A blatant dishonest review

[Kris-and-Zak0]

How do I go about getting a review removed, when I can prove the guest review was a lie, as My Ring Door bell recorded the whole situation. The guest said I attacked his wife, after I refused to refund him after he refused to remove his shoes in my house, which is in the rules. He handed me the keys and walked out , not before he made a big deal about it, all of which was recorded. Airbnb says its within their policy, they have no interest in seeing the recording. This is affecting my reputation. Any ideas? I will get it removed...

[Anonymous · Accepted solution]

@Kris-and-Zak0  Have a closer look at the Review Policy:

If you feel a review is untrue

While we encourage and expect all community members to post reviews that contain objective and accurate information, Airbnb doesn’t mediate disputes concerning the truth of reviews.

Arguing that a review is dishonest will never result in getting it removed, that's a lost cause. However, the review explicitly accuses you of the crime of assault, and could therefore be considered libelous. Publicly accusing someone of a crime in print exposes the host of the content (in this case, Airbnb) to liability in a defamation suit. Airbnb prefers not to be sued, so this would be the most effective angle for removing the review.

If your efforts are unsuccessful but you still want to keep your listing active, you  might consider asking for your response to be removed. It's doing you more harm than good - you have to keep in mind that the audience for the response is prospective guests, not the reviewer. One can quickly discern that the guest was rather unhinged in his comments, but your response dragged you right into the muck with him.