Heads up to all Hosts.
I was part of a discussion on strong food odours and guests and discrimination on Facebook.
I received an email from Airbnb directing me to their community page and policy on discrimination and all of my listings have been suspended!
I was pointing out to other members of the group that they could get suspended for attempting to discriminate and here I am.
I have acknowledged that I have read, agreed and understand the policies and waiting to be made live.
Very Distressing
Please be aware that Big Brother is watching you!
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They must have some new anti-discrimination team searching out stuff like this.
About a month and a half ago I got an email from an Airbnb rep chastisizing me about some comments I had made on the Airbnb forum about 5 or 6 years ago! I donāt even participate in that forum anymore- I got banned about 2-3 years ago.
It was a thread on service animals and I had said that I donāt accept them, which I didnāt have to, as Iām a homeshare host. The dog I had at that time was an alpha female who was really aggressive about other dogs on my property, so it was a safety issue. Also the is an outside metal slat staircase to the guest room, which dogs hate and can get their paws stuck in, which happened to my own dog, so she almost never went up those stairs. I had also mentioned that while I knew that handlers arenāt required to disclose a service animal, I didnāt quite understand why they wouldnāt, as it would be better for the animal, the host and the guest if the host knew ahead of time and could make necessary adjustments, like maybe removing rugs, providing dog blankets, water bowls, etc. (there were also a couple of guests on that thread who said they always disclose their service dog, as they wouldnāt want to bring them to an unsafe, or even unwelcome situation)
Same thing, she told me to review the non-discrimination policy. I wrote back, saying I was a homeshare host, explained why there was a safety issue here for dogs, and so I was exempt. And that I was well aware of the non-discrimination policy, that I have never violated it, and have, in fact, never had any guest bring a service dog, or ask if they could, so I had never discriminated against them.
She then said I had to apply for an exemption, but that was not how the service animal policy for homesharing was written back then. Nowhere did it say you had to get Airbnb approval.
She wrote back, blah, blah Airbnb script stuff.
Then I stopped communicating with her. I didnāt get suspended, though, and was never asked to to agree to the policy again.
Was this Facebook group one of the official Airbnb ones, or a private group?
Damn, time to leave FB
I hope you get this straightened out soon,
Did you have upcoming bookings?
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A private groupā¦ā¦ā¦
I have never in 8 years cancelled a guestā¦ā¦
I donāt like how some guests treat my listings and have left appropriate reviews.
The Facebook discussion was on strong cooking odours from some guests, and the non availablity of Aircover for strong lingering smells because it is impossible to prove and the efforts to remove it before the next check in
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Not front Airbnb, but heavily booked directly and on other sites.
Another reason not to have the calendars linked.
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I did, years ago. People sometime donāt realise that what they put on the internet (i.e. Facebook) can be seen by many people many times.
This is often young people.
Years ago, when I was interviewing people for a job, Iād check them out on Facebook. They hadnāt realised that the photos they posted of them partying, getting drunk, generally acting like a twelve year old would count against them in the job stakes.
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Example: If you donāt know about Nikita Mazepin (racing driver) look him up. He posted an āunsuitableā video of himself and a girl on Instagram causing quite a furore.
And then thereās the guests who think that the selfie bikini shots and such that they post on their instagram or Facebook are appropriate profile photos to use on Airbnb.
I am instantly wary of people who donāt understand the concept that you present yourself differently depending on whether you are asking someone to trust you with their home or just hanging with your online friends.
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Iām in some āprivateā groups on Facebook and I know there are āmolesā in all of those. One is about Vrbo, and I never, ever post on there any advice on how to get around paying the service fee (even if I had any 
)
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I was a manager in a large international corporation and one of my subordinates wanted to hire someone. Their resume had experience listed that matched our opening for a certain time period. When I looked them up on LinkedIn, they had listed a completely different experience during that time period.
They didnāt get hired.
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Wow, I hope you get back live soon. A private group with a mole ā call them out by name in case some of us are in it!
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I got a stomachache when we recently got a booking by a guy who had a profile picture of himself and his friend in a party setting, looking like they are about to tear down the house.
I made sure that he read and accepted our house rules which I now also send them via automated message right after the booking is confirmed.
Turned out that they were totally discrete, highly respectful, quiet, pleasantly talkative and followed every single rule we have. 
Wasnāt sure if I should have suggested to update their profile in order to prevent any confusion for other hosts but their reviews were positive already, so I guess it works well for themā¦
Muddy, this reminds me of my situation last year when Air shut me down for discriminating against the disabled because I didnāt allow animals. I didnāt realize youād had an interaction w/ them in the past. It just gets more stupid by the year, doesnāt it?!
Scary thing about this new post, it goes back to something said on FBā¦ Yes, Big Brother is most definitely watching. Yikes!
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Back when I got banned from that forum, they did a āsweepā- banned a whole bunch of us long time participants within about a two week period (all of us 5* Superhosts) Basically all of us who told it like it is and didnāt toe the ānicey-niceyā tone they like, even though we all did give confused and new hosts clear answers to questions they asked.
I got a rash of pms there from other long time posters saying they couldnāt understand why I got banned-that I had been really helpful to them, or that they were mad that the mods banned so many of us. One host from London even started a thread in the Host Circle about me getting banned and that it was wrong. So many supportive comments followed, it was really heart warming that people took the time to do that.
Funny thing- there was only one poster who said he was glad I got banned. He wrote all this vile, imagined stuff about me- and he was one and the same host who had posted some stuff here that showed a lack of hosting ethics and he got called out here for it and left. (As I recall, he said he tells all guests he is going to leave them a 5* review so they will leave him one, then turns around and gives them low ratings if they werenāt good guests. He was recommending that as a good strategy) Then he posted on the Airbnb forum that this forum was a āwar zoneā that no one should join.
(I could still sign-in to that forum at that point on my other device until their tech caught up with my other IP address, so I could read and answer all the PMs I got sent after getting banned)
Iām pretty sure I got that recent email about comments I made there years ago not because they have people combing the internet for things that they decide are discriminatory, but because that old thread had resurfaced when a poster had dredged up an old thread and left a comment on it. (I checked and saw that was the case) Then probably some misguided overly politically-correct poster, or one of their newer inane mods, had flagged all the ādiscriminatoryā comments on there.
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Still suspendedā¦.
Thank goodness I am pretty well booked on other sites and also directly
It is funny that there are no Airbnb bookings at this time
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Sorry to hear you are still suspended, but good that you are booked on other sites.
So I am sort of assuming this discussion on food odors was deemed discriminatory because hosts were mentioning specific nationalities, like talking about Indian guests cooking curries? Or was it just considered discriminatory to want to dictate what guests can cook?
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It was indian guests and their curries and the discussion was along the lines of
No - you cant put up signs to to say no strong smelling foods to be cooked in the kitchen and it l went to - then i dont want these guests because the clean up is too much by the original poster
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Suspension has been lifted!
Put up my case that I havenāt never canceled a guest, a guest favourite and a Superhost for 8 years.
I said that if I remained suspended I would close my account and my 5 listings as there was no point on being on the platform.
Lifted 10 minutes later.
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And that is why I avoid those AirBNB Facebook groups where you have to show your listing as proof.
Be smart, stay away from anything AirBnB community related.
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Canāt remember who it was here who said they look up all their guests online to check up on them. I asked what if they didnāt have a social media presence. The other host said you can google anyone and find info in them. I said Iād bet he/she couldnāt find anything about me.
So we went to private messaging here and I gave the other host (who I trusted- long time poster here) my full name. They couldnāt find any info on me except for a years old and defunct business address.
I have zero social media accounts aside from this forum and a couple others I participate in, and on which I use a āhandleā, not my real name.
I have no Instagram, Facebook, Snapchat, Linked-in, X, Tiktok, or any other social media presence.
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