Deactivated Airbnb Account is Suddenly Activated

Posted on April 10, 2022

I hosted a successful apartment in Brooklyn to unanimously good reviews, but because of the constant frustrations dealing with Airbnb finally shut the account down. My apartment is great, but one of the things people always commented on was what a good attentive host I was (good customer service). Wish I could say the same for Airbnb.

I deactivated my account and so obviously stopped getting requests. Then a few months later I started getting requests every day (which is normal when my account is active) For the first few people, I wrote them back and said I’m not sure what is going on, but this is not an active account (no, I had not simply blocked my calendar).

Soon I was frustrated by the constant barrage of requests, but I no longer even have the app on my phone, and had one problem after the next trying to get through to guests on the phone or by text or email: not getting the “code”, getting accidentally cut off, not getting a human, not getting return email. Just one issue after another and I’m busy and feel like they are relying on me to do their work for them.

I let Airbnb know that I have been doing them the courtesy of denying requests, but only for the guest’s sake, and that I am no longer going to continue to do that. They tell me to deactivate my account and I tell them I did that months ago. I requested that a tech person look at the account and tell me how this could have happened. I say that if I deactivate my account, what is to say it won’t suddenly become “active” again, and I’ll have to go through this all over again. They say they are quite literally unable to deactivate my account and that they are going to fine me for the two reservations that have just been auto booked.

I ask them to please scroll through my messages and they will see that I have been trying to make them aware of this problem, and that guests would soon be auto booking, and that I was no longer doing their admin for them and responding to guests on an inactive account.

Finally they refund my “fines” and deactivate my account (after swearing this was impossible many times) when I push for a tech person to please look into what has happened. They have been so capricious, awful, and misinformed, that I was unwilling to deactivate my account for the second time, but they did not back down until I insisted a tech person look into it.

Here is my question though: is it possible that they “accidentally” reactivate well performing accounts in hot markets where they are low on available lodging in hopes that people will just accept the reservations? Maybe I’m just being paranoid, but they have done such shady stuff that I wonder.

Airbnb Falsely Accused Me of Having a Criminal Record

Posted on December 25, 2021

My account was deactivated and I couldn’t figure out why. I only have received good reviews from the places I have stayed at. I called Airbnb’s customer service line and they also could not give me any information. They just stated they would have it escalated and I would receive an email with more information.

When I received the email it was only referring to a past email I had never seen or received. Finally after contacting Airbnb support through Twitter, they were able to get the email I was missing resent to me. It stated:

“We’ve recently completed an evaluation of your Airbnb account, which included a consumer report generated using the Inflection SafeDecision API product offered by Inflection Risk Solutions, LLC. We regret to inform you that Airbnb, Inc. has decided to permanently deactivate your account due, at least in part, to the following information contained in that consumer report: Criminal Records Match.”

Let me be clear: I do not have a criminal record. Never have I even been arrested. Worst I ever got was a speeding ticket and I also got a failure to stop ticket when I was making a right hand turn on red without fully stopping. Nonetheless these tickets are not criminal so how I got deactivated for a criminal record is beyond me. I would be curious if this is an opportunity to see a lawyer about.

Banishment From Airbnb Platform After Years of Service

Posted on July 29, 2021

My account from Airbnb goes back to a time years before COVID. A time when hosts were treated fairly, a time when accounts were handled by representatives from my own country. I was inexperienced back then and made rookie mistakes like allowing parties. I didn’t look at how local drug dealers and prostitutes used the property to benefit themselves. Twice I had damage done to the property where I had to file a police report.

Airbnb does not remember those times when I had to make sacrifices for them. Nor do they remember the over 70 five-star ratings and a 4.9 overall rating. When they shut down my account they looked at the present, an entitled guest that sought revenge because my external ring camera caught her breaking the rules. At least that was what I assumed. Airbnb never once gave me the reason for my suspension and eventual closure. How can you defend yourself if they hide behind their privacy policy?

What, when, where, who, or how was never answered after hours of waiting for an agent or when an agent did speak directly to me. We know the representatives that looked at my case are from China because they had to reach me at 11:00 PM local time and my Taiwanese girlfriend could communicate to her in Chinese better than she could communicate in English (we actually verified this by asking her).

My appeal was also one sided. An email from the department was forthcoming after so many unanswered calls, texts, and emails. Again no explanation was given, no investigation, and no evidence. I wrote to the CEO and several board members and pleaded to them that I am a disabled war veteran and this supplements my income in a large way. These snail mail letters went unanswered. They just don’t care that they stripped me of my future income and made me try to replace it through other means.

Brian Chesky, a person who makes over a hundred million a year and his millionaire executives could care less about a veteran who makes a minuscule amount. Shameful that they live in a country I protected and own a company I once worked exceptionally hard for.

COVID-19 and the Lying Airbnb Guest

Posted on April 30, 2020

Recently I had a guest who booked a room in my private home for a month. He said he’d been with a circus working in Saco, Maine, but all the circus gigs had been cancelled due to COVID-19, and he was going to move to Portland, Maine to try to find work in construction, as he was a set designer for the circus.

As I’ve discovered, the circus he works for, The Big Apple Circus, from NYC, had cancelled all their shows back in late January and the man had fled NYC to flee COVID-19, booked a room via Airbnb in Saco, and then Saco banned further Airbnb bookings due to the virus. So, he booked with me.

However, for all I knew as he was my guest (before he left and I had researched him), he was looking to move permanently to Portland, and I even offered him a longer term tenancy, as a true housemate. Needless to say, since the man was renting for a month in my private home, it would be normal and expected there would be more personal interactions.

His room was in my finished attic, to which there is a door. If I knocked on the door there was a good chance he couldn’t hear the knocking, and at one point I knocked, then waited, knocked again, and then thinking I’d heard him reply, opened the door to ask him if he wanted some work. I had a small job I could pay him for.

He yelled at me that I’d opened his door, that I had his money (it should be noted that he’d rented the room at a very significant discount for 28 days), and that I’d even put his bathroom toiletries inside his door, which had been in the shared guest bathroom. I had done that, since I’d rented another room on the second floor to a permanent tenant and wanted to make sure everyone had enough room for their stuff in that small bathroom.

Because he yelled so loudly at me, and was so nasty, I called Airbnb. They commiserated with me, and then I got angry back. I said, “You’re renting in my private home, I was offering you work, and I don’t expect to be treated so badly.”

I was trying to be nice, helpful, and actually act like a friend. In fact, Airbnb spent a number of years advertising itself as a home away from home experience, where guests would share in someone’s home life. I was so upset at being yelled at, I ended up asking the man to leave and I’d pay him the rest of what he owed me to leave. He was happy with that, even if he claimed he didn’t trust me and wanted to see me count the money out. He really was vicious.

Airbnb called me two days later for my account of things. What they said was that I should never open a guest’s door and never do financial things except through them. I said I’d thought I’d heard him reply and yet lesson learned. The next thing I knew my account was entirely deactivated.

Though shocked, particularly as I had two other upcoming bookings, and I’d never received any warning, underneath it all, I’m relieved to no longer be a host. That particular room had never, to my knowledge, had Superhost ratings, but the last two guests in that room believed I did, so what Airbnb was showing guests was not what they were showing me.

In fact, my account had consistently indicated that I had “things to work on,” though it was never ever clear what the issues were. Not ever. Furthermore, I did have Superhost ratings for the other two rooms in my apartment, and have been a host for over six years.

My relief relates particularly to the confusing narrative Airbnb has promoted: guests can enjoy a home-like stay. However, many guests actually expect the full total insular experience of a hotel room. That would be frankly near impossible in a private home where people bump into each other. It would be even less plausible when a guest is staying for a long time and presents as someone looking to rent as a permanent tenant.

In this particular instance, what was so disconcerting was that the guest had lied to me about what he was actually up to: escaping NYC to flee the virus, the one thing folks shouldn’t be doing. For all I know, he might already have contracted the virus and transported it to Maine and to my home.

My takeaway from this entire experience is the opinion that the model of a “home away from home” experience that Airbnb has promoted is deeply flawed. Private homes aren’t hotels nor even B&Bs, both of which have staff and do not have the homeowner living on site.

As Airbnb moves toward offering an IPO, I think they’re going to have to radically change their model and stick to working with entire apartments or homes and therefore fundamentally compete with the likes of VRBO. My own experience of being a guest in someone’s private home was actually strange: I didn’t quite know how to act, as a guest. There simply weren’t good guidelines for either the host or the guest.

Given the huge class-action suit against them by those who have had bookings cancelled with no compensation for financial losses, Airbnb is going to be in trouble. I have an inkling the company will deeply falter and will be a poor investment.

Uber in Accident While Passenger on Phone with Airbnb

Posted on April 30, 2020

I had been in this Airbnb house for two weeks already. I got a call around 11:00 AM from a woman representing Airbnb telling me my reservation had been cancelled and I needed to go check out now. She said my host had already been notified I would be checked out by 3:00 PM today.

“WTF are you talking about? What is going on? I haven’t broken any rules. I’ve haven’t done anything. Explain to me what it is that Airbnb thinks I have done.”

“Well I’m sorry, but I’m not at liberty to say.”

I started losing it over the phone at this woman. I had just paid $800 for next month. I don’t have any bad reviews. I wanted to know what the hell was going on. Where did they expect me to go? I wanted to know what it is that I did.

All the while I was getting louder and louder to the point I was screaming at the other end of the line, punching the back of the Uber seat (passenger’s side) and stomping on the floor. I was angry.

My family and I have been using Airbnb for years and never had issues: no bad reviews. I was just going off in the back of this poor lady’s car yelling and waving my arms around. She was trying to calm me down saying, “Sir, what’s the matter?”; “Sir, please please calm down”; “Sir the language”; “Oh my god sir please what is the matter? You don’t need to be rude to her”; “Sir please I don’t appreciate that word (the C word)”.

I wasn’t paying too much attention to what she was saying; I was focusing on this call. This went on for about another minute because out of the corner of my eye I noticed the driver was not paying attention to the road. She had her head turned around towards me yelling at me because I called this woman on the phone the “C” word. I noticed she had drifted into oncoming traffic. I yelled “Watch out!”

She turned and I swear it was like slow motion: this car swerved out the way of us and I watched it scrape a parked car. I said to the driver: “Pay attention to the road. Are you trying to kill me?”

While she was driving really fast, I still had the lady from Airbnb on the phone. That in itself was strange. She pulled up to my street going 40 miles per hour and pulled a cali stop. She didn’t notice the cop sitting at the light. My host was maybe five houses from the corner.

When I made it home, she said to get out of her car. The cop came, noticed she was an Uber driver, and asked me if I was okay. As I was walking in the door, I could hear her going off on this cop about me. Then he interrupted her and asked her what happened to the side of her car. I’m listening to everything at the door.

She asked, “What damage?”

She got out of the car. I heard “wtf?” then the cop said “Ma’am I’m placing you under arrest for hit and run, leaving an accident, and speeding in a residential area.”

All the while she was yelling: “That guy in the car: it’s his fault! He was driving me insane. He was yelling and stomping on the floor and punching the back of the seat. He called her a… I don’t like that word.”

The cop asked what this had to do with her sideswiping that car back there. I guess someone watched her, got her plate, and called it in. That cop happened to be in the right place and saw her plate.

The real kicker is he asked me to come outside and explain what happened. I said, “Man, I don’t know. She was driving like a bar out of hampering the start. I kept telling her she needed to slow down. That’s when she turned her head to me and said to shut up. That is when she scraped that car.”

He asked me why she didn’t stop.
“I don’t know. She was yelling ‘See, see what you made me do!’ Then before I knew it we were here and you rolled up.”

I could hear her in the back seat of the cop car yelling “He’s lying, officer!” just ranting, raving, and going off.

That was just the start of the day. My woman thought I was full of it with that story about the Uber ride. I thought she got what she deserved. She shouldn’t have been rubbernecking my conversation with Airbnb.

Anyway getting back to Airbnb. They claimed at first it was some security BS and she couldn’t tell me why my reservation was cancelled. They were going to contact me within 24 hours. My host was tripping out, saying she was sorry. She said when it got cleared up, I could come back. I was planning on staying there for maybe four months.

I have a job I’m doing out here. I like to use Airbnb because I can save money. I’ve been with them for years. All my family as well. Meanwhile I’m freaking out because I don’t know where a good cheap clean hotel is. My woman found one online. I’m mad as hell and want to know what happened.

Come around 7:00 PM, I got a call from Airbnb saying “Oh, we’re sorry. It turns out it was a glitch or something in the system and automatically cancelled your reservation.”

I’m like, “Okay now what? Are you guys going to compensate for the day of work you caused me to lose and reimburse me for the hotel room?”

She said, “I’m not qualified to make that decision. Do you have a pen? Here is your case number.”

“What do I need a case number for? Did I catch a case on a crime I didn’t know about?”
“I’m sending your case to a different department. We will contact you within 24 hours.”

They finally sent me the number and at the end of the message it said: “This message was sent by Airbnb with love.”

They finally got back to me after I’ve sent them hundreds of messages trying to get compensation for the missed day of work and the days I’ve been in this hotel breaking my bank account. I’ve already paid $511.91 on this hotel room and I still can’t make a reservation with Airbnb. Then they insult me with an offer of $146 towards my room.

That told me this company has no respect for its customers at all. This is completely their fault. It’s now starting to effect my girls and my woman. Airbnb is taking food off my table and the country’s got the population control problem going on right now; they don’t care.

I deal with a lot of BS from people but when it affects my way of life and my kids, there is a problem. I want my name cleared so I can make a reservation. I also want to be compensated for the hotel. My bank account is empty. I’m doing what I can to keep food on the table.

Like I said, I had the room covered for a month: $800 already paid. I just paid $500 for seven days. I want them to make it right. Any reputable company would acknowledge their mistake and make it right. What kind of people are working there? It’s like they got monkeys answering the phone, passing each case from department to department, never returning your messages.

I’m putting this out there right now: if this company doesn’t give me back my money and doesn’t clear my situation with the reservation, I will get even and I will get satisfaction. Think you can take food from my kids and make my little girls cry cause I can’t come home? I had to work on the weekend to make up for their mistake.

I don’t know what you’re thinking Airbnb. You should have never posted so much information on yourself. I love my kids to work weekends for them. This I promise. On my mother’s life, nobody — I mean no one — is allowed to make my little girl cry. Only I can make my woman mad, only me. Airbnb has messed with my life and I want compensation.

Superhost Account Deactivated Without Reason

Posted on November 22, 2019

Over a week ago from the time of this writing, I logged into my Airbnb account only to find all of my bookings (over $1000 worth) had disappeared. There was no indication of why this would’ve happened except an email sent that afternoon (which appeared to be a virus) that a “random” background check was performed on me by their company (Inflection Safe Decision API), and that as a result, Airbnb made the decision to “permanently deactivate” my Superhost account. Several guests (some repeat guests) were forced to inconveniently alter their plans and find other accommodations.

Immediate calls to Airbnb Support yielded nothing, as I was informed the decision fell to their “Trust Department,” for whom they not only had no phone number or were able to transfer me to, but indicated would not respond to an email for 2-3 business days. Having no other options, I decided to take the risk of opening the link in this suspicious email. It led to a report of a criminal charge from nearly three years ago in which it stated clearly in its outcome that all charges had been dismissed.

At the end of a two-day wait (Friday evening), I received an email from Airbnb Community Support stating that my Superhost account was removed due to this criminal record, and stated “this is a violation of the Airbnb Community Standards.” However, nowhere in these standards does it state that it is a violation to be charged with a crime. I point this out in an email, stating that any innocent host or guest could potentially be charged with a crime at any point for numerous reasons beyond one’s control, but what matters is a conviction. I asked where in these standards was the “violation” they referred to.

After five days and further loss of income, I got no response and decided to email again. After a day of calls and emails, I received a generic apology for the delay. Shockingly, it also stated, entirely falsely, that “the public records that were used in this determination did not show that the charges were dismissed.” I was asked to provide documentation of this outcome in order to have my account reinstated.

A reply has now been sent, where I’ve highlighted the plainly stated outcome of a “dismissal” within the very same public record which they used against me. While I have ample evidence of my innocence. Not only does it remain to be seen if my Superhost account with its hundreds of glowing reviews will be reinstated, but Airbnb has not refunded the several hundreds of dollars in lost income that they caused.

If there ever was an ‘Airbnb nightmare’ for a host, surely this exemplifies it. That Airbnb does nothing to inform a host of this “random” action is bad enough, but it appears they cannot even bother to review the information their own background check company provides them before or after deciding to take devastating action on it. Their complete lack of lines of communication for hosts and cancelled guests in such a matter is equally inexcusable. I never imagined Airbnb, who has previously provided outstanding customer service, would treat a Superhost with such inflexible negligence.

Nightmare Guest Gets 13-year Airbnb Host Banned

Posted on October 31, 2019

This is both a host and a guest story. I have been a host since about 2006 and have always been a huge advocate of Airbnb. I have also loved using Airbnb myself all over the world. I have had tons of positive reviews on both the guest and host side.

Now, suddenly, after having a terrible experience with a guest, I am permanently deactivated. Airbnb won’t talk to me. The reservation I have for my family at Christmas time in Savannah has been canceled, and I have received no refund. In addition, my fiancé, who was also on that reservation, was also deactivated.

I had decided to sell my three unit property that has two units listed on Airbnb. The units are monthly rentals and usually rent from 1-6 months. The real estate agent asked me to leave the units open to make it easier to show them, so I was considering taking the listings down.

However, I received a request from a guest who said she was between leases and needed a place to stay. She didn’t have any reviews on her profile but I decided to help her out. I asked her for two things: I said I am selling the property. Would you be willing to work with my real estate agent for showings? She would need to leave the extra key in the lockbox for the agent. And would you be willing to keep the apartment clean? She agreed to those conditions and I accepted the reservation.

She checked in on a Sunday and that afternoon I called her and messaged her and got no response. On Tuesday morning the city inspector was scheduled to come through for the city certification, something the city does every four years. I called and messaged her multiple times Sunday and Monday and got no response.

On Monday my friend went over to see if she was there and if the second set of keys was in the lockbox. She was not there and neither were the keys. By Monday night I called Airbnb and I sent her a message saying that if she didn’t respond I was going to have to get a locksmith for the city appointment. I should have had more sets of keys but only had two sets (one for her and one for the lockbox).

In the morning we had a locksmith get into the apartment and we found a disaster. There was stuff everywhere, alcohol bottles everywhere, lighters, discharge papers from rehab, her wallet and the wallet of another person plus the parole card of a third person (the reservation was for one person).

The stove had been dismantled. There was food everywhere. We found a needle in the bathroom. While my friend was there with the city she discovered the guest had locked herself out and gone out partying, didn’t come back until 3:00 AM and then tried to break into the wrong apartment, scaring my neighbors and the tenants in the other unit, who called the cops.

However, they didn’t contact me at any point. They never ended up contacting me. I was finally able to cancel their reservation through Airbnb, but I still had her stuff. I called the mental hospital/ rehab listed on the papers in the property and gave them the contact info of my friend to try to get her stuff back to her (I do not live in the area any longer).

She screamed at my friend, told her she was going to get revenge, and that it was a race issue, that we were treating her badly because she was black (I had never seen her). Shortly thereafter, her stuff disappeared from the apartment, and there was a lighter left on the table. She or her friends must have broken in and taken her things.

A few days later, and my account is deactivated and my fiancé’s account is as well. Airbnb won’t talk to me. I have a paid for reservation in Savannah for which I believe I should be refunded. It is upsetting that, after years of working with Airbnb, they would do this without even hearing my side of the story, and that they can cancel a reservation without refunding the money. It seems like the consumer should have more rights than this.

Deactivated by Airbnb without Notification

Posted on September 29, 2019

Since July 21, my Washington DC Airbnb unit has become invisible to prospective guests. Airbnb contacted me about updating my host information using a government-accredited ID. I hesitated to do so and was locked out of my account until I did as requested. From that date on, my unit has not shown up in any searches for DC accommodations.

My co-host and I have been in touch constantly since the problem was discovered. Airbnb first asked why I had deactivated my account (I had not). I checked my status; all was in order. The Airbnb support staff finally agreed it was a problem at their end and tech staff would provide a remedy.

No such luck. The case was called closed without a resolution. I have been pushed around to various folks using their automated system. It has been over 60 days since my place was seen by prospective guests. We had been occupied on average 20 days a month before this snafu with a good stream of income, which is necessary to help pay the mortgage.

We have some possible long-term renters in the wings but I would prefer a quicker resolution to my problem by Airbnb along with a real explanation as to how this happened, a guarantee of it not happening again, and some kind of compensation for lost revenue due to their incompetence in not swiftly and efficiently resolving this problem.

Deactivated Account and Then Charged for Airbnb

Posted on July 24, 2019

I was booked in an Airbnb in Maputo in November with my then boyfriend who happens to be Mozambican. I never met the hostess but was “taken care of” by her house girl. I never saw a guard on the premises but I think there was one at night.

I stayed in a small guest house at the back of the property. My boyfriend and I had a falling out and so he was trying to reach me and rung the bell on a number of occasions (complaint #1 from the hostess). I asked the house girl if she could do some laundry and she said only if I stay one week. I did my own laundry by hand (complaint #2 by the hostess “asking for laundry when the rules were clear on the Airbnb posting”). I also asked the house girl if I could cook somewhere on the premises. She called the hostess and I was told no (complaint #3 by the hostess).

When I tried to book another Airbnb some days later I was informed that my account had been deactivated with no reason given why (I later checked the hostess review and saw the above). I was not given any chance to tell my side of the story.

I have sent more than ten requests to Airbnb for a chance to discuss the situation via their ridiculous system; it was impossible to talk to anyone on the phone and when I did all they said was that they could see I had a number of “tickets”. They were unable to deal with them as that was beyond their authority.

More recently I tried again to set up a new account. It appeared to be working so I tried to book a place in Kingston, Jamaica. As it was about to be booked I received a message saying my account had been deactivated. I then booked a non-refundable hotel in Kingston. 24 hours later I received an Airbnb confirmation welcoming me to Jamaica. I was shocked because I had already booked a room elsewhere.

I saw I was still within the time frame to cancel; I tried to cancel and was told I could not do anything as my account was deactivated. I called the host. He said he could not cancel at his end but I told him I was not coming and he could rebook the dates.

I received a message telling me to give a review for the stay that never happened. I tried to review (to say it was terrible to try and get a response) and I received a message saying someone would contact me in 24 hours. That was three days ago. Now I have a stupidly deactivated account and a charge for a three-day stay that never happened. What can I do?

Account Terminated For Family Connections

Posted on June 26, 2018

I have been a host with Airbnb for 18 months. Most of that time I was a Superhost. Two days before my guest was to arrive, Airbnb terminated my account saying that I have a criminal record. Mind you, I have never been to jail. Airbnb sent an email stating I should dispute this matter if the information is incorrect. I called Inflection Risk Solutions to dispute this matter and they told me Airbnb sent them one of my family member’s information which does not have anything to do with Airbnb. They also ran a background check on my family member which is totally illegal. How they obtained this information I don’t know.

In other words, Airbnb terminated my account because of a family member who has nothing to do with Airbnb. Inflection Risk Solutions, the company Airbnb uses for background checks, said Airbnb is totally out of line for terminating my account for a family member who doesn’t even have an account with Airbnb. Inflection Risk Solutions said Airbnb sent them the wrong information and that they should correct that by sending the right information. They are refusing to do this.

I’ve invested thousands of dollars into my property for an Airbnb account and no one is hearing me. I need help because first of all if you are a business as Airbnb you just can’t run backgrounds on who you feel you want to. Secondly, I don’t have a criminal record so if this is their reason for terminating my account that is false. I was booked six months in advance and now I’m sitting with an empty house making phone calls to Airbnb daily.