letter to brian che sky

Dear Brian,

curates the best hotels and Airbnbs in cities around the world for our audience of creative travellers. We not only support Airbnbs but we also make hosts featured on the site happy and proud. When we launched last year, we were immediately chosen by The Guardian as one of the Best Travel Sites - which gave fantastic publicity to one of the Paris Airbnbs we featured.

About five weeks ago our affiliation account was abruptly closed with no explanations. The following is an exchange of correspondence which transpired between ourselves and the Airbnb Customer Service team as we tried, in vain, to untangle this unexpected event. Five weeks and a dozen emails later, we still have no idea why we were abruptly removed from your affiliate service.

You are often quoted saying how it is important to you and Airbnb to support 'millions of entrepreneurs' so you may want to take a look at this sometime surreal correspondence - and see if you think this is the right way to treat a small travel business and longtime supporter. If you can help us resolve this issue, it would be greatly appreciated - it is not our intention to give this issue undue publicity.

With thanks,

&

---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Airbnb Affiliate Program

Date: Fri, Feb 14, 2014 at 8:51 PM Subject: Termination of

Affiliate Program To: [email protected]

You are receiving this email because pursuant to our Terms of Service and Affiliate

Supplement Terms of Use, Airbnb is terminating your access to the Airbnb Affiliate program.

Your affiliate code will cease to be functional at 11:59 PM PST today (February 14, 2014).

You will receive your final payout on February 19, 2014. You will not be permitted to re-

enroll in the program. Thanks, Airbnb

---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Laurence Billiet

Date: Sat, Feb 15, 2014 at 5:36 PM

Dear Airbnb,

I was surprised to be informed this morning that my affiliation account with Air B&B has

been closed (see email below). I was also disappointed by the severe and punitory tone of this

email which was more in keeping with the legalese of a bailiff's office than a travel website

built on the communal goodwill of people such as ourselves.

I have been an active user and supporter of Air B&B since 2011 and I am quite upset to be

communicated with in this way which I find inappropriate and rude. If that's the way hosts

and guests were treating each other, your business wouldn't have gone very far...

I have not, to my knowledge, breached your terms and conditions. And in the event that I had

I would expect to be told what the problem was, and given an opportunity to rectify my

mistake. So, can you please explain what the issue is so that a civil discussion can ensue? I

look forward to your prompt reply,

With thanks, Laurence Billiet

---------- Forwarded message ----------

From: [email protected]

Date: Feb 20, 2014

to affiliate, Airbnb

Dear Airbnb,

I still have not received a response to my email dated 15/02 querying our immediate

termination of my Affiliate account (see correspondence below).

I am unimpressed by the lack of customer service you provide considering you operate in the

hospitality industry... especially towards partners who use and promote your business.

Would you mind getting get back to me asap?

Best regards, Laurence


Airbnb Customer Experience

Kacy H, Feb 21 20:06:

Hello Laurence,

Thank you for reaching out to Airbnb Customer Support, my name is Kacy and it is my

pleasure to assist you today.

However, it appears that you have written to us from an email address that is not associated

with your Airbnb profile. In order to answer any account-specific questions, you will need to

contact us from the email address associated with your account. If you cannot access your

email account, then you will need to create a new profile on the site.

In the meantime, if you are interested in how the site works or would like to create a profile,

please see this FAQ: www.airbnb.com/help/question/221

Best regards,

Kacy H



Date: Feb 23, 2014


Hi Kacy,

Not sure why you are saying so, my airbnb account is associated with this email address

([email protected])

Pls double check if you don't mind,

Best,

Laurence Billiet



Kacy H, Feb 23 13:32:

Hey Laurence!

I am so sorry for the confusion.

You were not in violation of our terms, they was multiple people in violation of terms, so

Airbnb decided to get rid of the entire affiliate program altogether. Looking at your account

you have been wonderful with Airbnb in the past 3 years.

I am sorry if the email sounded rude or mean in any way. Being as how that had to be

translated in so many different ways, it came across that way.

Kind Regards,

Kacy H



Date: Feb 24, 2014


Dear Kacy,

Thank you for your reply. Would you be able to put me in touch with the person responsible

for the Affiliate Program?

I doubt very much a professional organization like Airbnb would 'get rid' of its affiliation

program in such a offhand fashion, as this would have a very tangible, negative impact on

many travel opinion-setting businesses like mine who are built around promoting Airbnb

properties. I need to take this further with the appropriate team.

And no offense but I wouldn't recommend that Customer Service continues to attribute the

rudeness of the email to translation-related issues - as this is absurd (the letter is in English)

and can come across as a little condescending, especially for a progressive travel-based

company. Thanks in advance,

Laurence



Melody K, Feb 25 20:32:

Hello Laurence ,

At the moment, we're examining our current Affiliate program and will be launching an

improved program in the coming months. Because of this reassessment, we're not currently

enrolling any new members to the existing program. However, you are encouraged to join

when it reopens!

We are enhancing the tools and resources of the program to allow for easier reporting and

integration. When the program is ready to go live, we will reactivate our Affiliate page,

which is currently not available (but I'll add it here for future reference):

www.airbnb.com/affiliates

Best regards, Melody K



Date: Feb 26, 2014


Hi Melody

Thanks for your reply, but I am getting a little frustrated here by the communications on this

issue. I am not trying to join the Affiliate program as a NEW member - I have been enrolled

in the existing Affiliate Program since 2011 and was wrongly ditched from it last week on the

basis that I was breaking the T&C, which your colleague Kacy confirmed was an error on

your end (see email thread). I am therefore requesting to be immediately re-instated in the

existing Affiliate Program. I am losing money every day that this request goes unanswered,

as my website continues to promote Airbnb properties without getting the contracted

financial benefits from it. I hope your team can promptly remedy the situation.

Do let me know if you need any other information,

Many thanks,

Laurence




Hello Laurence,

Thank you for reaching back to Airbnb, I am very sorry that you are more and more

frustrated by this issue.

I am sorry to tell you but there is no record of an account with your googlemail email

address. This is causing a world of issues in regards to accessing your account, and verifying

your affiliate program.

Please reply back to this email with your Airbnb email address and I would be more then glad

to continue to assist you in this case.

I look forward to your reply.

Kindest Regards, Melody K



Date: Feb 27, 2014


Hi Melody,

As previously indicated to Kacy, my email address is [email protected] - thats the

address i am emailing you from and the one associated with my airbnb account. I am not sure

why it appears as googlemail instead of gmail... This may be what's causing problems on

your end.

Let me know if you need anything else,

Many thanks,

Laurence




Laurence,

As stated before, this affiliate program is no longer available.

Please see attached message that was emailed to you on Feb 13th 2014

"You are receiving this email because pursuant to our Terms of Service and Affiliate

Supplement Terms of Use, Airbnb is terminating your access to the Airbnb Affiliate program.

Your affiliate code will cease to be functional at 11:59 PM PST today (February 13, 2014).

You will receive your final payout on February 19, 2014. You will not be permitted to re-

enroll in the program."

Please be advised that there are no intentions to reopen said programs until further notice.

We do understand that this is a loss, so I would like to suggest that you take a look at

Airbnb's Referral Program. This is a great way to earn extra funds to travel on!

I bid you the best Sir, and thank you for being a part of Airbnb.

Kindest Regards,

Melody K



Date: Mar 10, 2014


Dear Melody,

Thanks for your reply. However the email I previously received doesn't say the Affiliate

Program is closing - it says that MY access was terminated and that I won't be able to re-

enroll into the Program again, suggesting in fact that it continues on. I have seen no mention

of such closure in the press or online, so please put me in touch with the person in charge of

the Affiliate program manager so I can get some clarification,

Thanks in advance,

Laurence Billiet



Cindy B, Mar 11 08:28:

Hello Laurence,

Thank you for taking the time to contact Airbnb Support. My name is Cindy and I am happy

to clarify this issue.

I did a little investigating, and you are correct in regard to your your access being terminated

to the Airbnb Affiliate program. With said reason being explained below.

"You are receiving this email because pursuant to our Terms of Service and Affiliate

Supplement Terms of Use, Airbnb is terminating your access to the Airbnb Affiliate

program."

I know this is not the answer you are looking for, and for that I do apologize. As previously

suggested, I recommend that you take a look at the Airbnb's Referral Program. This will give

you an opportunity to earn extra funds to travel on.

Best wishes,

Cindy B



Date: Mar 11, 2014


Thanks Cindy but "You are receiving this email because pursuant to our Terms of Service

and Affiliate Supplement Terms of Use, Airbnb is terminating your access to the Airbnb

Affiliate program" is not a REASON for termination, it's simply stating it's terminated.

Airbnb hasn't been able to provide me with any valid reason as to why my access was

terminated and I find this utterly rude and unprofessional. I have been wasting 3 weeks now

going back and forth with various 'customer service' people, getting all sorts of conflicting

messages and no proper explanation for what's going on. I am now giving up, with no other

options that going public in the hope of understanding what's going on and warning other

travel entrepreneurs as to how Airbnb treat their commercial partners and long-time

supporters,

Good luck with everything,

Laurence

-------- Twitter -----------

HWL @HotelsWeLove 02:10 PM - 13 Mar 14

@bcheskyWe curate the best @Airbnb on our site but our affiliate acc was closed! Can I DM

you my exchange with yr cust service team? #Help!

Airbnb @Airbnb 04:49 PM - 13 Mar 14

@HotelsWeLove Could you please DM to us with your email so we can take a look? Thanks!



Jenny, Mar 14 02:35:

Hello there,

Thanks for reaching out to us via Twitter. My name is Jenny and it's my pleasure to assist you

today. Please feel free to contact me directly by responding to this message with your

questions or concerns.

I look forward to hearing from you soon!

Best regards,

Jenny



Date: Mar 14, 2014


Thanks Jenny,

I have been wasting 4 weeks of my time going back and forth with the Customer Experience

team on a simple query and would now like to be put in touch with Airbnb's head of the

Affiliate program or the head of the 'Customer Experience' manager - at your convenience.

Best regards,

Laurence



Jenny, Mar 16 19:10:

Hello Laurence,

We appreciate your interest in how Airbnb is growing and changing the travel industry in an

exciting way. Over 4 million Airbnb guests have booked reservations in over 34,000 cities

and 192 countries worldwide!

Although we do not have access to the marketing information you are requesting, we

published an amazing overview about about global growth and our community, which you

can view here: www.airbnb.com/annual

Thanks to you and the rest of the awesome Airbnb community, we look forward to

continuing our rapid growth and wild success into 2013 and beyond!

Best wishes,

Jenny

letter to brian che sky

Documents