Permanent ban from Airbnb

[Garympls]

I am trying to get my account with Airbnb reinstated to no avail.

I visited the Philippines in December 2019 for what was to be a two month stay. Due to circumstances beyond my control (I had a health emergency) I had to leave earlier than I anticipated.

My trip insurance paid my hospital bill and reimbursed my emergency flight back to the USA

My host gave me a positive review as well as I did for her.

I was told after I return by Airbnb that my account would be permanently banned and no further explanation or consideration would be given. I thought this was pretty harsh.

Can someone please assist me with getting my account reinstated as I am now retired and plan to travel quite often once the pandemic is over.

Thank you

 

[Neil Maley]

Did you ask for a refund for leaving early?

 

[Garympls]

Yes I left early due to a medical.

 

[jsn55]

How about if you tell us what happened ... all the details. We can figure out a course of action for you.

 

[Neil Maley]

If you tried to get a refund- that could do it. You didn’t dispute the charge did you?

As jsn said- we need to know exactly what happened. There is more than what you ate telling us for them to ban you.

 

[Garympls]

On December 31, I was out celebrating New Year’s Eve. I had been drinking and when I returned to the condo I had an accident in the hallway between the elevator bank and where I was staying.

I slipped and injured my left arm on a open window ledge, severely cutting my arm. Security from the building transported me to the emergency room at Makati Medical Center. I received several stitches in my injured arm.

Due to the medical emergency, I needed to return to the USA immediately as I had to seek additional medical care. I severed a nerve in my left arm losing the function in my left hand (my dominant hand).

The hospital visit in the Philippines and my emergency flight back to the USA were reimbursed to me by my travel insurance.

Security informed the host of what happened and she did ask me to leave. I informed her that I was planning to leave anyway. In the meantime, she had submitted a cancellation and refund request to Airbnb. I did receive a refund.

It should be noted that no damage was done to the building or condo.

The host did leave a positive review on the Airbnb website. I also gave her a positive review.

Upon my return to the USA and several weeks later I received a call from Airbnb asking me what had happened. I explain it to them the best way I could and had I thought the matter was cleared up. I thought everything was okay as there was no damage to the condo and both the host and I left positive reviews.

Shortly thereafter I was terminated from Airbnb.

 

[Neil Maley]

Does Airbnb know the full story? We have an owner (MrJohnson) that often posts here and I wonder if he has insight into why this might have happened.

I would would suggest you appeal to the Executives at Airbnb.

Airbnb Customer Service Contacts

These are executive customer service contacts for Airbnb brought to you by the Elliott Advocacy research team.

elliott.org

Here is how to write:

Resolving Consumer Complaints and Developing a Paper Trail

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[Garympls]

I communicated this to Airbnb with no luck. I was surprised when I was permanently banned from their site. I’ve tried calling them several times and all I receive is an email saying that there’s nothing they can do.

 

[justlisa]

An absolute shot in the dark, they might be seeing a severe accident while drunk might present you as a liability so they cut ties. I'm unfamiliar with any insurance airbnb offers, but if an accident on a property you rent through then could be covered (not everyone purchases travel insurance) I could see them deeming it too high a risk.

(No judgement from me, mind you. But for the grace of god I go - my worst injuries somehow happen when I'm sober but I suppose it's bad luck I can only blame myself lol)

 

[Garympls]

It was travel insurance not offered through Airbnb

 

[justlisa]

Yes, but building security informed the owner and it looks like the owner informed Airbnb which then talked to you. Like I said, shot in the dark and I don't necessarily agree with the line of thought, but the thought occurred to me so I figured I'd pass it along.

But like Neil said, hopefully Mr Johnson will pop in as he's given good insight before.

 

[smd]

We're missing something here. The host asked him to vacate the condo a month early, cancelled his stay with AirBnb and refunded his money. She then submitted a complaint to AirBnb that AirBnb investigated and determined was serious enough to terminate his account. The host was clearly very unhappy with the OP as a guest--The big mystery is why she left a positive review.

 

[Neil Maley]

We're missing something here. The host asked him to vacate the condo a month early, cancelled his stay with AirBnb and refunded his money. She then submitted a complaint to AirBnb that AirBnb investigated and determined was serious enough to terminate his account. The host was clearly very unhappy with the OP as a guest--The big mystery is why she left a positive review.

The host did not submit a complaint. They sent a refund request which apparently needs to be approved by Airbnb since Airbnb needs to refund their fee. Airbnb asked the OP for their side of the story and apparently decided there was risk to him booking again.

“informed her that I was planning to leave anywaY. In the meantime, she had submitted a cancellation and refund request to Airbnb. I did receive a refund.”

 

[LeeM]

Airbnb is constantly under intense scrutiny (pretty much all over the world) as they have many illegal vacation rentals on their site; it is possible that they decided that someone in this situation could be a future risk (I am not suggesting that is the case, just how airbnb, as a business, may be viewing what occurred) and chose to remove you from the site as a future renter.

They may be doing certain things to reduce scrutiny of their practices and also they may well be considering any potential liability concerns (valid or not - they may be taking a very proactive approach to these sorts of situations)

Perhaps do write to the Airbnb contacts (link in post #7 above) and inquire about their decision.

 

[Rosebud]

First I am so sorry this happened to you and I hope your injury has healed.

Airbnb’s Terms of Service, #14 Prohibitive Activities states that you agree not to “otherwise engage in any violent, harmful, abusive or disruptive behavior” .

Based on my own experience as an Airbnb host, if a guest gets intoxicated and injures himself at or near the rental (in your case, the lobby) and then has to be rushed to the ER for stitches, then it’s quite likely Airbnb will consider that “disruptive behavior”. Building security personnel were involved which probably caused quite a ruckus in the lobby. (Was there video?) You even admitted it all to Airbnb when they contacted you to get your side. I seriously doubt it matters to them that it was New Year’s Eve. Airbnb can decide on its own what is or isn’t “disruptive behavior”.

You left early for your health. You seemed to follow proper procedure when you departed by informing the host and making sure the property was left in good condition. It’s also fortunate you were made whole financially by the host and your travel insurance. I don’t believe the host had nothing to do with this decision by Airbnb and is likely unaware that you were even banned (unless you tell her), which likely explains the positive review you received.

I’m only trying to explain a possible reason you were banned. It might be something else entirely. As for getting that decision reversed, keep trying to contact Airbnb to get reinstated. It’s a long shot but probably the only one you have at this point.

 

[Neil Maley]

First I am so sorry this happened to you and I hope your injury has healed.

Airbnb’s Terms of Service, #14 Prohibitive Activities states that you agree not to “otherwise engage in any violent, harmful, abusive or disruptive behavior” .

Based on my own experience as an Airbnb host, if a guest gets intoxicated and injures himself at or near the rental (in your case, the lobby) and then has to be rushed to the ER for stitches, then it’s quite likely Airbnb will consider that “disruptive behavior”. Building security personnel were involved which probably caused quite a ruckus in the lobby. (Was there video?) You even admitted it all to Airbnb when they contacted you to get your side. I seriously doubt it matters to them that it was New Year’s Eve. Airbnb can decide on its own what is or isn’t “disruptive behavior”.

You left early for your health. You seemed to follow proper procedure when you departed by informing the host and making sure the property was left in good condition. It’s also fortunate you were made whole financially by the host and your travel insurance. I don’t believe the host had nothing to do with this decision by Airbnb and is likely unaware that you were even banned (unless you tell her), which likely explains the positive review you received.

I’m only trying to explain a possible reason you were banned. It might be something else entirely. As for getting that decision reversed, keep trying to contact Airbnb to get reinstated. It’s a long shot but probably the only one you have at this point.

Thank you for giving us the other side of the equation. It’s extremely valuable to have owners contribute.

 

[smd]

The host did not submit a complaint. They sent a refund request which apparently needs to be approved by Airbnb since Airbnb needs to refund their fee. Airbnb asked the OP for their side of the story and apparently decided there was risk to him booking again.

“informed her that I was planning to leave anywaY. In the meantime, she had submitted a cancellation and refund request to Airbnb. I did receive a refund.”

I'm stuck on the fact that the host asked him to leave first: "Security informed the host of what happened and she did ask me to leave." And she clearly told AirBnb more than the guest had leave early for health reasons. This just doesn't feel as friendly as it seems.

 

[Neil Maley]

I'm stuck on the fact that the host asked him to leave first: "Security informed the host of what happened and she did ask me to leave." And she clearly told AirBnb more than the guest had leave early for health reasons. This just doesn't feel as friendly as it seems.

I think Rosebud provided what we needed to know from the owners standpoint.

 

[jsn55]

Good grief, Gary, what an awful story. Never mind the Abb issue, it's your arm that disturbs me. Forget about the Abb ban and concentrate on getting as much arm back as you possibly can. I speak from experience when I advise you to spare no effort or expense to fix it. Even if you get back to 90%, if there's a possibility of another 5 or 10%, go for it. Five years from now you'll thank me.

I totally agree with Rosebud on the probable reason for the ban. Abb has a really awful track record of skirting protocols and regulations, I suspect they had a knee-jerk reaction to the circumstances affecting your awful injury. That's the safest thing for them to do.

I'd let it all slide for a year or two ... as many months as it takes for life to come back to normal, really normal. I don't think you'll get anywhere with them now anyway. You can start a campaign to get them to release the ban once the virus is no longer everyone's top priority. Just come back to us and we can advise the best way to deal with them. If they don't survive the current economic disaster, someone will come along to take their place, so you have all the time in the world to take care of that arm.