Last Monday, I received an email from Airbnb notifying me that “they will no longer be able to support my account due to violations of their terms of service.” I logged into my account thinking there must have been some type of mistake.
When looking at my host page, I saw that all my upcoming reservations had been canceled and I had access to nothing in my account. However, my listing is still showing “listed.” I immediately called and emailed Airbnb. There was no reason given in the email. Once I got through the 20-minute hold, I was told I would have to wait to hear back by email, that there were no notes on the account and it was a different department that handles this type of situation.
I waited a couple of hours and called again because the last representative said it would take about an hour for the person to get back to me. I got the same song and dance: no information is available, but they would let the person know I had called. Now when I call in or ask for help on social media I am shot down and ignored. They said I must email them and that there was no information available as to the reasons why my account was deactivated.
With online support, I once received a message that read just like the emails. I am being ignored, and they will not answer me anymore. Just to add insult to injury, I was just given Superhost status one day before this happened. How can I go from being a Superhost to now no longer being able to use their services?
I am a good host with all positive reviews. I have been hosting since September 2016. My rental is a 5-year-old town home. All brand-new furniture. I just spent almost $1000 on adding new decorative additions, painting and new bedding. I had also scheduled an appointment to have someone come over and take new photos for my listing. I had a painter scheduled to do some accent walls to give the home more character. This was something I loved doing and was very good at it. To be dismissed in such a disrespectful way is very disheartening and really questions my loyalty to this company.
I am at a loss of understanding what has happened and how to resolve the issue. I am getting no response from Airbnb to my emails or calls. I also feel awful for my guests, who were booked and are now left scrambling around to try and find other accommodations. The worst part of all of this is the lack of information available to me as a host and the lack of warning.
Airbnb will not tell me any reasons as to why they cancelled my account. Their emails are just template emails that say the same thing. It is very cold, impersonal and feels insulting to support a company like I have for this long to be dismissed. Not one person could even write an actual email answering questions; they simply just sent me the standard email and then left me no options to ask questions or resolve the situation. It is insulting and frustrating.
Here are some of the highlights of the emails/Facebook support messages I have received:
“They are under no obligation to inform me as to their reasons.”
“They are not responsible for any loss I will suffer.”
“They can no longer support any questions I might have about my account.” “Thanks for reaching out.”
“If anything changes we will contact you.”
I need advice and help.
I had the same experience. Contact me if you are interested in developing a class action. There must be some way to Force due process and equal and fair treatment. There are so many complaints about Airbnb arbitrary treatment of hosts throughout the Internet.
If this is true and actually happened to you then that is terrifying and you need to share this in more platforms than this very little known space. No one reads this. Share it on the airbnb host forum in the community center and become a member of facebook groups like Airbnb Professional Hosts and Short Term Rental University and share this story there. If airbnb makes it a practice of disabling hosts profiles so quickly and without any explanation, then that is something everyone should be aware of.
It’s their platform, they can choose to do what they want. Not the answer you want but it’s reality. Don’t place all your eggs in one basket. You’re running a business for yourself, not for them, right? Branch out! There are numerous other sites!