The Nightmare Begins

Friday

9:25 AM, August 14th, 2015

My phone rings with a San Francisco number, the person asked for me by name and said he was calling from AirBNB. I was a little tired, I had woken up at 6:30 AM to let some arriving guests in. But I perked up out of my bed, thinking it must be something about AirBNB Open coming in November. Then the person on the other end of the phone said…

“Kelly please listen to me carefully, your AirBNB account is being terminated”

The monotone voice continued to read a short script, telling me my account will be terminated on August 15th. I repeatedly asked why, the voice simply said they would follow up with an email. I was in complete shock, my brain was racing everywhere and I literally started trembling. What the heck is going on?

This is the vague email I received from them minutes after the call.

I have replied three times to the email. I got back a single nearly identical reply with no reason as to their actions.

9:30 AM, August 14th, 2015

I immediately called the country manager for AirBNB. She couldn’t tell me anything, saying that AirBNB HQ didn’t tell her the reason, just that she was aware of it a few days ago and she “fought” for me.

I logged into my account and started looking around. I noticed they had already started canceling reservations and credited my account for the $2,374. Which is just under 50% of future earnings, probably because my cancelation policy is set to strict.

My dashboard as of 9:50 AM, August 14th, 2015

I am absolutely crushed. I have no idea what I could have possibly done wrong. They will not even tell me. I have given so much to the AirBNB community.

My account is to be terminated on August 15th, but I still have to honor guests until next week. Am I even covered under AirBNB’s insurance since they canceled my account & liability?

Accepted and Canceled bookings from 10:02 AM, August 14th, 2015

I have already received multiple emails from guests that were to stay at my place asking why I canceled them. Throughout the day, I replied to them all like this:

Hello, AirBNB has cancelled the booking, not me, please contact them at help@airbnb.com Best regards,

Kelly

I have no idea, no explanation, I feel bad for the guests that were looking forward to a smooth stay on their vacation and now have to deal with this at the last minute.

2:01 PM, August 14th, 2015

I decided to email all three of the founders directly. So far I have not received a response.

This is a letter I sent to the AirBNB founders.

Brian, Joe & Nate, My account was terminated today and I have no idea why.. Let me introduce myself. My name is Kelly Kampen, I am one of the top Superhosts in Thailand with over 356 positive 5-star reviews. I have hosted over 700 guests in my home over the course of 2+ years. I strongly support the AirBNB community and I talk at most of the AirBNB events here in Thailand. I help the community out in many ways by helping new hosts learn how to do good and work with AirBNB. I was invited to speak at the AirBNB Open this year in Paris. Paid for by AirBNB. Just 3 weeks ago AirBNB had a community blogger come film my listing about their AirBNB experience. I have written about my great experience with AirBNB on Medium with over 61,000 views. This article got picked up in Huffington Post, Business Insider and other prestigious news outlets. Medium Article: https://medium.com/airbnb-superhosting/i-made-41-879-as-an-airbnb-host-8c33423cd5b6 I have received an award from AirBNB: https://instagram.com/p/wBiyKIESzH/ Been featured on Podcasts about AirBNB: http://getpaidforyourpad.com/podcast/ep006-interview-w-kelly-kampen-airbnb-host-in-bangkok-thailand/ Spoke at events for AirBNB: https://www.airbnb.com/meetups/ea44tfkm5-airbnb-meets-bangkok As you can see I love the AirBNB community and have been a caretaker of your brand since the beginning. This is why I am completely in shock to learn that my account was terminated today…. No explanation, no reason, just terminated. I read your TOS and I have certainly not violated any terms. I have never had a problem with any guests, your platform or anything. My experiences has been nothing but great with AirBNB. The only thing I can possibly think is this is a mistake, false accusation or hacker. There must be some way for me to understand why this has happened so I can defend myself or correct the issue. There must be something that can be done to restore my account.

3:16 PM, August 14th, 2015

After I sent this email, I also got a call from my country manager again, she gave me a specific email address to write to. The “Trust & Safety Department”. I sent basically the same email as above.

So far the emails have been opened and read over 350 times, from multiple places around the world. Who knows who these email addresses really go to.

3:46 PM, August 14th, 2015

After looking around on my account trying to see what is going on I see that an iPhone has been logging in all over the USA for 2 months. I have never left Bangkok. I immediately change my password and log out all the sessions on the AirBNB website. I also sent an email to the country manager with the screenshot.

The country manager replied saying she cannot provide any details and I should email another person from now on.

I sent the same email to that new person and also the above screenshot. That person has read the email but never replied.

6:22 PM, August 14th, 2015

The country manager calls me and asks me to coffee at 7:30 PM, and sent an email to me to confirm the meeting.

I go to the coffee shop where she arrives with another person from AirBNB Singapore office. He has just heard about my termination a few hours before. He told me that one of the things that he wanted to do in Thailand was meet me because I am such a huge supporter of AirBNB.

The meeting was basically them telling me they are just as shocked as I am and that they have no clue of what’s going on. We talked about the situation, the whole time my mind is swirling. They offered to buy me dinner, I got an ice tea, I couldn’t eat. After about 30 minutes, I decided to leave. They said they would continue to try and get to the bottom of this. We hugged, said our goodbyes and parted ways, me feeling like I have lost a good friend in addition to my AirBNB hosting job. I just felt sick and no further along than before.