Unjust suspension of listings

[Teresa1712]

Hi I'm a long term super host with five 5* properties in mid Wales. I've had a guest from HELL recently and I'm keen to here from any other hosts who might have experienced something similar.

Sorry about the long post but please read to the end for the BIG ONE

Guest booked to stay in our luxury shepherds hut/lodge (28/02 - 03/03)

They messaged shortly after arrival to say they "loved the place" and to ask where the bbq was and where the nearest grocery shops were. I responded within minutes to state that the bbq had been moved due to the high winds in the recent storms and that we would bring it round and set it up. I also replied with details of nearest stores. To which she messaged back asking travel times and again I replied within a few minutes. Note, we provide an online welcome book and physical welcome book in the property with details of shops.

My husband delivered the bbq and set it up, in the rain, within 10-15 minutes.

This was the last we heard from the guest and we assumed they enjoyed their stay.

The day after checkout I received the review

1* "I am so disappointed"

I was completely shocked as the guest had not given any indication that they were dissatisfied with anything.

Within the private feedback the guest stated she was disappointment they had to "ask for every little thing". She said she thought we had an iron but the welcome book said to request an iron and ironing board and it would be brought to the property. We aim to provide all of the luxuries of our other 5* cottages and so offer some items on a request basis due to limited space in a shepherd's hut. Note, she never asked for anything other than the bbq.

I contacted Airbnb to ask for this review to be removed as I felt it violated their review policy as

"I am so disappointed"

Does not inform future guests, or provide details about the stay. What was she disappointed about????

Anyway fast forward several days and Airbnb say they can't remove the review.

Note, we currently have 250 reviews for our listings.

247 at 5*

2 at 4*

Then this one at 1*

Surely alarm bells should ring at Airbnb!!!!!!

6 days after she checked out I get an email from Airbnb stating the guest had asked for a refund as their were cats at our property.

We are a farm and our listig states that we have lots of animals here that they may meet. They are extremely friendly cats and the guests always love them. They do not enter our properties but may be seen around and about the farm. Infact we have some guests who have rebooked because they love the cats so much.

Anyway, I refused the refund and stated that I felt these guests had enjoyed their stay, used all the facilities and had left without saying anything negative, then 6 days later asked for a refund.

At this point I put a request in for a refund for a tap that the guests had broken during their stay. I would usually just accept this as wear and tear and take the hit but this guest was really pushing all my buttons.

Note, the guest refused the request and said the tap was already broken. A blatant lie.

Anyway I thought this was the last I would hear from this guest until THE BIG ONE

The next day I received an email from Airbnb saying that the guest had reported us for having DANGEROUS ANIMALS on site as she said the cat scratched her husband on the first night and that he was too afraid to go outside and use the bbq for the remainder of their stay!!!!!!!!!

Strange but she had not reported this to us or Airbnb during her stay

I replied to the email and sent copies of approximately 25 reviews over the last couple of months from guests stating how lovely the cats are, how friendly they are and much they loved cuddles with the cats. I also called the 'so called support helpline and was told there was nothing they could do as this had to be investigated by another department and that I should wait for an email from them.

As a result all 5 of my Airbnb listings have been suspended whilst I wait for this investigation. Guests are unable to see my listing or book any future dates.

I am absolutely livid and have reported the guest for bullying as I feel she was doing everything in her power to get a refund and then when this didn't happen she is trying to ruin my business.

I have received an email from the so called Airbnb support team asking me to provide further details, see below

1. Who does the cats belong to?
2. Is there a fence or anything to prevent the cats from entering the property during the guests' stay from the farm? If so, we would like to receive a relevant picture or video.

I responded with

Thank you for your response.

With regards to your questions please see below

************

1) As stated on our listing we have many animals on our farm and obviously as this is a farm we also have farm cats. 

However, as cats are PROTECTED BY UK LAW WITH A 'RIGHT TO ROAM' and as the guests did not inform us of the cat scratch. I have no way of determining who owns the cat that this guest alleged scratched them. 

The guest alleges that this scratch happened during their first evening (28/02/22). The guests then remained at the property for a further two nights without making any claims of any kind about the cats, departing on the (03/03/22). 

If they had informed us during their stay, as we live on site, we would have obviously been able to identify the cat and if it belonged to us we could have resolved the issue immediately and retained the cat. If the cat had belonged to a neighboring property or farm we would have then been able to report this to the rightful owner. Alternatively, if we did not know the owner of the cat we would have been able to call the correct legal authority to retain the cat.

As stated in UK law cat owners have a duty of care to ensure that cats do not cause injury to anyone. We are fully aware of this law and ensure that OUR cats that live on the farm are extremely friendly with people. This is substantiated by our MANY reviews mentioning how friendly the cats are, which I have already forwarded the most recent to you.

Note, I am very happy to approach MANY of our previous Airbnb guests and inform them of the current situation and ask them to provide written statements detailing the friendly nature of OUR cats, above and beyond that which they have already stated in their written reviews. Obviously I can not comment on the nature of the cat that allegedly scratched the guest as we were not informed of the incident and so unable to identify the animal.

2) This question I find extremely strange and wholly irrelevant.

Cats are able to climb fences and so the only way to prevent a cat from entering a garden of the property would be to completely enclose and roof the whole space and creating a bubble over the whole property!!!! 

Surely Airbnb are not requesting that we BREAK UK LAW by not allowing cats to roam. Also as cats roam and do not stay at their owners properties surely Airbnb are not requesting that all properties rented through Airbnb be enclosed in a bubble to prevent any roaming cats from entering gardens attached to the property.

The property is completely fenced around the perimeter of the land attached to this property. However, as stated no fencing would be able to prevent cats entering a garden. Also as stated in 1) cats have a right to roam.

We currently have guests staying at our Little Acorn property so I am unable at the moment to take photos or videos of the fencing. However, I am happy to take these at a later time if Airbnb can PROVIDE EVIDENCE that a fence would prevent cats from roaming in to a garden!!!!!!

***********

Again I must stress how ridiculous I find this whole situation. Surely it is clear that this guest is trying everything to request a refund for a stay they remained at for 3 nights and made no comments about any of these issues during their stay.

As stated in my previous email I shall be contacting a solicitor tomorrow if this issue is not resolved. I also request the following details be provided by yourselves and the guests if you continue to suspend my listings.

1) Medical evidence obtained and date stamped at the time of the incident stating the guest sustained a cat scratch on the 28/02/22.

2) Photo evidence of the cat that performed the alleged scratching so that I can determine if this cat belongs to us.

3) Written and timestamped evidence that the guest reported the alleged scratch to us and Airbnb during their stay. 

Note, the first I heard of the 'dangerous animals' claim was approximately 10 days after the guest had departed.

4) Written and timestamped evidence that the guest reported the alleged issue of cats entering Little Acorn property to us and Airbnb during their stay. Obviously, if this had been an issue and as we live on site we would have been able to remove the cat immediately.

5) Written statement from Airbnb stating that they require all of their UK properties and associated gardens, to be fully enclosed, bubble like, to prevent cats from roaming through the land attached to the property. 

If you are able to provide 5) then I also request

6) Written and timestamped evidence that Airbnb has suspended all UK listings where the property has any outside space that is not fully enclosed, bubble like, to prevent cats from roaming.

IF YOU ARE UNABLE TO PROVIDE ALL OF THE ABOVE THEN I REQUEST THAT YOU IMMEDIATELY LIFT THE SUSPENSION FROM ALL 5 OF MY LISTINGS AND STOP THE UNDUE HARM YOU ARE CAUSING TO MYSELF, MY FAMILY AND MY BUSINESS.

I REQUEST THAT YOU ACKNOWLEDGE RECEIPT OF THIS EMAIL.

Anyway 18hrs later and I still have had no response, I'm currently in the process of liasing with a solicitor on this matter and my 5 listings are still suspended. 

WHAT THE HELL DO YOU HAVE TO DO TO SPEAK TO SOMEONE AT AIRBNB!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Teresa1712]

Thank you for your comments. I'm so glad it's not just me who feels that Airbnb's actions are completely unjustified. 

[Kendra114]

You are not alone. 

[Vivienne36]

I have 5 star reviews and I am a superhost.  I have had the odd one. I'm not allowed to leave a truthful review for them but they can leave a scathing review for me. A couple have been host themselves and I have heard this happens sometimes. The last one broke my front door lock, then said he would pay for the lock then the call out after cross threading the screw so that the lock couldn't to be taken out ever. He said he was an engineer, more fool me as I'm very capable of doing it myself.  I called the guys out and went back to teach online. Then I saw him leaving with all his stuff. He cost me £280 and I now need a new door for proper security.  Air b & b  refused my review as its was just too honest sadly. He said he had decided with the last host to put 5* on both their reviews even though he had had arguments with her. I didn't bother to claim as I know he would lie his way out of it and I'm left out of pocket. And just before Christmas this gut was a going to Church Christian! Yer right! I've had others. one at the moment ask for a refund just after she booked then again when she arrived as she met a guy in London and does not want to stay here but with him and another got spooked by the Russian invasion, umm we are in London, so didn't arrive but went back to the states stating she was really ill. Still wanted a refund after the room being blocked for 6 week. One girl came with one gut then tried to sneak another guy she met at a gig out the next morning. They were on bunk beds and apparently he walked her home and she didn't like to not offer him a bed. In my house! With all my bits everywhere. Luckily I saw him leave and so did she 15 mins later when she returned from her gig with a chaperone who had booked the room for her. One crazy woman text me from upstairs stating she was going stay until the end but would be putting in a scathing review. She had he previous accommodation at £15 per night next to the Ritz apparently pulled as gosh it actually didn't exist. What a shock!  So she was asked to leave the next day. So sadly these people stay from time to time but after around 200 Im still a 5* super host so the majority are wonderful trustworthy and now good air b & b friends. You just have to deal with it and hope that it's not too often. 

[Teresa1712]

Thank you for your response and I'm sorry to hear of all the nightmare guests you have encountered.

Unfortunately, I am still getting absolutely nowhere with Airbnb. All five of my listings are still suspended, apparently under review with the safety team. I can't speak to anyone at the safety team and when I call the 'so called' host support helpline 🤔 all they do is log a message for the safety team to respond to me. WHICH THEY HAVEN'T!!!!

Airbnb have been very willing and able in taking my many thousands of pounds worth of commission and booking fees that my five properties bring them but ABSOLUTELY PROVIDING NO SUPPORT. 

[Cathi4]

Please read the long message I just posted at the end of this forum.  It will give you an option that has worked very well for us as we have just had one room suspended (for a bogus reason) instead of all three.  It really cuts our losses!

[Tameka11]

I definitely understand your pain. A guest lied and stole from me last year. She said someone was breaking in and washing. I went to check things out at the apartment. She had redecorated the entire place. I didn’t see any forced entry. She reported that someone had broken in again to wash. I requested to call the police and she stopped responding after that. When she checked out she reported safety issues at the unit. Airbnb closed my account and no one could see my two listing. I ended up reporting all the things she stole and damaged. She also broke into my supply closet and helped herself. I had to change the locks and get a doorbell camera. This was a nightmare. I sent Airbnb all the pictures of damages and showed them the conversation thread. I made sure we communicated in writing even after speaking to her over the phone. I eventually got my money back. It was just an headache to deal with. 

[Teresa1712]

Thank you for your response and I'm so sorry to hear that you had such a hard time with a guest. It really does make you question why we do this!!!!

I still haven't heard anything from Airbnb since Sunday morning when they requested further details. I have called the 'so called' host support helpline but no luck, they just say there is nothing they can do and that I have to wait for the safety team to get back to me. I have emailed Airbnb several times asking for an update but still no reply. 

I am now in the process of listing my 5 properties on other platforms. I certainly wouldn't recommend Airbnb to any hosts in the future.

[Cathi4]

What other platforms are there?  We live in our Airbnb house, it is not a stand alone.   I want to leave Airbnb but not sure there are any other options for us. 

My story:   After hundreds of 4 and 5 star ratings averaging 4.75 and being a SuperHost we had a similar problem with a guest reporting something completely bogus.  This was just yesterday.   Apparently he reported that "people were in the hallway" and that he was worried that there might be a surveillance camera under the door.  ??? OMG, is this for real?   There are three Airbnb rooms in our finished downstairs and two full shared bathrooms.  Yes, there is a *hallway* and that is the *only* way to get to the bathroom.  Unless, I suppose the guests go out back, break through the concrete foundation and dig down about 8 feet.  Of COURSE there are "people" in the hallway.  This is so ridiculously absurd there are truly no words for it. 

Long story short without notice they suspended my listing!  I only knew about it when I checked my calendar in the evening but it had been implemented at 7am.  I had NO CLUE what was going on because they would not tell me and still won't because it is being "investigated".  By whom?  The FBI? 

I had to wait until the guest came home and fortunately he was here for a second night or I still would have no idea what he reported because they will not tell me anything.   I talked to him.  He told me he was a paranoid schizophrenic and was sorry .  He called Airbnb to retract his statement.  I overheard him telling them also that he was schizophrenic.  I figured that would be a done deal.  But the listing is still suspended and I can not get any information from anyone.  Only the proverbial, "I'm sorry."  I have heard that so much it makes me want to spit!!!

Here's the thing.  In our home we have three Airbnb rooms and FORTUNATELY each listing is under a different person's name.  If they had all been under just my name then sure enough all *three* of my listings would now be suspended!  I would give this as advice to Airbnb hosts to protect their listings.  Get them in different family members or friends names.  You can list one bank account on all of them.  Our other two listings are still live.  

In the meantime, I wait.  And get more pissed off by the hour.  (I better check my blood pressure, it's probably high.)  But I am not aware that there is an alternative for our set up.  Isn't VRBO only for stand alones?  

So now just am beginning to read this and other Airbnb disaster stories and it makes me even more angry at how they treat us.  It didn't used to be like this.  We've had problems on a few occasions in the past but they resolved it in our best interest.  That is not the case now.  Are they getting too big for their britches or what?  I'm feeling like it's time to jump ship but to where?  

[Valerie186]

Thanks for the hint. The problem is I only have one listing and it’s been suspended for nine months and I haven’t been given a reason. I have left at least 15 messages and no one has ever called me back. I looked into other hosting sites and honestly they just aren’t run as well unfortunately and they’re much less user friendly. I thought about “adding another listing “ I don’t know what to do. I really need the income I have sunk a lot of money into a remodel and I’ve been doing this for 4 1/2 years with 91 positive reviews

[Sarah977]

@Valerie186  That's insane. While I can't see your listing, as it's suspended, I can see that you have a 4.92 rating and pages of great reviews. It's disgusting that Airbnb treats its long time hosts like this.

I'm going to tag a forum moderator here- sometimes they will ping things over to customer service to get things moving. 

@Sybe Could you get CS to address this host's 9 month suspension with no explanation and no responses to her?

[Sybe]

@Sarah977 thanks for the tag!

@Valerie186 I'm so sorry to hear about that. I'm sending this over to the team now so they can look into it more for you. They should get in touch with you and if I get an update in the meantime I'll let you know.

[Valerie186]

I appreciate your doing that but I don’t really have any hope that anyone is going to respond to me. It’s been one week and I’ve been calling and messaging every single day and no one has responded to me. My account is suspended for 9 1/2 months which is the equivalent of a $10,000 fine in my case so whatever I did to warrant a $10,000 fine must’ve been pretty serious in their eyes. I never even received a warning or a hand slap or a hey this is what you did that was wrong you need to correct it. I never had a chance to fix whatever they are angry about or try and discuss my side of the case. I have tried calling and every single time I call I talk to a different person that I am never allowed to talk to the case manager or the person that is supposedly handling the case I have to wait for them to call me.  I am really really disappointed in Airbnb. I used to be one of their biggest fans always telling my friends about how great it was to work with them, etc. now I’m just really really sad, frustrated and defeated. 

[Kendra114]

Unreal! I agree. Airbnb does nothing to protect us. I’m checking out Evolve to move over to or I’m just going to quit. I’m already done & the season is just beginning. 

[Valerie186]

Did you ever get any help? Or did you just leave?

[Kendra114]

Good God man. Is it Texas that has such horrible guests or is this everywhere? I’m down the road in Galveston & the guests are like little children going around ruining anything they can. Rules, what rules? It’s a challenge for them. What is wrong with everyone?!