I would just like to say first that I’ve hosted people for ten months without any issue whatsoever and I was enjoying what I did. Something came amiss after the eighth month. I started getting notifications from Airbnb saying I had to work harder and various properties in my area had higher reviews than me.

After the ninth month, I got the mother of all guests who complained he had bad allergies and claimed there was mould on the shower, which there never was. He then phoned Airbnb and wanted to move out and get a full refund. After I refused a refund, to top it all off he walked off with my keys and I had to call to a hotel two miles away to pick them up at 11:30 at night.

Of course he wrote a nasty review and gave me one star. When I replied about about the situation my review was blocked and I got an email saying my payouts have been paused until further notice. I had bookings for the whole month. You can only cancel twice in a year or your account will be suspended so I could cancel the rest of the bookings for the month.

I received an email five days ago saying my payouts have been reactivated but I can’t accept any new bookings. Still no payments have been received and I’ve tried calling and emailing but nobody can tell me anything. More than a month later, I’m owed over 5000 euros which is unpaid. I’ve tried to contact Airbnb but nobody can tell me anything. I warn anyone who is a host: try some other platform; there are too many stories like this where hosts are doing great and suddenly they are kicked off for no reason, or worse still not paid. You have been warned.