Unauthorized Parties and Airbnb "Trust Department"
We have a Mansion that has 11 bedrooms/sleeping areas and is located in an area of Minneapolis that has The Basilica of Saint Mary and other wedding venues. We are a Superhost and have hosted over 250 families on Airbnb and VRBO in the past 5 years. All of our reviews are 5 star and we have never had a complaint form our neighbors. Three days ago the "Trust" department deactivated our listing for a number of reasons that we have now corrected. We have been unable to get Airbnb to activate our listing. The problem with Airbnb's party reputation is not the hosts, it's the guests reserving a 2 bedroom and showing up with 35 unauthorized guests. When this occurrs Airbnb's protocol and support of the host is unacceptable. VRBO on the other hand will get you to a representative here in the states immediately and will take action with the guest.
We had a VRBO guest reserve for 11 family members for a weekend funeral for a family member. In the obitturary in the paper they published the address of the property and had a food truck parked out front (before guests started to arrive). We called VRBO customer service when we noticed the food truck and they elevated it to a supervisor immediately and they called to guest. They explained to the guest that they were only authorized for 11 and they they would terminate the reservation if they went beyond that number of guests and that any guests above that number would be trespassing. We worked with the guest and allowed a total of 20 for three hours.
You are a much more tolerant host then me . If a guest lied to me and said they booked for family to stay during a funeral when actually they wanted the listing for a wake complete with food truck - the guests would have been out on their ear. Certainly I wouldn’t have allowed them to nearly double their guest count during Covid.