I think I'm finished...:-(

Hi @Michaela_Graham,

Suspensions are reversible. And I’m curious - what form did this suspension take? I’ve been regularly telling guests that Airbnb considers anything under 5 stars bad, but it’s dismaying to regularly have confirmation of this.

Have you asked Airbnb what it would take to remove the suspension?

And for any form of renting, it’s important to make some attempt to filter guests. Though whether this is even possible seems like a contentious point here. Have you been using Instant Book?

Also, as others have mentioned, there are other STR sites besides Airbnb. Though how viable they are seems to depend on location and the kind of listing, among other things.

Faheem, yes, the email said that it was temporary and that I needed to keep
hosting the booked reservations and had to get my average above 4*. But
even if all of my bookings had given me 5*, there wouldn’t have been enough
to bring the average back up above 4*, because there just wouldn’t have
been enough reviews in total to add up to that. Since I was new, there
would have not been any old good reviews. So, they wouldn’t have allowed me
to keep going.

I was even going to try that and had added my properties to homeaway a few
days before. All I got were 2 inquries by people who tried to push me hard
to lower my rates even further (more than 1 back and forth). I was going to
hang on, but when I got the call about the lighting being too low for
make-up I just snapped.

I’ve been a landlord for many years and have had my share of good and bad
tenants, so, I’m not new to ‘hosting’ people. But these temporary people
are something else.

I’m really relieved and will just continue with long-term rental.

I suspect it will get even more difficult with airbnb’s expected IPO next
year. They want to streamline it , like hotels, and weed out the quirky and
unpredictable. Sad, really, since it all started with an air mattress in a
San Francisco living room. It’s the quirky that attracted me. Not
interested in being a hotelier.

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Hi @Michaela_Graham,

Sorry you’ve had such consistently bad experiences with short term rental. It sounds like you know what you are doing.

You didn’t mention whether you were using Instant Book. Not recommended if you seem to be having difficult guests. And how many Airbnb reservations have you had in total?

I agree that it’s likely that things will get worse with Airbnb. I think with things like STR you have to try to keep moving. Try other sites? Set up your own site?

Anyone who has read this whole thread should be able to see that Airbnb is not for Michaela. I don’t know why everyone is so insistent that she stick with it.

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What a dreadful tale. Was it a low price, to get some reviews under your belt?

Barns, yes. And the low pricing attracted the wrong kind of people. It
looks to me as if a lot of the posts in that thread have been deleted - or
I can’t see them. Oh,well