Our Struggle With Meta: The Journey and What It Taught Us

“I’m trying to message you guys but you don’t even have WhatsApp!” 😡

That’s exactly how Tee had started the intro to Episode 8 of the Homevy Happenings internal newsletter. 

Reading it all over again, we can still feel the weight of those words. Because behind that single frustrated message from a guest, was a story none of us saw coming; a year-long battle with one of the biggest tech companies in the world. 

A battle that tested everything we knew about resilience.

This, is that story, and it’s a long one.

Chapter One: Our First Strike With Meta

Allow me take you back in time…

It was a regular morning in November 2024. You know…the kind where you make your morning coffee, check your slack notifications, then gradually ease into the day. 

Except…this morning was…different.

Our Instagram account “usehomevy” was gone. Not suspended. Not restricted. Gone. Like it had never existed.

This account had just 52 followers. 

Image illustration by Homevy 

Not anything significant by “influencer” standards, yet, those were our 52 followers. Every. single. one. Earned through sweet property shots, the curation of what Homevy was becoming, and well, Tee’s occasional humor.

We tried searching searched for answers. Had we posted something wrong? Violated some rule? Yet, Meta offered no explanation. All we got was a closed door.

Being a proactive team, we got to work; reached out to technicians, “Indian” gurus, and every forum thread that promised the slightest hope. Because like Kay said, “usehomevy” wasn’t an ordinary username. It was ours. Pure gold. And we weren’t letting it go without a fight.

Weeks turned into months. December passed, and the new year came.

Sometime in January 2025; we got the account back.

I wish I could tell you there was champagne or a loud celebration. There wasn’t. By that time, we were just relieved. Thinking about it now, maybe, just maybe we should’ve celebrated it.

You know why?

The worst was still ahead…

Chapter Two: Ramadan and Shinnel’s Sky Blue Abaya

The day was March 10th, 2025, and Meta Zuckerberg came for us at exactly 2:15pm.

Yes we remember the exact time because you don’t forget moments like these.

It was the holy month of Ramadan…a time of giving back, reflection, and community. In the spirit of giving back, we’d filmed a sweet video for our beloved guests. 

Shinnel was the main character in that video, wearing one of her finest abayas; sky blue with lovely emeralds at the collar, paired with a spotless white scarf.

Let me tell you…she looked beautiful. Stunning even.

Image illustration by Homevy 

The message was simple: “Ramadan Kareem to our guests, and here’s 10% off all stays for a week.”

That’s it. That was the video. We posted it and went about our day…then, the dreaded notification came.

Account disabled. 

You know that feeling when something happens and your brain refuses to process it? That was this. We’d just spent months retrieving our account and now we were back to zero. AGAIN.

This time, we knew we had to be strategic.

So we pivoted. Created a new account: usehomevydxb and got back to posting.

But…it seemed Meta wasn’t quite done with us yet.

Chapter Three: Meta Launches A Huge Blow to Our Operations

If Instagram was a blow to our social media presence, what came next was a blow to our operations.

Our main WhatsApp number then; +971 56 122 8882 – which was the same number on our website, saved in our guests’ phones, integrated into our entire customer support system through Intercom – got blocked.

You have to understand what this meant. 

WhatsApp wasn’t just a messaging app for us. It was the backbone of our entire operations and how we communicated with guests. Questions about check-in? WhatsApp. Issues with a property? WhatsApp. Property owner inquiry? Whatsapp. Last-minute requests, booking confirmations, emergency contacts; all WhatsApp.

At first it felt like “film trick.” Or to put it simply, a mistake. Surely Meta would realize the error and restore our number? With that hope in mind, we created another account to manage things through Intercom.

Blocked instantly.

Okay. Maybe…just maybe this was another coincidence. 

Image illustration by Homevy

We tried again. This time with a brand new prepaid SIM card. Fresh out of the pack. We registered it on WhatsApp, took a breath, and thought: let’s just send one message to our guests who’ve been trying to reach us.

It took sending ONE message. Not a broadcast, just a single, simple text.

Blockedddddddd.

It was like Meta had issued an APB (All-Points Bulletin) on us. I imagine somewhere in their servers, an algorithm was whispering: Is that Homevy again? Block the number. Block the backup. Block anything that looks like them, smells like them, or that looks like their logo.

We were blacklisted. Completely.

Chapter Four: Going Back to the Drawing Board

Sometimes, when you’re in a storm, the smartest thing you can do is stop running and start thinking.

We went quiet for about a month.

Our morale was low; and why wouldn’t it be anyway? We had taken several hits. 

We paused and asked ourselves some questions: What’s actually happening here? Why is this pattern repeating? And how do we break it for good?

We figured we couldn’t keep fighting the same fight.

So we created a completely new number; +971-50-146-1100 and updated our website. Changed our digital footprint across every platform, every listing, every single place that had our old number on it.

However, we switched things up and didn’t connect the same number to intercom. We had used another number entirely.

Then again… we held our breath (thank you Meta for giving us endless breathwork sessions). 🤨

Days passed and turned into weeks. The number held, messages came through, and guests reached us. It worked.

Chapter Five: Meta Returns What Belonged to Caesar

One random Wednesday in October 2025… Kay goes; “Hehehe, Instagram gave us the account back”

Image illustration by Homevy 

Instagram gave us WHAT back? 😳

You mean the account we had forgotten about and had built another one? Even had 3 videos go viral on the new account?

You mean after 7 long months? Instagram just remembers us randomly? All this time?

We had so many unanswered questions.

In fact, our PTSD didn’t allow us post immediately on the account. It was only a few weeks ago Tee made this welcome back post. Word on the street is that she has some funny plans for the account. 

The Lessons Our Meta Journey Taught Us…

Looking back now, this experience taught us three major things;

1. Your Team Is Your Greatest Product

Steve Jobs once said; “the thing I’m most proud of isn’t Apple, it’s the team we’ve built.” 

This hits home.

Because when we were at our lowest, when Meta had knocked us down for the fourth or fifth time, it wasn’t a random “solution document” that got us back up. It was OUR people. The ones who refused to accept “blocked” as a final answer. The ones who stayed up late. The ones who kept their humor even when things felt hopeless, showing up the next day ready to try again.

2. Resilience

Building a company means accepting that things will break. Systems will fail. Platforms you depend on could turn against you without warning or reason. What matters most is the determination to find another way, even when every path seems closed.

3. You Must Adapt Fast

We could’ve kept fighting for our old number, our old accounts, our old way of doing things. Instead, we learned to let go of what wasn’t working and build something new.

That flexibility and willingness to evolve worked in our favor.

Looking Back from the Floor of Triumph

Today, everything runs smoothly.

Guests can reach us, and our content is live everywhere. We have not one Instagram account, but two. We have not just a phone number, but two.

Yet, we carry this chapter with us, not as a wound, but as a reminder that there’ll often be a challenge along the way. A challenge to test our resilience. A challenge to test our team.

Should that moment come, we’ll be ready as always.

On a final note, please follow @usehomevydxb on instagram. We just onboarded a new social media manager so we have great hopes for the account and our social media presence in general. 

You can also follow our former account @usehomevy to be in the loop of whatever plan Tee has for the account. Knowing Tee, it’ll be in your best interest to hit that follow button 😉

Adios.