One of the biggest fears that hosts have is to receive that dreaded notification – Airbnb account disabled. You most likely have already invested many weekends and delved into your savings account (let alone swiped your credit card) to get your place in tip-top shape that you simply cannot afford to lose access to your Airbnb account now. Before you see red about that notification, remember that when you have accepted the Terms of Service of Airbnb you acknowledged that you know that Airbnb has the right to limit, suspend or even worse disable your Airbnb account in certain instances.
Though, let us be honest – who really reads that Terms of Service word for word? If you are serious about being a successful Airbnb host, you should read the document carefully before you post your listing. The Terms of Service of Airbnb has key information with regards to the legal rights of hosts and their responsibilities and can prevent issues with an Airbnb account disabled.
Airbnb disabled my account – why?
Now in the unfortunate event that Airbnb disabled your account, the very first step is to figure out why. There are a couple of possible reasons. For starters, it could be because of your acceptance or response rate. If that is the case, you can breathe a sigh of relief as the email that you have received will explain the steps that you need to complete in order to reactivate your Airbnb account.
Though, at times it is not as easy. When Airbnb is busy with reviewing Airbnb accounts, Airbnb does not have to inform you directly about an Airbnb account disabled. When this happens you will not be able to gain access to the Airbnb platform, log in to your account or get any help from the Airbnb Customer Experience team.
On top of that, any future reservation which has been accepted or is still pending can also get canceled by Airbnb when you are dealing with an Airbnb account disabled. In the event that this should happen, Airbnb has the right to inform a guest that his/her reservation has been canceled and suggest other accommodation that is available. To add insult to injury, when Airbnb decides to cancel your bookings you might not even receive any compensation whatsoever regardless of the cancellation policy that you have in place. This might sound extremely harsh, but it is all in an attempt to create and maintain a trustworthy platform. Therefore, if Airbnb feels that you cannot provide a safe experience to your guests or that you will bring their brand into disrepute, an Airbnb account disabled could be on the cards.
Respecting Airbnb’s Terms of Service
All hosts should think twice before they want to violate the Airbnb Terms of Service that they have accepted, especially if they rely on Airbnb as their sole form of income. It might be tempting to try to find a way around their communication platform and send your guest a private email, but it is not worth it. In addition to losing out on the protection that their communication platform offers to hosts, you could be waving goodbye to a valuable source of income. The reality is that some reservations simply do not work out because of problems with guests or your property itself. Thus, you do not want to jeopardize your relationship with Airbnb as their Airbnb Customer Experience can really help you out.
Airbnb hosts with multiple listings
Hosts with multiple listings should tread carefully. There is currently a lot of controversy around how the short-term rental industry has evolved and the effects that these changes have on our cities. As a result, there are certain cities that are zooming in on Airbnb rentals and are introducing new regulations. Now as Airbnb has come under attack by cities, Airbnb can cancel the accounts of hosts with multiple listings.
The good news is that just like many other common Airbnb complaints, an Airbnb account disabled can be prevented if you know beforehand what not to do as host. Airbnb has very strict security standards and, therefore, it is in the best interests of hosts to make sure that they remain informed about the different rules and regulations.