Need help with guests dropping a retaliatory review

[Susan6321]

Hi everyone, please I seriously need your help with my listing. I joined Airbnb in late May and I have host over 12 amazing guests with 5 stars reviews. Recently, I have honest some guest that broke house rules by smoking and I had to complain and stop them during their stay which has let to them dropping a 3 star review. Also, another guest complained about her keys suddenly stopped working after they had checked in successfully and even went out later in the evening, they ask for a refund which I did honored because I saw they were going to be a difficult guest and they leave the Airbnb which I later discovered that they left with all the bathroom essentials including pack of pads and tampons, shower gel, towel and all. They dropped a 2 stars review today stating all what didn’t happened which has really affected my overall review and dropped it to 4.0. I have reached out to support to remove this but they refused to. Please how best can I handle this as I’m not sure if I need to publicly reply to their review or not. 3 upcoming guests cancelled today because of this review and I noticed my listing isn’t shown to prospective guests again to book. I really need your help here. Thanks

[Elisa]

Hi @Susan6321 😊, 

Thank you for sharing this situation here.

I'm really sorry to hear what you’ve been through. Were you able to figure out how to handle it?

I'm tagging a few experienced hosts who might have some helpful advice: @Dave-and-Deb0, @Karen114, @Guy991, @Frances3408 and @Laurelle3.

Thank you in advance, everyone!

[Frances3408]

@Susan6321 . Always respond to a guest review, good or bad. Your future guests are interested in how you respond so be honest, fair and write it up a few times to review before posting.

My only guest intervention regarding smoking (amongst other issues) led to my only 3 star guest review and an unsatisfactory interaction with Airbnb. In hindsight I should have just sorted the issue post stay  myself.

Go to the Host Circle to see the increasing issues hosts are reporting with retaliatory reviews.

[Karen114 · Accepted solution]

@Susan6321  Ugh! So sorry this is happening.  Looks like you are in the bad guest cycle. It happens. We go through periods where everything is great. Then there’s a run of bad guests and it makes you question what you’re doing  😑

You should be responding to every review. Remember you are responding to future guests not the one that stayed. Always keep it short and unemotional. It’s hard I know. You can use Chat Gpt to help you formulate a professional response. I use it daily so I don’t sound like an abrasive @sshole 😜

It’s been my experience that when you call out a guest for bad behavior or charge them, they immediately leave a scathing review. Also don’t be too quick to refund. Find other ways to appease them. Sometimes a gift card to a local restaurant or coffee shop or even a comped night for a future stay. Even though you won’t have them back , they don’t know that. 
If you leave out 20 towels they will use 20 towels. If you leave a 120 count Tide pod, they will sometimes take them home. We leave what will get them through their 1st few days and nothing more. If it’s not nailed down it will grow legs. 

You are doing great  all those great reviews since May, you are doing something right. Don’t be too hard on yourself and all will be well.