Did you know that Airbnb is protecting abusive guests?

[Vamonos2]

Hi, I am new to Airbnb and was excited about working hard to achieve the superhost status. Almost as soon as I got it, my unit was booked by a "guest from hell". 

The guy broke several house rules (smoke inside and had super loud music after midnight). 

And then his reservation ended and so the guest from hell refused to leave our home.

Not only that, he was violent against our cleaning staff while screaming at them at the door that he would not leave.

He also insulted our staff and said he was going to give us a bad review (of course). 

Our staf explained for hours to the guess from hell that the cleaning needed to be done so the apartment would be ready for the next guest in time and following all the protocols. 

After several hours waiting at the door and with the help of security, we were finally able to recover our unit.

He did leave a bad review as he promised.

We were trusting Airbnb would follow its own rules about not allowing unbiased reviews and reviews of extorsions so we requested the review. 

However Airbnb told us  the unbiased and vindictive review would not be deleted to our surprise and absolute deception. 

Airbnb told us that even though the guest and Airbnb acknowledge that the guest from hell broke the house rules and refused to leave when his reservation was over, and eventough the review only refers to the fact that the guest from hell was not allowed to stay on our unit after his reservation finished, that the vindictive review from the guest from hell complyes with Airbnb's policy.

I have come to understand that review system protects abusive guests, even those that are violent against cleaning staff during the pandemic.

The review system does not support superhost making sure the units are properly clean and ventilated between stays.

Airbnb does not not follow their own review policy.

I see there is no benefit in being a superhost. 

Has this happened to you? 

[Colleen253]

@Vamonos2 The entire review only talks about his overstay. So it should be removed under the “irrelevant” category of the review policy. Unfortunately, Airbnb’s outsourced call center CS ambassadors  are rarely familiar with policy. If I were you, I would start a chat on the matter rather than call, and link to the review policy, highlighting the relevant section. Sometimes they need to have the facts staring them in the face. It may take several tries until you get an ambassador who is on the ball. The review should be removed.

[Rab304]

I had similar story! The policy says you can not compensate a guest to write a good review but a guest asking for refund and if you don’t accept his request, guest has the right to give you 1 star!  The guest did not complain about the cleaning, location, communication and so on… just because no refund airbnb accept his rating of 1 star. 

[Nicksixer0]

Yes Airbnb does not support hosts… they almost always rule in favor of the guest.  I guess they think they can have a platform without our homes.  Wrong..

[Brian2036]

If guests leave bad reviews on properties that have an exemplary record they should be thoroughly investigated and if the guest cannot provide a reasonable explanation the review should be deleted and the guest’s profile annotated.

As it is now they are not required to explain anything.

Frequently their complaints stem from their own ignorance, if not outright stupidity.

Guest or guest’s companion in a bad mood? YOUR FAULT. Low rating.

Guest expected something other than advertised because too lazy to read the listing? YOUR FAULT. Low rating.

Guest is a flaming a$$hole? Your fault. You can note that in your review, but the guest changes identities frequently, so it doesn’t bother them.

I’m currently annoyed by my last guest who rated us 2 for location and 3 for accuracy. I understand that she doesn’t like the location, but if my description is not 100% accurate I will kiss your behind on Market Street at high noon.

She just didn’t bother to read the description.

Furthermore, if she doesn’t like the location it’s because of her own ignorant phobias, not because there’s anything wrong with it.

 I can guess what her objections were because I have heard them before.

Your cabin in the woods has so many trees nearby that I felt unsafe! Why are there so many trees?

It got so dark at night that I could see stars and that frightened me!

It was so quiet that I couldn’t sleep!

There might be bears out there, and I might wander into their little cottage and find three bowls of porridge…

Wolves have been known to huff and puff and blow your house down.

You didn’t tell me that there are snakes in Arkansas!

 I just had a bad feeling so I left immediately and I should get a refund plus a bonus because it made me feel icky.

There might be wolves out there that would eat my grandma.

 The bottom line is that guests should be informed that their personal prejudices can injure hosts and that if they consistently denigrate highly rated properties they will suffer consequences.

No one cares if some snotty twit hates trees and cannot sleep without the comforting sound of sirens and drive-by shootings, but if that’s the reason for the low rating they should be required to say so.