Thrown off for absurd violation?

It seems ABB has been ‘cracking down’ on people that have many listings in the same city. I believe there were 2 other reports on this forum of that happening. I think you should absolutely try to appeal, but ABB clearly doesn’t want or need your business, and they have made that clear. Bummer!!

1 Like

I kind of guess so. They refunded $29,000 in bookings. What’s there end on that $4,000 + ? I wish I can throw away that kind of money and not give it a second thought. Funny they always on me to "add more listings ". Refer someone to host.

Only 29 thousand dollars? Oh poor you, my heart bleeds. Sorry, I’m trying to be sympathetic but honestly you’re a commercial property manager and there are plenty of other sites where you can do business, no? If you were a typical Airbnb host renting out one or two listings, it would be different. Also, I have to say that a quick google of your name and viewing a few caches show that maybe your Air experience was not so great.

1 Like

Not sure it would be different @Magwitch. I think this particular scenario could happen to any of us.

I’m the property manager. I don’t make that. But thanks for hating.

3 Likes

I’m not so sure. Someone with one room to rent like you and me is not a target. I think when Air answered the call about the 8 people, they saw the multiple listings and shut him down. Perhaps they are investigating, perhaps not. It doesn’t matter to them whether he has a license or is the owner as he says. They are taking a hardline on multiple listings… Listingsthat have multiple rentals in the same location. That gets into commercial territory and I don’t think Airbnb likes that. Also they want to keep municipalities happy and that, I am sure, is one of the things cities don’t like.

1 Like

Maybe. But I’ve only ever seen instances where hosts did indeed turn out to have discriminated against guests or they were commercial operators with multiple listings. I’m not going to get paranoid, it’s not healthy.

1 Like

I don’t know where I am on this topic. I think commercial operators have a place in the STR game, and ABB doesn’t expressly forbid them, so why just kick people off for ‘no’ reason. I feel that sets a terrible precedent. However, ABB has always been about the individual home owner, so I completely get where you are coming from. I’m just torn bc as you know I have multiple properties, albeit in different locations, why shouldn’t I be allowed to rent my homes out?

1 Like

I’m not “hating”. I’m simply not being terribly sympathetic - there’s a difference. When you say you are the property manager, what does that mean exactly? That you manage these properties for private owners and a get a % of the profits? I can see that it’s annoying but, again, surely there are other avenues to pursue?

I feel that same way. If it was me in this situation I’d write a reasonable and logical blog post about it. There are plenty of free places for people who don’t have their own website. Then I’d DM it to @airbnbhelp and see what happens.

Indeed. It’s complicated and I’m not trying to be an old-school luddite type that thinks only renting out your spare room means you’re a “real” host. I do think, though, that there’s a difference between someone like you who has a few properties and someone who has 30+ who is using the platform possibly illegally (not saying you are, Barry). And then you have professional Airbnb managing companies who take all the ‘hassle’ out of hosting and you don’t have to do anything. I saw one such person that had 100+ listings.
I suppose my take on it is that if you are in such a business then you need to take the knocks. Airbnb is not your employer - they can do what they want and if they decide that you don’t fit their model, well there’s nothing you can do about it. The capitalist sharing economy at it’s best! I stopped believing the fuzziness a long time ago.

edit: meant to reply to @azreala

1 Like

yes i get 10%, I’ll pursue the other avenues. thanks for the input.

[quote=“Barry_Brachfeld, post:52, topic:12065, full:true”]
yes i get 10%, I’ll pursue the other avenues. thanks for the input.
[/quote] Having thought about this a bit more I offer my apology for my initial post. It’s not just a question of money, it’s the fact that you were accused of doing something that you believe was unfair and you have no opportunity to appeal. That is patently unjust. I’m sorry, both for your situation and for my quickness to judge. It’s not an excuse but all I can say is that I saw $29k and thought damn, I could do with that right now. Shame on me.
I think it’s very bad that Airbnb does not engage properly with hosts and give proper explanation for their actions and allow someone like you the opportunity to discuss.

11 Likes

I completely agree with you, there is a difference with people (like us) who have multiple vacation homes/investment properties versus someone who has 30 props in one location. I’m not in a position to judge anyone, clearly. I do think there should be a way for people @Barry_Brachfeld to exist on the platform without issues, but I think ABB in order to ‘save face’ is trying to detour ‘commercial operators’, at least until ABB IPOs.

I see I was wrong about you. It’s not the money as much as someone lied because I wouldn’t let 8 people stay in two beds. No recourse, no explanation. Sometimes looking back I was a bit tough on some of these 'backpackers" we were all young once. The owners have told me time and time again. We rather give back there money then let double the occupancy stay at the condo, making my job to enforce it. Damn i could use 29K right now 2. I’m father, and although we all live in colombia. This is going to hurt. It can happen to anyone. someone can just say something to airbnb and they can remove you. I was like thats odd the calendars on flipkey say they cant be updated a few days prior to removal. Then they locked me off the server. then they blocked me from corresponding with even the guests they said we can still have up until the 25th of Feb. Then they didn’t pay us, oo but I still get emails to review guests so happy to get those emails…lol

2 Likes

This is not the way to save face. Allowing a host to be accused of something inappropriate and shutting down their listings is a weird way to conduct business.

This is Airbnb saying : we are bigger than you, we can do what we want and we don’t care about 29k of lost revenue. For us this is nothing. And screw what actually happened; we’re not interested. We don’t have the time to investigate so here’s our decision- goodbye !

It’s a scary message. I personally think it could happen to any of us were we unlucky enough to come across such guests. And we too would be bounced off the platform without so much as a warning or explanation why. If air can kick 29k to the kerb you can be sure they don’t care about the piddling income my little place makes.

Air is big enough and old enough to be open as to why they are cancelling a hosts listings; they don’t need to hide behind fake discrimination claims.

4 Likes

If they don’t want multiple listings, they should issue a clear statement saying so. Or simply make it impossible for a single account to have more than n listings, for some suitable value of n. That would be trivial to do.

5 Likes

I agree BUT they are getting backlash from many different cities for allowing ‘commercial’ users. My theory, and that is all it is, is that ABB is slowly taking down ‘commercial’ operators until they get through the heap of negativity in regards do to enabling people to buy up houses and STR, have a successful IPO and then can continue on their merry way.

Like @Barry_Brachfeld we are in markets where 70% of our traffic comes from ABB. I have been doing this over 6 years and we just got our first VRBO booking. (I don’t need the all the eggs in one basket lecture) So, I am very symapthetic to his plight. If he is doing everything legally, why should he not be allowed to list on ABB, especially bc they do not forbid it? ABB needs better clarification on ‘who’ they want listing, versus willy nilly throwing people off the platform.

1 Like

any renter you turn away could call up and say anything to them they want. And guess who they will believe? They don’t care about money, because they just threw away a huge chunk. Been trying to wait for a supervisor. Still hosted there guests this last week. Haven’t been paid. They put a ticket in. Last guy I spoke to was nice. Our saving grace is we have good word of month. Good website bookings. Fair on booking.com. But Airbnb was 45-50% of our bookings. Poof. Someone says you didn’t let us stay because we are gay. Your gone. No rebuddle. No nothing. I used to read about people who complained about being deactivated and conjured up in my head horrible things they probably did. Now I know first hand. You don’t have to do horrible things. You just sometimes have to refund a instant booking you feel that your being taken advantage on.

2 Likes

Hi Barry, well this sure is some bullshit. I feel for you, I really do.

Soooo, how did airbnb “know” you made “remarks” - did these people have a recording or something?

Have you tried contacting air through their twitter or Facebook accounts? That is often a good way to get a response - because it’s public - no hiding from shiz. But then they might just get ticked off… grrr.