Airbnb delisting hosts in Europe with multiple listings

THis is from the Airbnb Community Center:

community.airbnb.com/t5/General-Hosting/Airbnb-is-shutting-down-hosts-in-Europe-with-multiple-listings/m-p/26723#U26723


Markus

Marcus:
Airbnb is shutting down hosts in Europe with multiple listings [ New ]
Today i received the following email from Airbnb. It would appear Airbnb is shutting down hosts that have multiple listings. It started in Barcelona late last year and in the last few weeks has moved to London and Amsterdam. Berlin hosts are now receiving these emails. I have been with Airbnb for 6 years, am a superhost, have great reviews (with repeat Airbnb guests) and our apartments are registered with the local goverment. The claim made below that we do not deliver the hospitality experience guests are looking for is simply not true. It appears Airbnb will take our apartments offline in 2 weeks time.

Other threads on this matter

community.airbnb.com/t5/General-Hosting/LISTING-REMOVED/m-p/24110#M6220

community.airbnb.com/t5/General-Hosting/De-Listing-without-explanation/td-p/24099/page/2

community.airbnb.com/t5/Gastgeber-sein-allgemein/Airbnb-sperrt-weltweit-kommentarlos-Gastgeber-In-Berlin-geht-es/m-p/26654#M903

community.airbnb.com/t5/General-Hosting/LISTING-REMOVAL-DE-LISTED-Please-help-Thank-you/m-p/23717#M6068



Dear Marcus,

Airbnb guests want to enjoy staying in local homes and enjoying authentic and unique travel experiences.
Unfortunately, our automated systems have shown that the listing mentioned below is not delivering the kind of local hospitality experience guests are looking for. In line with our Terms of Service,
(a list of all our apartments names in Airbnb appears here)
will be removed from our platform on 18 February 2016.
Please understand that this determination was not made due to a single attribute, but an overall combination of various criteria.
You may continue to manage all of your bookings and accept new bookings via our site until 18 February 2016. These bookings must be managed in accordance with our Hospitality Standards and Terms of Service.
After 18 February 2016, you will no longer be able to accept reservations for this specific listing and your listing will no longer appear in our search results.
 After 18 February 2016, you will be able to use our site to manage your existing reservations as long as you comply with our Terms of Service.
You will not be able to relist this particular space on our platform.
We regret to inform you about this. It is in the best interest of our community to uphold the standards and local and genuine experience they expect.
Best regards,
Airbnb Ireland


Andrea

They've been busy here in Amsterdam too...

This was just shared through another host on our local FB platform and I had to think of your post, so am sharing it.

It doesn't give precise answers, yet does show that major changes are going on at ABB:


uk.businessinsider.com/airbnb-hints-it-could-ban-landlords-from-listing-multiple-properties-2015-11?r=US&IR=T



Good Luck to you.


Julieta


I got the same mail today, deadline 1st of march...I contacted costumer support but I am not sure if I am going to get an answer.


Marcus

You won´t get an answer. Airbnb is re-alligning their business model, this decision came out of the USA. Hosts are expendable in this situation.

Trying to work out why we have a Berlin office?



Here is an article from yesterday regarding London.

www.bbc.com/news/business-35574971


Robin

Robin

.Hi Marcus, I do feel sorry for you but, you had to see this coming...You have 14 listings, you are not a home host, you are a boutique hotel operator who has been using the Airbnb platform as a collection agent for your 'business'....that being, the letting of your properties to guests! I know, I know....Airbnb have been been eager to accept your multiple listings but, this has evolved! Airbnb was not set up for people like you who just accumulated more and more properties...where would it have ended.......when you had 100 properties? and you expect Airbnb to fill those properties for you!!!!

Airbnb have de-activated your listings because you have contravened the spirit of Airbnb, you have not provided the hosting experience required of an Airbnb host.....Marcus, read my reviews...I am an Airbnb host, I base my solitary listing around the concept that Airbnb was specifically set up for....and that is why my listing will remain and yours will be removed.



There seriously needs to be a platform for people like you Marcus, I just don't think Airbnb is that platform. You multiple hosts seem to slip between the cracks...you can't list effectively with organistations like Booking.com, Wotif, Expedia, Asiarooms,Trivago! These are hotel comparison sites, and you are now in trouble with home hosting sites. Airbnb is possibly facing the brunt of this external influence at the moment because it is the fastest growing platform but, no doubt Homeaway, Holiday Lettings, Flipkey, TripAdvisor, Stayz and a dozen or so others are all going to be targeted for the same treatment.



There needs to be a specific platform for entrepreneurship in the 'boutique hotel' market where local government bylaws form MORE of an integral part of the platform. You are not hotels in the strict sense of the word but you operate more on a hotel basis than a home host one! The cost may be a little higher because of listing requirements, but people like you Marcus could flower in what you do best.



Instead of this heavyhanded treatment we are now seeing where Airbnb are driving a wedge between 40% of their income and their guest pool, effectively wasting a lot of their resources fighting these various external influences.....Why can't they put their brains to work setting up another platform to accommodate their multiple hosts, and simply transfer them to that platform without alienating them....... and loosing them!



This will possibly hit your fairly hard financially Marcus but, you continued to 'push the envelope' by listing more and more properties and you should have ultimately seen this coming!!! Cheers....Rob


Marcus

Hello Robin, thanks for your time to respond to my post.

Airbnb have de-activated our listing due to a business decision in the USA.

There is speculation that Airbnb is looking to float and that some of the large investors are hoteliers.

In preparation Airbnb is housekeeping to align better with local goverments and the hotel industry.



Airbnb is closing down good hosts with as little as 4 apartments in Berlin, one must ask, are these boutique hoteliers?



Here is an article from the BBC 2 days ago about shutting down a perfect host with only 1 listing.

www.bbc.com/news/business-35574971

So although your chirpiness on remainng with Airbnb may continue for sometime, you have no guarantee of remaining when local laws change in your area.



In regard to our situation and your comment "you have not provided the hosting experience required of an airbnb host..". Did you miss the superhost status Airbnb awarded us? Did you read this somewhere on one of my guests reviews? On the contrary, we pride ourselves in giving each guest a personal experience and welcome. From doing the food shopping to dropping them off personally at the airport to helping them find a doctor during an emergency.....

We look after apartments for owners who rent them out when they are not in town. These owners would have done it themselves if they had the time and the presence to do so, so in fact really no different to you. Even the local Berlin goverment provided them permissions to do so. But the automated process Airbnb used to flag us did not take this into account. Attempting to speak with Airbnb on the matter was impossible even though 2 weeks earlier we still received personal calls from Airbnb support on the smallest of matters.



You have come into Airbnb late in the game and I am trying to not take your response as condescending. However, it is not what you believe it is. It is a platform evolving away from its previous social aspects toward simply making money for both parties. Although you are being gracious to the customers of Airbnb, Airbnb is simply providing you a marketing platform. Do not expect anything else from Airbnb. Looking at the siuation righ now, you can still list 10, 20 or more properties on your account without limit, how is this still possible if what you say is true? Maybe it is for the owner with 20 bedrooms in their private home



Anyway, i am not too fussed nor are we too exposed, just dissapointed about the handling of the matter.

Regards and all the best.

Marcus



Elisabetta

Marcus Julieta what happens to your future confirmed reservations?


Robin
Hi Marcus. When I said "you have not provided the hosting experience required of an airbnb host.." I was simply quoting exactly what Airbnb said in their curt email informing hosts that they were to be de-listed. I was not in any way commenting on your professionalism as a host, or your guests perception...and I certainly would not presume to do that Marcus.



There are lot of people in the hosting community who are asking questions over the past two months. I would have at least 300 emails in my inbox on just this topic, and the total lack of any cohesive comment from Airbnb just breeds a lot of il-informed statements.....all we can do is speculate. I play the part of 'devils advocate' in order to try and get answers Marcus, and the only logical rationale I can put to all of this is that local juristictions are driving for compliance and Airbnb are accommodating them!

I hope it all pans out for you......Cheers.....Rob


Marcus
Level 5
Berlin, Germany
Hello elisabetta, @julieta



see my post here.


community.airbnb.com/t5/New-to-Hosting/What-happens-after-you-have-been-de-listed-ANSWER/m-p/32501#M3347


Jeffrey

Marcus, I spoke with ABB about this situation and it wasn't handeled well in what I thought should have been a clear explanation. I am new here and not impressed with a company that makes so much on property they don't own. I wonder if it is time for an owners site. Smaller service fees and profit sharing at the end of the year. I am expanding to host up to 6-8 places and don't want to experience what you have been left to deal with. The other comment about separating the hosts into another category should have been a no brainer but I think you may be right and other facters are involved in the decision making here. There is a guy from Totonto , near where I live, who has set something up but I wasn't able to read his terms so stopped my registration. He appears to be overlapping what ABB does including integrating the calendar. No plans to do the same in Canada yet but it makes me nervous. I suspect they need the multiple owners here at the moment



Jeff

Julietta

Hallo @marcus,



eigentlich kann ich Dir auch auf Deutsch antworten. Vielen Dank für die Zeit und Mühe. Ich hoffe Du verschwendest nicht zuviel Energie, Zeit nd Nerven auf das Thema. Ich hab Airbnb ein bisschen genervt um Erklärungen zu erhalten, aber das Ergebnis macht mich eher trauriger oder unzufriedener...hier ein Auszug: 'Wir wollen Airbnb-Gäste mit Gastgebern in Verbindung bringen, die ihnen authentische lokale Erlebnisse bieten können. Außerdem sollen unsere Gastgeber ihre Städte zu Orten machen, an denen es sich besser leben, arbeiten und reisen lässt.' ...ganz toll. Ich bin mir sicher, die Schreiber dieser vorbereiteten Nachrichten sich nicht darüber im Klaren sind, dass sie damit implizieren, wir würden genau das Gegenteil machen, aber egal, es hilft auch nichts sich darüber aufzuregen. Ich hätte mir, vermutlich genau wie Du, nur eine offenere und ehrlichere Art und ein paar Wochen mehr Vorlauf gewünscht. Am Ende steht es Airbnb frei, wen und was es annoncieren lässt, ebenso wie es uns frei steht, unsere Wohnungen anderweitig zu annoncieren. Viel Glück in der Zukunft...vielleicht läuft man sich ja mal über den Weg.

(not so great English translation: )

Gruss und Kuss. Julieta






Marcus

Hi @jeffrey,

thanks for being part of this discussion. Airbnb used to be a hosts/owners site until the VC companies got involved.

Although working with small owner or boutique sites sounds the better path to go, the problem is awareness and traffic.

There are many you can sign up with but most provide little or no results.

I have started a thread below to help other hosts that have been de-listed to find new sites to work with.

It may help you in your expansion plans as well.


community.airbnb.com/t5/New-to-Hosting/Help-for-those-that-have-been-de-listed/m-p/32502#M3348