SuperHost for 3 years straight - InstantBook ability for my properties was removed

[Adam58]

I have been a SuperHost for 3 years with no cancelled reservations. A month ago the electricity went out in my 2-unit Airbnb. I had to cancel a week's worth of bookings to get the electricians in there to replace the meter stack between the two units. It cost me $8K to get it accomplished quickly so that I could honor the rest of my bookings. I showed Airbnb my coorespondance and final invoice from the utility and electrician. They told me I was ok and that I would keep SuperHost; that there would be no penalty against me.

All future reservations after this insident have been "requests to book". Instant Book is not available on my properties in the search results. The Airbnb service center is extremely puzzled each time that I call because it shows to them that my Instant book is still active. But no guest is able to instant book, they must request to book.

After a week, they finally explained that this was an experiement in January by Airbnb to handle "high risk" hosts who are not actually updating their calendar or cancelling multiple reservations. I have been a SuperHost for 3 years, with over 300 reviews, never cancelled booking before and have multiple bookings across my 5 properties every week. This has had a profound impact on my level of reservations and level of time to respond to each booking request right away.

They say that it is system generated and that the service center can do nothing at all to help me. That I have to wait for them to review my activities every 7 days but for an unknown number of review periods or what they are actually reviewing. I have accepted every reservation and completed about 15 reservations since this happened a month ago.

This is truly a terrible way to treat a host who has been so dedicated for many years. I am at lost so now turning to you all for your thoughts and help in this situation. Thank you for your time.

[Ben551]

@Jennifer1421 try “camping” your listing if you can. I leave my PC logged in to my listing page every evening while I do other things away from my keyboard.  RankBreeze proved a while ago that being active and logged in to your listing impacts how Airbnb treat your listing in search results.

I have had 4 admin cancellations in less than a month and no IB jail, so I’m trying to think what is obviously different about your situation. I change all my prices daily through Wheelhouse (so not just 1 day changes, all days refresh), plus I block/unblock a random day everyday, plus I “camp” my listing and manually “private browse” search it out to check placement, and monitor daily through Rank Breeze. 

I’ve also heard people suggest YourPorter is good for monitoring listing performance, which is free for 1 listing...

You shouldn’t have to do all this, but if you wanted to wage war on the problem then some of this might be helpful.

[Jennifer1421]

Thanks @Ben551 , for the suggestions. I appreciate your input.

Although I don't use any of the 3rd party software you've mentioned I have been doing all the other things, including the "camping". It'll be 5 weeks in the penalty box tomorrow, with no end in sight. I've had to decline a 3rd party booking request today, and have had 3 guest cancel in the past 2 weeks, so likely I'll never see the end of it.

I'm pretty flummoxed as to what can help at this point, and also getting a bit fed up. I started doing the Airbnb thing as I wasn't terribly interested in committing to a long-term rental, but am starting to think it'd be a lot less work and time wasted fiddling around on my listing. Of course I'm just annoyed at the moment, having had to decline the latest request. Perhpas my outlook will be sunnier tomorrow.

[Ben551]

@Jennifer1421 Hey I just had a look at your listing - it’s awesome! 

On on the basis that Airbnb shows I can “Shmurgle a Goat” near your listing, I have immediately added it to my bucket list 🙂

[Paul154]

@Adam58 

Sorry this happened to you.

This is every host's nightmare. The risk of an arbitrary Airbnb punishment is always there.

I know that I should have backup on other platforms, but....

Airbnb is a black box - just a big machine that we can't see into, just hope it will treat us right.

At least you got to find out what the problem is. Hope you get IB and your SuperHost status back soon

[Adam58]

@Paul154my SuperHost status is not affected. I’m now at 6 weeks with no IB and Airbnb has been apologizing and saying is a glitch in the system. That I actually should not have been impacted by this. That there is no exact time on the fix. It’s been extremely stressful to find out I have no way to fix this and just have to continue waiting for them. They say they are trying to fix it for multiple people at one time and that they cannot only focus on my instance. 

[Jennifer1421]

@Adam58

 If I'm understanding what you're saying, then the advice to "interact" with the listing in order to end this punishment is specious, and nothing will get us out of the penalty box but the "fix" on their end. Is that how you interpret it?

[Adam58]

@Jennifer1421 all I’ve been told was that it was a mistake that my account was put in the penalty box. So yours may be the same but I cannot know for sure. Mine seems to be stuck in it. I have added 2 listings since this started (total of 5), changed prices daily, accepted every reservation, completed like 25 reservations...still no instant book. They are supposed to be reaching out to me again today. 

[Ange2]

@Adam58    " in January by Airbnb to handle "high risk" hosts who are not actually updating their calendar or cancelling multiple reservations."  

I have a message sent to me now re: same. I called because neither reason they mentioned (cancelations and not updating calendar) applies to me, in fact  I have a 4.9, a 100% response rate, and a 92% acceptance rate.   CS said it was because I had no bookings in January. Does that mean I am a high risk host!  Interesting!  I'm betting it's some kind of experiment they are doing, or an algorithm escaped!

Here's the message I get:  I'm trying to figure the meaning behind the bolded words and the ramifications for declining.  "We sometimes require hosts to accept a reservation request even when they have Instant Book turned on. You’re most likely to see this when you haven’t updated your calendar in a while or you’ve recently canceled a reservation."

[Jennifer1421]

@Ange2That's outrageous! Penalized and taken off of IB because you had no bookings????

Surely CS is in error. If not, given all the hosts who have been posting about being reduced in rankings and losing bookings to multiple listing/hotels that have sprouted up in their areas, then every single "small-time" host will be experiencing this.

[Ange2]

@Jennifer1421    Could be an error, or Airbnb are doing an experiment.  It  was the response from CS, if I call again I will in all likelihood get a different, and equally baffling reason.

[Jennifer1421]

@Adam58@Ange2 @Rachel177 

I'm just formulating a theory on why this is happening. If you have the time, please reply in this thread about your issue:

https://community.withairbnb.com/t5/Host-Circle/Instant-Book-Cancelled-Theory-and-Research/m-p/95007...