Q Airbnb closed my account. Am I locked out forever?

A: You’re kidding, right? I thoughtwe had dealt with the last “Airbnb closedmy account” case a fewweeks ago. But no.

Here’s the thing: Airbnb, like any other business, can close your account if you’ve violated its terms. It would be helpful if the company told you which terms you violated, but it said nothing. That’s really frustrating, and it’s not a responsibleway to handle an account closure.

Airbnb can close your account if you’ve “materially breached” its terms. What’s a material breach? It can include violating its payment terms, policies or standards or applicable laws, regulations or third party rights. Airbnb may also cut you loose to protect the personal safety or property of Airbnb, its members or third parties.

The notice you received from Airbnb is a standard termination notice. But it’s

I tried to book a vacation rental through Airbnb whilewewere traveling in Spain. I received a notification thatmy Airbnb account had been closed.

I emailed Airbnb to find outwhy. In response, Airbnb said it “regretted” informing me that it would be unable to supportmy account. It said it had exercised its discretion under its terms of service to disablemy account.

I don’t knowwhymy account has been closed. I last rented a property through Airbnb in Switzerland in 2018. I received a very positive review from the owner after the stay. I’m dumbfounded.

I also hadmy attorney mail a letter to Airbnb in an effort to understandwhy this occurred. To date, he has not received a reply. Can you help me getmy Airbnb account reopened?

— LaurelMoad, St. Charles, Illinois so vague that you might never knowwhy the rental site made its decision to close your account.

I’ve received a lot of these cases, including from Anthony Klockenbrink, Chiaka Aribeana and Robert Jackson, which I covered in this column.

Airbnb should have given you a quick and frank answer about your suspension and offered away to fix it. You could have appealed your case to an executive at Airbnb. I list the names, numbers and email addresses of Airbnb’s customer service managers onmy consumer advocacy site atwww.elliott.org/ company-contacts/airbnb/.

Beyond that, I think Airbnb needs to stop closing accounts without being prepared to offer a reason for the banning. I support a company’s right to close the account of an abusive customer. But youwere an model renter. You shouldn’t be on anyone’s blacklist, especially Airbnb’s.

I can only speculate that the company has automated some of its systems to flag suspicious accounts and ban them. The algorithmmay need some adjustment if it’s flagging people like you. It always helps to have a human involved in delicate matters like closing customer accounts. So Airbnb, if you’re reading this— free advice!

I contacted Airbnb on your behalf. You received an email fromAirbnb that it reactivated your account. No explanation as to why. I’m not surprised.