Airbnb just added to the shame I felt over abuse

I spent years in an abusive relationship with an alcoholic and notorious sex pest.

- Anna Tims

In 2018, I broke free when he moved abroad to escape his creditors. A year later, I tried to make my first Airbnb booking, only to have it cancelled because my account was permanently blocked.

Airbnb declined to tell me why. Later, I discovered that my ex had used my phone number and his own email address to set up one account in his name, and an old email address of mine to set up a second. I hadn't received any notification of the use of my phone number, but I found, in my disused email account, several emails addressed to my ex.

I feared he might have done something terrible at a rental property and got banned and, because he had used my details, got me banned, too. Airbnb eventually told me the ban was linked to fraud. In 2020, I tried to book again, but 24 hours later the booking was cancelled, and my account blocked. Five years on, I noticed all four deactivated accounts are still visible on the platform - the two created by me, and the two set up using my details by my ex - and I'm still blocked. Airbnb promised to look into it but never got back to me.