1 star review because ask for damage $$

[Patricia1795]

I have a 1 star review and their verbiage says "renters beware" 

The only reason i received the 1 star was because during their stay a mirror was broken and i had to request the $100 from them. They declined and wrote a lying review. All messages show it was a lie. What can i get airbnb to remove it? 

[Anonymous]

@Patricia1795  unfortunately I don't see any reason that Airbnb would remove the review. The Content Policy explicitly says that they don't moderate reviews for truthfulness, and the guest's account of the incident sounds completely valid.

One common misconception about the so-called Host Guarantee is that hosts can bypass a payment dispute with the guest and get Airbnb to pay out of pocket for damage. But it doesn't work like that - you can't just assign liability to the guest and say "don't worry, Airbnb will pick up the tab." 

Guests who feel unfairly or fraudulently charged for damage are fully entitled to review their experience negatively. You don't have a right to censor or silence  them. However, you might consider asking Airbnb to delete your review response, because your comment was technically an unintentional admission of insurance fraud (albeit one based on an innocent misunderstanding) 

[Patricia1795]

1) They do not have the right to be retaliatory. "renter beware"

2) The said the mirror fell off the wall because it was not property attached.

That is a lie as it was attached with anchor bolts that were still in place in the wall. The right upper corner of the frame was bent showing that  it had been hit in upward motion. The mirror would have shattered if it had actually hit the floor not intact.

2) You inference of insurance fraud is not right. I sent them link for host guarentee and explained the process for reimbursement to host for the damage that occured during their stay. They admitted to breaking the mirror, they were just mad i asked for money to replace it. Falsely placed blame on installation.Why would i blatantly accuse them and spike a confrontation.

[Mike-And-Jane0]

@Patricia1795 Your response to the review was

'Richard, I gave you a link for airbnb host guarantee that explains I needed to ask you first in order for Airbnb to reimburse me for the damage. You are misrepresenting things. I never accused you of being at fault for the damage. Your denied payment of $100 and responsibility in the resolution center which included the receipt for a exact replacement mirror. Tanking me on a review because I'm following airbnb procedures is very unfair.'

If you don't think the guest was at fault then why do you think that Airbnb should pay for the mirror?

[Patricia1795]

Guest was at fault, the mirror broke during their stay, it was attached with anchor bolts, Airbnb reimbursed me, so they thought so as well. i just did not confront them or accuse them of anything.

The verbiage he puts on review is like i did just that. 

[Anonymous]

@Patricia1795 I'm sorry but this just sounds contradictory to me.  Charging someone for damage is in and of itself an accusation of them being at fault. There's no workaround for that.

It's unfortunate that your ratings have been impacted, but your guest's experience as well as your response are useful to guests looking to make an informed decision about whether to book with you. 

[Patricia1795]

You really think someone saying renter beware isn't retaliatory!

Do you think us hosts just nerd to eat the cost of repairs from a guest who broke something?

Tell me how you would have handled any differently? 

[Anonymous]

@Patricia1795 No, the damage resolution process exists for a reason and there are definitely times when it's appropriate to use. But the guest's opinion about the quality of your hosting is certainly going to be affected by feeling that they were unfairly charged for an accidental breakage. That means you have to weigh the potential benefit of compensation against the inevitability of a negative review and decide whether it's worth it. 

You and the guest obviously have different interpretations of what happened with the mirror, but his "renter beware" statement was well substantiated by his side of the story, so I don't see it as unfairly retaliatory. It's an honest account of what the guest felt was a negative experience, and while it's unflattering I do not believe in censorship as a solution.

[Patricia1795]

you gave absolutely no aolurion?

You have yet to answer how you would have done things differently!

You are adding no value with your comments!

[Kia272]

@Patricia1795  I think a broken mirror at $100 falls under the cost of doing business. Your guests got no benefit from breaking your mirror, nor can I see why they would intentionally do so. The fact that they notified you immediately says something. 

Because if you're insisting that it was absolutely perfectly attached to the wall, the implication is that they intentionally did something to break it. I can understand how that would be upsetting to them. 

I think that guests should  be responsible for things that result from careless and negligent behavior,  but something like this makes no sense, especially at this dollar value. 

If you take $5 from every rental you get, and set it aside, you'll have a fund to pay for things such as this. As you've now experienced, that review will likely cost you more than the $100 you got for the mirror. I would try to learn from this experience and give some thought to how you would handle something like this in the future. 

Good luck, Kia

[Patricia1795]

if it fell off the wall why isn't the glass shattered on the floor? It would have landed on? Why is the anchor bolts still in the wall. This was not i shut a door to hard.

I absorb the ruin towels, the boy that walked through the slider screen and the less than 1 month old ripped sheet as wear and tear.

[Kia272]

@Patricia1795  Maybe the anchor bolts "is" still in the wall because the back of the mirror broke? You didn't show us a picture of the back of the mirror. There is no guarantee that a mirror is going to break or shatter in a certain way. Your premise here is pretty flawed. 

Again, what was the benefit to your guests in breaking the mirror? Oh, right. They got to be accused by you of breaking the mirror. Always a great way to end a vacation. 

It's your prerogative to do business any way you choose; you just have to be prepared for the consequences. 

[Patricia1795]

I'm not going to argue with you about this. Airbnb reimbursed me for mirror, so the question of their breaking the mirror is mute. It was in a hallway not in the bathroom. What is the use of the host guarentee? I have been a host for 9 years this is the only time i used it and the only 1 star review. 

An answer not to use it because i will get a bad review.

That is the exact issue!

[Pat7985]

I had a similar experience where the guest was retaliatory in their review of me. Airbnb support actually enforced the rule to the guests, and now, have suddenly "forgotten" their part in the situation. In the end, the guest's retaliatory review stayed, despite the lies. My lesson is that Airbnb will allow guests to trash hosts' homes.

[Patricia1795]

So sad, i feel the same way.