Please help! Airbnb has fully trusted the retaliatory review from a rude guest, ignored our appeal, and unfairly removed our listing.

[Makoto1]

Unfortunately, we've had a few guests with poor manners. When we politely pointed out their behavior within reasonable boundaries, they retaliated by leaving false reviews and giving us low ratings. However, Airbnb fully sided with the guests' claims and notified us of the listing removal. We filed an appeal, but the first one was rejected due to 'missing information.' When we asked specifically what was lacking, we were left without a response. Eventually, after waiting for a long time, we were told that the case was closed due to the time limit, and the listing was deleted.

In the first place, it is unfair that Airbnb fully accepts the guest's claims without any evidence and requires the host to provide evidence in order to dispute the claims. If the host cannot provide evidence, penalties such as listing removal are applied.

To make this clearer, let's compare it to a legal case: The guest's low review → 'Plaintiff' suing the host The host → 'Defendant' being sued by the guest

The plaintiff must first prove the host's wrongdoing with concrete evidence in order to file a lawsuit. It's common sense that mere verbal claims will not be accepted by the police or the court, right?

On the defendant's side, they must present counter-evidence to the physical evidence provided by the plaintiff.

This is a universally recognized standard. Can Airbnb, which claims to be fair, make judgments based on this basic and widely accepted principle?

[Mike-And-Jane0]

@Makoto1 If I were you then rather than fighting Airbnb I would concentrate on improving your rentals. One has a 4.11 average and you, from 190 reviews only have a 4.27 average. Most good Airbnb places achieve 4.8 or 4.9+ as an average.

[Helen3]

Hello @Makoto1 

airbnb works on the principle that 4.6 or higher in terms of reviews/ratings  is the minimum standard they see as acceptable.

guests need to be confident when they use Airbnb they can expect minimum standards

unfortunately all your listings fall way below this standard.

Has Airbnb not sent you messages asking you to improve before deleting one of your listings . One or two guests leaving poor reviews can be seen as unfair guests leaving revenge reviews but when you have multiple guests with similar complaints it can indicate there is an issue with how listings are being hosted 

I don't think the way you respond to negative reviews is helpful either.

whether you have a budget offering or an upmarket property guests have the right to expect a clean property with the amenities described with great communication between host and guest and a smooth check in process .