Airbnb Failed to Remove a Review Made By a Guest Who Clearly Violated Airbnb Review Policy

[Patty457]

This is a very frustrating experience, and I have tried to contact airbnb multiple time but didn't get anywhere.

I got a horrible review, made by a guest who, in their guest message with us, clearly violated Airbnb review policy. They said out loud in their message: "if you give a full refund that will justify a 5 star review" and continued to threaten us up until the day before their review period expired.

Airbnb has a new process of submitted review removal process, and you only have 2 chances of submitting it. I wrote a very clear explanation and the case to me is a clear violation. However, I got denied twice - without given any reason.

Does any host have any experience in appealing and is there any way to escalate other than contacting support?

Thank you all !!!

[Patricia2526]

Hi @Patty457 

Choose the primary reason you believe the review violates Airbnb’s Reviews Policy. Provide detailed information and any supporting evidence, such as photos or message threads, to substantiate your claim.

If your initial request is denied, maybe best to try contacting Airbnb Support.

[Patty457]

Thank you Patricia for the great advice - this is exactly what I did.

The guest's messages with us was an explicit violation of review policy - asking money (in the form of refund) in exchange for 5 star.

The wall we hit is - we used to be able to call Support and this would have been a very strong case. 

However, Airbnb had a new Review Remove process that can only submitted online and host only get to submit it twice. 

We unfortunately got denied twice - although this is such strong case!

Since then, no Airbnb Support has given us any help!

 
Do you have an idea how to escalate this issue for further review?

[Joan2709]

@Patty457 

Upon reading the guest review, the guest claims there were multiple issues with check-in, cleanliness and inoperative amenities? Were these claims true? Did you offer a refund (full or partial) as compensation for these issues? 

[Patty457]

Yes, the issue were true, but we also provided immediate assistance in addressing those issue during their stay! No refund was provided hence the bad review - that's the whole point and the reason we are requesting it to be removed. They explicitly asked for refund in exchange for 5 star review - which we didn't comply thinking this was so clearly a violation. 

[Joan2709]

@Patty457 

Thanks for clarifying...Hosting can be a challenge for sure. You have fantastic properties in a great location!

Do you have anyone inspecting the property prior to guest arrival? If not, I strongly suggest that you do, especially due to the size of the property. Larger properties have more that can be missed and the more complex the amenities, the more that can go wrong. Not sure who is responsible for creating door codes for guests, but that clearly was an issue here. 

I do think at least a partial refund should have been offered....just my opinion having worked with numerous hosts with diverse properties in multiple states. Dealing with repeated attempts to access the property with codes not working, then having to reset a circuit breaker and again having issues to to access the pool area to reset the circuit breaker? The guest should not have to contact you to get the hot tub cleaned...most guests expect an amenity that is advertised (hot tub) to be ready for their immediate use upon arrival - it wasn't. 

Had you offered at least a partial refund, perhaps you would not now be dealing with trying to get a review removed. Airbnb normally offers a 30% refund per day or part of day for any amenity that is not available to the guest (the hot tub). Had this guest contacted Airbnb, they would most likely have refunded the guest 30% of the first night without your approval. 

I would at least post a public response to the review and take responsiblity for the issues mentioned and what you did to correct them. Be factual and non-emotional; you are writing your response for future guests to see.

Since Airbnb has rejected your request twice to remove the review, not sure there is anything else you can do, but you can try.