is NOT OVER yet. Airbnb wrote me an email saying 'all your listings are disabled until you prove that you have no association with the user name xx (my daughter).' I was like: 'wait, how can I prove that I have no association with my daughter?' I was confused. But later I realised that they mean, I have no business association with her. Airbnb tries to prevent me from claiming again damages from last year. I wrote back then nothing. No response.

Airbnb was truly disappointing not to mention the 30 mins waiting time for a simply phone line. When they say 'hold I will transfer you to a specialist' then the phone line would disconnect. It's not worth the risks nowadays to host on Airbnb. What do you think? @Sarah977 @Anonymous 

[Huma0]

@丽萍0 

I am a bit unclear here what you mean about your daughter's claim. You say she did not file against the guest but against Airbnb. 

Do you mean

- She opened a case with Airbnb requesting compensation for the damages via the security deposit, Host Guarantee or Airbnb insurance? If that is the case, I doubt that would be a reason to delist her. They would either agree to the claim or not and close the case. In this scenario, it is more likely that she was delisted due to the complaints from the guest about the listing being unsafe.

- She tried to file a legal claim against Airbnb. Not sure why that would be the case as Airbnb hadn't actually done anything in these circumstances (or did she do this after they refused to pay for damages?). IF this is the case, I'm pretty sure that there is something in the Airbnb T&Cs that we have to sign up to saying we will never file against Airbnb. For sure, they would delist you if you did that.

[Christine615]

I understood it. The daughter probably opened a claim for the damages. The daughter SHOULD HAVE also cited the guest for allowing a stranger in to the house. The man who opened the door, probably to pre-empt any responsibility for allowing a stranger in, told Airbnb that the daughter's house was unsafe (and probably provided photos?). Airbnb then delisted the daughter because - ya know - having laid off a lot of staff, there's little left to figure out the fraud on the part of the guest.

The mom took over the Airbnb under a new identity, but Airbnb now thinks this is fraud because the two people are related.

Common sense not in high supply right now. Airbnb needed to reimburse the daughter under the host guarantee and ban the guest who let a stranger into the house. 

Not sure why that wasn't clear to customer service.  Also - daughter should have called the police. It's why security cameras are a must now.

[Helen3]

On another post @丽萍0  said that Airbnb had suspended her listings, because as you say she set the listing up in her own name because her daughter's profile had been suspended which is against their T&Cs.

Whether Airbnb was correct to suspend the daughter's listings is another matter.