Post by High Priestess on Sept 25, 2019 15:38:57 GMT
Many hosts have had the extremely unpleasant and generally traumatizing experience of receiving an email from Airbnb one day, out of the blue, that states that Airbnb has terminated their account, and generally no reason at all is given for the termination. Airbnb will declare that according to the "rights" it has given itself, in its TOS, it need not give a reason for termination of a host account.
Well, Airbnb is not above the law, and it can't just make itself up some rights out of thin air.
Europe is ahead of the game and with its new GDPR laws, I believe it is illegal in Europe to terminate a host account without providing an explanation. As it should be in the US. Apart from being illegal, terminating an account with absolutely no explanation is incredibly unethical, and suffice to say it's the antithesis of the spirit of "belonging" that Airbnb has prided itself on representing.
Particularly since Airbnb has a near-monopoly on the STR business for homesharing, that is for those renting a room in their home (you can't list a room on VRBO or similar sites, they only accept whole place listings), it can readily be argued that if Airbnb terminates a homesharing hosts' account without explanation or indeed without a suitable investigation and for good cause, they have negligently interfered with that individuals' business, causing them great economic damage. Hence, such hosts would have cause to sue Airbnb in court, claiming tortious interference with their business, a civil claim which is explained here.
www.businessjustice.com/what-are-the-elements-for-a-tortious-interference-claim-under-ca.html
You may recall the host who was falsely accused by a guest of having a gun in her house, in a doggie toy basket by the front door.
She sued both the guest and Airbnb and won reinstatement on the platform after having been terminated after an appalling lack of real inquiry on the matter by Airbnb...or, a refusal by Airbnb to accept any of the statements/evidence provided by the host. When terminating an account, you cannot just go on hearsay, and for a guest just to make a claim with NO documentation, NO evidence, NO photos, NO real proof of her claim...that's hearsay. And it won't hold up in court.
Well, Airbnb is not above the law, and it can't just make itself up some rights out of thin air.
Europe is ahead of the game and with its new GDPR laws, I believe it is illegal in Europe to terminate a host account without providing an explanation. As it should be in the US. Apart from being illegal, terminating an account with absolutely no explanation is incredibly unethical, and suffice to say it's the antithesis of the spirit of "belonging" that Airbnb has prided itself on representing.
Particularly since Airbnb has a near-monopoly on the STR business for homesharing, that is for those renting a room in their home (you can't list a room on VRBO or similar sites, they only accept whole place listings), it can readily be argued that if Airbnb terminates a homesharing hosts' account without explanation or indeed without a suitable investigation and for good cause, they have negligently interfered with that individuals' business, causing them great economic damage. Hence, such hosts would have cause to sue Airbnb in court, claiming tortious interference with their business, a civil claim which is explained here.
www.businessjustice.com/what-are-the-elements-for-a-tortious-interference-claim-under-ca.html
You may recall the host who was falsely accused by a guest of having a gun in her house, in a doggie toy basket by the front door.
She sued both the guest and Airbnb and won reinstatement on the platform after having been terminated after an appalling lack of real inquiry on the matter by Airbnb...or, a refusal by Airbnb to accept any of the statements/evidence provided by the host. When terminating an account, you cannot just go on hearsay, and for a guest just to make a claim with NO documentation, NO evidence, NO photos, NO real proof of her claim...that's hearsay. And it won't hold up in court.