Airbnb had a computer glitch which stopped us from being able to log in. We phoned immediately but their system proceeded to suspend our acct, and then cancel our up coming reservations. This has cost us nearly 5 grand which they will not compensate us for.
They got our site back up, but we’ve just received our third call saying people can’t find our profile and they’re trying to book. Next on the hit parade, they didn’t pay us for our last guest and when I called, I discovered their system has NOW cancelled all our past bookings ( who have already come and gone ) and are systematically refunding their money. This is course means we are not getting paid for the guests we are now hosting, or the next ones, or the next ones… We have spent so time on the phone with them and are way past frustrated. Has anyone had something like this happen? What do we do??
If you do a search on Airbnb community you will see hundreds of other hosts complaining about this;
Did you have a guest recently complain about a safety issue such as CCTV @Domes - if this happens Airbnb automatically suspends your listing and cancels your bookings. Usually after a few weeks they open up your listing again with no apology or explanation.
The solution is to stop using Airbnb and invest in direct marketing and use other booking channels
No we had no complaints. It was simply their system detecting ‘unusual activity’ which was actually us trying to log in!
@Helsi has given sound advice. Often when people have issues with Airbnb, the obvious thing to do is use another service rather than spend time trying to discover the ‘why’.
How has that happened? Or do you mean that you lost bookings to the tune of $5k? (Not the same thing at all).
Does your insurance have a loss-of-earnings facility?
I’ve been having AirBnB computer website problems for about 10 days. Unable to log in. Multiple messages back and forth but no help from Air.
This morning I dug into the Edge browser in hopes of a solution and discovered that the browser was toggled to NOT accept any cookies. Once I removed that restriction, I was able to log in.
@Domes If you property is eligible, I would immediately post it on VRBO. It has to be a free standing situation, not a home share, to be eligible. Also check out FurnishedFinder.com and www.sabbaticalhomes.com ,
Then I would find out if arbitration or mediation is available for dispute resolution under Air’s service agreement with hosts. (I’m sure we’ve clicked away our right to sue Air. But most companies allow for arbitration.)
I would not give up bugging AirBnB.
Write a formal business letter with all the details in bullet points, concise, with dates and amounts. Quote Air’s arbitration policy.
Send the formal business letter through Air’s message service and also via priority USA mail if you can find an Air address—if you can’t, message me and I will find an Air address for you.
People don’t realize the power of a formal business letter.
You’ve got to get your complaint bumped up the hierarchy.
Definitely contact your insurance company to see if there is any hope there. I am insured for rent loss and you might be as well.
Good luck and keep plugging along!
Yes, we have rights to arbitrate.
You need to send a 30-day letter first under 23.3
See here in terms of service.
No, just need to start out in the arbitration process. But the terms (above) are changed effective 3/30/23 from what they had been. Because Airbnb needs to pay its own arbitration fees Airbnb can well decide to forego arbitration and permit the Host to sue it in small claims court.
Users of the platform prior to 1/24/23 will need to make a decision by March 30 of this year to agree to the updated terms or cancel their account.
@HostAirbnbVRBO Thank you so much for posting this!
I like AirBnB host services even more after reading this. While the policy may sound intimidating to the OP @Domes , as somebody who has sued others 3 times in 3 different states, representing myself exclusively, except at the tail end of one case, I consider this a fairly host friendly plan by Air.
I’d also add that small claims court can definitely be cheaper than arbitration, especially if the judge decides to grant the winning party attorney costs. So having that on the table is good, IMHO.
The only wild card here is California courts. When I was working at one point I stopped accepting clients from California because I heard the tort system was such a mess. This was years ago though, things might be much better now.
I would expect @Domes will do well if she sends her letter, with dates and money amounts lost, to the CSC Lawyers address. Probably no need to mention arbitration specifically, they already know all about it 
, but up to you.
Please let us know Lily how things turn out 
How is it not the same thing? They were confirmed and we rarely get cancellations.
Thanks for all the advice. FTR we are on other platforms as well but the bulk of our bookings still come through Air.
You lost potential income. That’s not the same as a true loss.
You still had the ability to fill those dates - but evidently you didn’t do so?
Airbnb can’t “cancel” bookings for which the guest has already stayed. A cancellation only applies to future bookings. Do you mean they just disappeared all past bookings from your account? How do you know they are refunding those guests?
As for future bookings, do you write down the phone number of guests when they first book? If not, you need to start doing so. That way, if and when Airbnb pulls these shenanigans, you can contact those guests off-platform, explain what has happened, and see if they still want to stay. If so, arrange for them to pay you directly.
I’m sorry you are having to deal with this mess.
Re: rebooking the space, It’s a bit tricky - the two large groups we lost likely don’t know their reservation has been cancelled. As far as they know, their plans are bought and paid for.We were able to contact the other guests that were cancelled (none of whom knew until we contacted them) but these two bookings do not have a phone number that is visible to us, and they have not responded to our messages in the Airbnb platform There is no where else in our area that can take groups as large as ours - we have a very unique set up, so we would hate to rent to someone else and then have the original guests show up on our very remote doorstep.
This has all happened over the past two weeks, and those two dates haven’t been requested by anyone else yet. I guess we’ll cross that bridge when we get to it.
And our listing is still having major issues yet unresolved. It’s not consistently visible, both past and future bookings are still being cancelled left right and center, they are withholding our payouts…
“Airbnb can’t “cancel” bookings for which the guest has already stayed. A cancellation only applies to future bookings. Do you mean they just disappeared all past bookings from your account? How do you know they are refunding those guests?”
They can, and they have. It shows all through our history that guests who have been with us already have been cancelled. We discovered this when we didn’t get our payout for our last booking and called Airbnb. They told us they kept the payout to cover cancelled bookings they have reimbursed.
Cancelling a booking cannot happen in the past - it already happened. But reimbursing a guest for a past booking is real if a guest receives compensation from airbnb; these booking are not ‘cancelled’ but YOUR payout is ‘clawed back’.
You can only cancel something in the future or the present: