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Tag Archives: airbnb account suspended

Host Cancelled My Reservation One Hour Before We Arrived

Posted on June 14, 2021
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I reserved a nice house two months in advance and had everything confirmed with the host. We arrived in the city and while attempting to grab an Uber, I received an email that my account had been deactivated and that a refund had been issued to me (this left us homeless for several hours). The email showed the reason for cancellation was for a criminal records, but I have a clean record.

I attempted to call customer service and was on hold for over 30 minutes just to speak to someone foreign and with virtually no power to do anything. I then reached out to customer service via email. The only response I got was from multiple “ambassadors” saying the same thing: “We have forwarded this to the correct department.”

Later that day I received an email stating they were messaging me in the app but unfortunately I cannot open the app because my account was terminated. This continued for days and I did not hear back from anyone. I simply emailed them one more time to ask if they could temporarily activate my account so I can give them a card to refund the money back onto. There was no answer.

I then took to Facebook to comment on my experience. After maybe 20 minutes, I tried to get back on the page to find out they blocked me from their public page, so they weren’t even visible in a search. Days went by. I still had no response from their team, so I decided to call my bank and initiate a chargeback to reverse the transaction.

This is robbery in plain sight. This company is so arrogant in the way they handle customers. After looking at all the reviews similar to my experience, I will be boycotting Airbnb. I also would like to get together with others to begin putting together a class action lawsuit against them. They messed with the wrong person and I will do everything in my power to deal a devastating blow to them. If interested please comment and we’ll connect.

Guest Lied, Airbnb Shut Superhost Down

Posted on May 13, 2021

I have been an Airbnb Super host since my first review in 2015. In April, two men checked in saying they were twins in town to meet sisters they had never met. I rent a lower level apartment in my home. Their three-night reservation began with a loud, drunken bash until 3:00 AM that included young women who apparently stayed that night.

The next day I warned them and asked that beer bottles and cigarette butts be removed from the back patio. Strangers began showing up on day two including a man and two young women. A young girl of twelve or younger seemed to be staying in the apartment with one of the men. I spoke with the guests about these issues. That night they were entertaining in the apartment including cooking dinner at 10:30.

When they checked out, I wrote an honest review, but when I read the guest review which was filled with lies, I reported it to Airbnb. Of course, whoever answers the phone has no authority. My next guests came, went, and left glowing 5-star reviews.

A week or so later, I tried to open my account to communicate with an upcoming guest and couldn’t. I called Airbnb, and the people who answered could not help. I called several times and finally learned that Airbnb had cancelled my guest without notifying me and was investigating me for safety issues. I got a threatening email from Airbnb staff who never followed through with contacting me as she said.

I called to question what was happening and got another threatening email from a different Airbnb staff person. It was stressful and chaotic, and later all my reservations were cancelled and my account blocked without any notice. I still do not know which guest said what, I can only assume it was the men who were so disrespectful and lied in their review, who were entertaining underaged girls in my apartment, who left the place a mess including the mattress off the bed, and food in the sink.

I’m wondering how to arbitrate this situation because as a retiree, the income is important, but also, the total disrespect of me as a money-maker for Airbnb is shocking. It seems that hosts, even excellent hosts, are easily disposable.

Politically Motivated Account Suspension from Airbnb?

Posted on January 15, 2021

I just received this cryptic email from Airbnb:

“We’ve determined that your account is affiliated with someone not permitted to be on Airbnb. The types of affiliations we consider to make this determination include things like your location and the email address associated with your Airbnb account. As a result, we have removed your account from Airbnb and you will be unable to use the platform in the future. To protect the privacy of the Airbnb community, we can not provide details about this user’s account eligibility.”

So a phantom is magically associated with me that disqualifies me from the platform. I have paid all fees and have had compliments from hosts for the business given by me and my family members. We have booked multiple times and never left a negative review. No complaints from any host or from Airbnb. Suddenly… complete suspension.

What is this? I suspect it is politically motivated, given the timing of the suspension.

Airbnb Account Suspended Without Notice

Posted on December 29, 2020

We have three different properties and are Superhosts with 250+ reviews. We started on Airbnb three years ago and have added a new property each year. This morning we woke up to guests blowing us up wondering why we cancelled their reservations. We came to find out with our own research that we had been suspended.

Airbnb has not notified us in any was as to why. They just cancelled all our reservations and refunded the money to the guests telling them they need to rebook with someone else. When we called to see what happened we were informed that the trust group who suspended us will reach out to us in the future. They do not know why we were suspended and that our only option is to wait until someone reaches out to us.

They even cancelled and refunded three active reservations, so people are staying in houses for free. Saying I am so frustrated isn’t close to describing what I am going through. Does anyone have any advice on what to do now other than wait until they get back with me?

Airbnb Account Suspended for No Reason

Posted on September 28, 2020

After spending thousands of dollars in Airbnbs in Europe and the U.S. my account has been suspended with no explanation. I have had many positive experiences with Airbnb where I wrote positive reviews for hosts and they in turn wrote positive reviews of me. I tried to get on my account and was asked to upload a photo to match my ID. I did this and after that every time I tried to get on I received messages the Airbnb team was investigating and then subsequently I was suspended. They are supposed to contact me, but I have not heard anything.

This is so weird. You can not contact them over the phone. No telephone numbers are being answered by a live person. This has to be one of the worst customer experiences I’ve ever had… just terrible. I would like to book other vacations, but am unable to for no good reason. I would have been someone who told you the majority of my Airbnb experiences were positive. No more.

My suggestion to readers of this post: if you are looking for accommodations do not look at Airbnb first. Look into the other sites like VRBO and HomeAway.

Airbnb Host Beyond Frustrated with the Company

Posted on March 24, 2020

We have listed our vacation rental on Airbnb for ten years and always had a five-star rating. Recent policy changes seems to be paired with horrible customer service and you cannot get past the person that answers the phone but can never help you. Phone calls are answered by apologetic people who cannot resolve issues nor can they pass you on to someone that can.

Our listing was disabled two weeks ago. It has taken many calls to find a reason with the same answer: that there is a specific department that deals with that and they only communicate via email. Apparently neither they nor you can email them; you have to wait for them to email you and that never happens.

I have repeatedly asked to speak to a supervisor or someone in a position that can help me but they just say they will notify them of my situation. We are a highly popular rental and have lost thousands in recent cancellations due to the pandemic and the lack of being able to get an answer to our issue via a simple email is outrageous and costing us even more as we sit unpunished.

What does it take to get someone at Airbnb to actually help you?

Banned by Airbnb for Fraudulent Activity

Posted on March 23, 2020

I used Airbnb for about five to six months before getting banned for fraudulent activity linked to a reservation. Now because I have not done anything like that, Airbnb would not tell me specifically what activity they are referring to. I’m looking for some assistance on who I can talk because they said that I cannot appeal this matter and it was their final decision.

I have a significant amount of credits — roughly $800 — in my account that I can’t use from previous stays, refunds, and referral credit. For the reservation they said the fraudulent activity was linked to, the host was a very nice guy. I was his first guest and he seemed really excited and happy to have be there. He sent a lot of messages to my Airbnb account. It was mostly greetings like “What’s up?”

Here’s the last email Airbnb sent me in regards to my second attempt requesting for more information on the fraudulent activity they banned me for. They won’t give me anything but a copy and paste of this email which I have already received.

The decision to remove you from the Airbnb community was made after gathering and carefully reviewing all related documentation and communication from the parties involved. We won’t be able to assist you further with any account issues. We’ll contact you if anything changes in the future.

Airbnb Zero Tolerance and Account Suspension

Posted on January 23, 2020

Looking or thinking of setting up Airbnb as a host? You need to be careful, as your account and profile can be deleted within one second by an Airbnb case manager even if a guest lied about you. Thinking of the amount of time, money and resources you have invested in setting up an account as a Airbnb host, you can be taken granted and may not count as a valuable member of the community within a second.

Let me give you an example of my hosting experience as a case study. As a host with over one year’s hosting experience and also a Superhost, I received a call from Airbnb customer service about my availability for hosting a guest at the last minute. Please think twice before you accept any reservation over the phone from Airbnb as your safety and well being is not as important as getting a customer a place to stay.

In my own case, I confirmed the reservation and advised the guest to check in within two hours as I noticed they were already available on standby to check in within ten minutes of booking. After accepting the reservation over the phone, I notified the Airbnb customer service person to confirm the reservation with the guest and make sure the number of people on the reservation was the same at the time of check in. She said yes and also advised me she would inform the guest.

Surprisingly at the time of check in, two guests were booked on the reservation, while four guests showed up. This was not a problem at all, as it could be corrected by the next day. The major problem was as follows.

Within an hour of checking in, three unauthorized men came in and out of the apartment at 15-minute intervals. Within two hours, I was able to count about ten different men coming in and out of the unit. After investigating, it was confirmed that the guests had been using the unit for business with men and also smoking drugs which could easily be smelt in the entire house due to the central heating and cooling system.

Evidence showed all of the above and the case was reported to Airbnb. The guest needed to vacate the unit due to this reason and considering infants were also in the upper unit whose health could have been risked because of the smell and odor of drugs used.

Can you believe that Airbnb suspended my account due to this reason, claiming zero tolerance and health safety issues, while the guest in question still has an active account?

Well, as a host or someone planning to be an Airbnb host in the future, you need to be very careful. You can be treated as a nobody, may not have access to any of your profile information which you have worked hard to build, and may not even be able to use an Airbnb account for any other hosting purposes. If you think you are currently doing good on Airbnb as a host and you want to expand and add more units or spend more to invest on the business based on your current outcome, you need to be careful as you can be taken for granted within seconds.

To my surprise, I do not expect any resolution and treatment from Airbnb, as it was shocking. A guest can ruin you in half a second and nothing will be done to you. I do not see any host protection at all as anything can be said against you and so shall it be via Airbnb.

If you are a host and reading this, you need to ask why you were not considered a part of the community as well, and that there is zero tolerance against the damage of reputation against hosts in their own home. With all this, is it worth having to set up an Airbnb?

Why Airbnb is out of touch with the hosting experience

Posted on January 8, 2020

My husband and I were early adopters of Airbnb, having joined the platform in 2011. We hosted guests nearly every week of the year for eight years until December 2019, when we were banned from the platform.

The ban seemed to have been triggered by a same-day guest who left mid-day in the middle of a two-day reservation. My husband entered the unit with the guest’s permission to flip the circuit breaker twice during the guest’s day. My husband had met the guest earlier in the evening close to when they first arrived. He showed them the space and asked if they had questions. The entire interaction was cordial.

The rest of the story is quite strange. The day the guest left, I received a cryptic text from Airbnb asking if I would give the guest a refund. I inquired to the reason, and they said there was no particular reason. I had also asked if my account would be blocked. They said that my account would not be blocked. I said we could provide a 40 USD refund on a 190 USD stay for any inconvenience caused by the need to enter the unit with permission to flip the circuit breaker.

Within a day, I received a notice from the Airbnb security team that our listing was frozen. I called Airbnb and after a few strange beeps seemed to have reached someone in HQ who was a little out of it. They told me the guest indicated that we had entered the unit three times against their wishes or something to this effect. It was a strange conversation as the contact on the other end was so chill about the discussion; it sounded like he had just gone surfing. It was just a part of his job, but my entire livelihood was at stake.

I was then assigned to a safety team representative who told me to be ready for her call over 48 hours. I kept my ringer on high eagerly awaiting the call. It turns out she listed the wrong date and was out of the office for two days. We connected three days after the date she originally indicated. She spoke with me for 2-3 minutes tops. I felt like I was speaking with a high school student.

Another five or so days passed before we received a template message indicating that we can no longer host or stay with hosts on the Airbnb platform. We had 880 reviews as a host with additional reviews from our stays. I even use the platform for work and recommend it to hundreds of my graduate students.

I’m at odds with how this one incident ejected us from the platform after we formed so many connections. The process of being reviewed by Airbnb is emotionally excruciating for hosts. If you are a host, I highly encourage you to diversify your use of platforms. As we learned after nearly a decade of promoting and loving the platform, they can leave you in the dust over as much as one complaint.

The whole process has made me rethink my life and goals. I never want to be at the mercy of a corporation who carries too much power over our business. Can you imagine if your local coffee shop was shut down or suspended over one customer complaint? There is so much that happens in a business that involves people.

We had guests who had reserved through Airbnb (and were cancelled) reach out to me trying to stay. I felt so bad that they were impacted too. I’m not sure where Airbnb is headed. We could always be better hosts, but we didn’t become Superhosts without working very hard to meet clients’ needs.

We’ll probably never know what happened at Airbnb corporate or what was said about us by the guest. All we now know is that we have many questions about the future of Airbnb and the type of community they are trying to create. We also know they have little understanding of the experience hosts go through in the safety and review process.

Any guest could flag a host’s account and the host would be suspended for at least two weeks. Hosts should prepare themselves emotionally and financially for unnecessarily challenges in doing business self-inflicted by Airbnb’s organizational processes.

Account Locked In Error for Almost 3 Months

Posted on December 27, 2019

My account was locked in error for three months. This is my response to the agent after it was finally resolved, explaining my situation.

Thanks, this is great to have figured out. After almost three months. I’m sure you’re not personally responsible for this insanely long delay, but the reason I opened a duplicate account is because I had given up (after two and a half months) on this ever getting resolved.

In the meantime I have had to plan two trips without using Airbnb, which sucks for everyone. In the course of these three months, I’ve called in and spoken to four different customer service agents, all of whom informed me that my request was elevated to ‘urgent’, and I would hear back within 24 to 48 hours. I haven’t heard back until this email from you.

I’m not sure if this is standard protocol, but as far as customer service experiences go, this is by far the worst customer service experience I’ve had, in any category. I imagine Airbnb has the resources to do better. If there were another comparable option, I would stop using Airbnb simply because of this experience.

I have an extremely low opinion of the company now. I’ve only had positive experiences within the Airbnb community, but this direct experience was really, really bad. And it was a fluke on your end. And not even a ‘sorry about that’. Maybe a $5 voucher? Gimme a break.

Again, I’m sure the blame doesn’t lie on you personally, but the company should have a higher standard than this. Now all I can do is just hope my account isn’t accidentally locked again for another three months.

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