Airbnb cancelled all my bookings and deactivated my listing due to THEIR mistake in coordinates - Put me in NYC and I'm in Tennessee!

[Deb75]

Terrifying situation yesterday. I am located in the mountains of Tennessee. I've been a superhost for all five years I've been on the platform.   I was booked for ALL weekends (only do weekends after May) through July, with several in August, October and November.  After being asked to 'update' my information (never was asked before in 5 years), address, link to my listing, name of my listing, AND my coordinates...then was told to go to a link they provided for my longitude and latitude , type my address, then the coordinates will be there, copy and paste to enter it on the Airbnb 'update' form.  Did so.  Then, a few hours later ALL my bookings were suddenly cancelled AND I got an email from NYC stating my listing was being removed because i 'didn't comply with their regulations'. WTH???  I was frantic. Then the angry and upset messages started from guests while I desperately tried to reach someone at Airbnb.  I finally got a message from the 'representative' that had asked for my update, she told  me I had 'given the wrong address' (??) AND wrong coordinates!..I said no way!  and I told her in a panic what was happening. She tried to blame it on me, saying I entered the 'wrong data' for longitude/latitude. I  am ashamed to say say I came unglued and told her I just cut and pasted it from the link she sent me, and I had double checked that the address was correct, so how could I have been at fault??.and that they had BETTER fix it NOW..said 'she'd fix it'. I finally reached someone at Airbnb, and after a ten minute hold they said they would correct it...and get the listing back up.

BUT I had to be the one to contact EVERY GUEST and ask them to rebook!  Because they had already been refunded.....13 reservations! AND all the dates were now open so the guest could lose those dates!  I was sick about this.  They finally got my listing back up. Took me a couple of hours to contact everyone and calm them down and ask them to please rebook, although 6 have not responded with a re book.  So that's about $1500 in lost bookings so far.  And the guests said that when they called, Airbnb would not tell them why they were cancelled. So some assumed it was on me...Can't blame them. I tried to explain it all to each, but I can imagine how insane it sounded.

This is totally unacceptable. I've been a superhost for all quarters of all 5 years.  I've had nothing but good things with Airbnb UNTIL these past few months, with several issues, mistakes on their part, allowing un vetted people to try and book, pulling my superhost status 6 months after my ONLY host initiated cancellation in 5 years, etc etc.   

Just got a note from one of the guests, she is booking elsewhere. Goosy about trying me again!  Two more said they decided not to re book.

It doesn't matter if this was a technical 'glitch' on Airbnb's part. I was certainly NOT my doing!  

Then, when I posted this on the Superhost Facebook page, found out TWO other hosts had this happen...and amazingly BOTH were relocated to.....wait for it....NYC!  what are the chances of THAT being an 'accident'?? That ALL the 'wrong' longitude crap was NYC for all three of us?  I'm heading to twitter soon if these 6 guests are gone for good.  NO host deserves this.  Disgusting.   And I'm tagging Catherine Powell, not that it will help, but this company is going to the dogs...I'm just torn up. Any suggestions on how to proceed? I've gotten 8 of the 13 bookings back, and one poor guest lost her dates that were a special mother/daughter celebration.  I feel so bad for them. No notice, no explanation, just cancelled...

[Michael5689]

@Pat271 They've had ML teams for years now and someone is probably trying to expand their sphere of influence/impact toward more customer-facing issues and latched onto a corporate narrative to get additional funding and resources.

It's all over in the front-end, back-end, UI...sheesh.  There's some weird "insights" bug where at certain times of the month I can't adjust the window of days I'm looking at without the dates completely resetting automatically.  It's clearly a bug but I don't know where to submit a good technical bug report that would allow them to address it very quickly.  This forum definitely isn't it.

I'm starting to feel like YouTube content creator worried about what policy or algorithm change is going to impact my income next.  They adjusted the default radius from the center of searches or maybe what they call the "center" of some geographic locations in the last month or two and my views have fallen off a cliff because of it.  Basically I don't show up in most "South Lake Tahoe" searches anymore because of it.  I'm probably going to turn into more of a last minute booking location because the search radii won't expand again until the number of available properties gets too low in South Lake.

[Deb75]

Wow... I never really figured out how to post to twitter, but someone here did for me, and I've already been contacted. I don't have any illusions about them doing anything but I'm really amazed. And thank you for the support!

[Deb75]

I did find Brian cheske's Twitter account where he was expounding the new wonderful policies, and I did comment on that with my problem. But I'm sure it got hidden in the 7000 comments. I just couldn't figure out how to start a new conversation there. I'm so technically illiterate.

[Suzanne302]

@Deb75 

Absolutely unacceptable. I can't even imagine the panic you must have been feeling. These are not "one offs". These are examples of a company that needs big change. And not the "change" that was just announced.

[Pat271]

Exactly, @Suzanne302, well said.

[Jenny]

Hi @Deb75 

I'm really sorry to hear about what's happened.

I just wanted to let you know that we've seen your post and that we've escalated it urgently to get you some support.  

You should hear back soon, or if we hear anything directly, we'll let you know.

Jenny

[Deb75]

Thank you so much Jenny! I did get some kind of a note from Airbnb help that said they wanted my email address so they could investigate. That was several days ago and I haven't heard anything yet. And now with this new category program they've implemented, my bookings have completely tanked compared to what I normally experience this time of year. It's devastating. I couldn't find my listing in three different areas and when I finally did it was an area that had nothing to do with what my particular property has to offer. This is just getting worse by the day and I'm not alone in this. I've seen hundreds and hundreds of posts by hosts who are experiencing the same thing. I don't know what's going on. It's very sad. Again thank you so much for what you've done. I will certainly keep you all updated.

[Helen744]

@Deb75 this is happening as you say all over. It is destroying businesses on the say so of a rep and a mistake . No apology . No assistance.Make sure you have the reps full name and try again until someone else who can actually realise what is being done to hosts businesses by random telephone consultants with extraordinairy powers are doing to not only hosts but guests. Ask the guests that you have contact with very carefully what has occurred from their end and see if you can figure out how this happened.The company appears to take zero responsibility for a tidal wave of destruction.Are you near to another Airbnb or hotel chain that may be picking up your bookings. Where have your guests gone . H

[Deb75]

Well, fortunately I figured out 'how' it happened when I got that email from them stating I was being delisted because I did not comply with New York City's regulations.  I realized then, that because of the morning's discussion with a 'case manager' at Airbnb requesting I 'update' my information, including coordinates (never done this before) that somehow they had made a terrible mistake. 

Immediately all the cancellations came it.

The guests also contacted me (all but three) and were frantic, angry, confused.  I was able to establish contact with them to explain.  I'm certain a couple didn't believe me, who would?  Several told me that they got no warning, and when they called Airbnb they were not told 'why' they were cancelled, again making it seem like it was from my end. THAT made me really angry.

So far of the 13, I've gotten all to re book (although one lost her dates and couldn't re book) except 5.  2 told me they would not re book and stated some very flimsy reasons, so I know they didn't believe or trust me or my property .. I don't blame them. One more said she was booking elsewhere, the others didn't say.  

I've only been contact from someone off Airbnb/Twitter asking for my email address so they can verify and 'get to the bottom of this', that was 2 days ago. Nothing since. 

I do not yet know how to send a twitter message directly either Chesky or anyone else there with accounts. Another host from here was kind enough to pass this along, hence the contact 2 days ago.

I doubt anything will come of it, it just adds to the stress of dealing with Airbnb and their total lack of host support recently. I had such a good relationship (I thought) with them, was booked as often as I chose to be, I closed for two months each winter, and once opened was always booked out 2-3 months solid.  Bookings have pretty much ceased now. Never happened before.  Now the changes are that my 'target market' cannot find my cabin, I CAN'T find my listing now either...It's only coming up if I google the actual name of my listing.  so it may be the death nell for me...

[Rhonda45]

The rep I talked to was not an experienced super host.  She didn’t have an Airbnb but hoped to one day.  How does that happen???  I had to cut her off to make her understand the problem.  All she could do was send the link for feedback.  

[Renee291]

It's crazy that airbnb doesn't see that the suggested situation is illogical. Why would you put in the wrong address for your property? How would guests actually find you at the wrong address? And why would you be claiming to be in Tennessee and actually located in New York City? It's obviously a mistake on their part. I hope they make it right for you and your guests. 

[Deb75]

thank you.  I heard someone else (2 actually) had the same problem. Other states, but when 'updated' were put in NYC...insane.  then they apologized for the 'inconvenience'.  I felt so bad for my guests as well. A couple were for special celebrations and the dates were opened when cancelled, so when they went to re book, they could not. Already taken by another who rebooked but with a desire for different dates.

[Rhonda45]

I plan to leave Airbnb once I get a response on how it will affect my current bookings.  Their. Ew platform is a hot mess.  I hate the random 7 day dates they now put under every booking.  They really messed things up.  

[Deb75]

Well I sure hope that somebody from that organization is paying attention to all of these forums including on Facebook because this isn't just a few hosts that are upset. This is industry-wide. And it's going to get worse. They are destroying my business and it sounds like many others such as yours. I can't even fathom what possessed them to come up with this, except that I know they are fancy pants college grads with multiple degrees and not a lick of sense or an ounce of experience in business.. and laughingly enough, especially the hospitality business.