I need help with a review that was left on my listing by a guest.

[Larry689]

Hello. We are new to hosting on Airbnb. Our home is in Topsail Beach, North Carolina, USA. We recently had our third guest stay in the home and they left a five star review. The public comment makes no sense as somehow they submitted the review before it was complete. The private review is a glowing review of the property, but no one can see it. Is there a way to make the private comments show up in our Public review, so future guest can learn more about the property by reading the review?

[Shelley159]

No you can’t @Larry689 , but as you say the public review is very clearly incomplete and everyone can see they just accidentally posted before completing it. Just carry on, it's 5 stars and things are going well! 

Of all the things that can go wrong with reviews, this is not one I would worry about. You'll soon have more full-sentence reviews.😃

[Larry689]

Thank you, Shelley. I appreciate your feedback. Her private comments were not directed at me but read like a public comment. There are several things addressed in it. That would be a great value to potential guest. One example is the home is built on an interior lot on the beach. Therefore, you have to walk to the oceanfront. Folks are always asking how long it takes to get to the beach and her comments in the review clearly address that. It sure would be nice if they could read her full review. Could my guest that left the review change the review? Could she make it public?

[Shelley159]

No I really don't see how you will get that done @Larry689 . The most the guest can do is to ask Support for the public review to be deleted completely, which means the 5-stars will also be gone. The person who wrote a review is allowed to ask for it to be removed, but the review and/or rating cannot be changed afterwards.

I would not ask the guest to have it deleted if I were you.

If you really want to do something to make the private review public, I suppose you could write a public response to the guest's review and paste the private review in your response. Pasting it as a host response may not carry the same weight as an actual guest review (because those who read your response can't be sure whether you pasted it exactly as it was written). I'm generally not keen to respond to reviews, but if you can come up with of a nice way to do it and you think it will add value, that's definitely an option that's open to you. 

[Larry689]

Got it @Shelley159 ! You have been a huge help. I think I will take your advice and just let it be!