Accused of Review Violation

[Valerie780]

I've been an Airbnb host for 3 years and a super host for almost from the start. Guets  love my rental and I've had very few difficulties. I received an email from Airbnb stating that I had violated their reviews policy. They claimed one or more of my reviews appear to be biased and not earned on the merit of the stay. They threatened to close my account if this happened again. But they refuse to give me any details. I have no idea what they're talking about. I have less than 100 reviews and all them are from legitimate booked stays. I've been told they can't discuss it with me and they will not even consider reversing their decision. This makes me angry because I have not been given the chance to defend myself. Has this happened to anyone else? 

[Sarah977]

@Solveig0  No kidding. Airbnb's price tips for me are usually $19 Canadian. I charge $36 and many of my guests have told me it's too cheap for what they get. 🙂

Of course Airbnb's algorithms suggest that just so I'll have 100% occupancy. But I don't want that- I want good guests, not a full calendar of bad guests 🙂

[Valerie780]

@Solveig0 exactly! They can offer our rentals at rock bottom prices but we can't? LOL

[Tony-And-Una0]

Hi

I received one of these this morning. Couldn't believe it. We have been hosting for six years with over 1,000 five star reviews. The booking in question was from 2015. Six years ago!!!!!!  We had mistakenly mispriced it and Airbnb claims today, that six years ago we did this deliberately to get a five star review. Unbelievable. I called them and they said it's a glitch in their algorithm or the like.

Did't need any more stress at the moment

[Joline5]

I ended up with a reservation last night when I was in bed.  The guest states that she was inquiring about my place but I have a reservation booked automatically. I have pre approval bookings but people usually inquire and I work with them before putting them in.  How can I fix this glitch? It could be a major problem and quickly!

[Emilia42]

@Joline5 You have instant booking turned on and you need to turn it off:

https://www.airbnb.com/help/article/1510/how-do-i-use-instant-book

[Helen3]

There's rarely a reason to pre-approve a booking . 

[Sarah977]

@Helen3  That isn't true when a host doesn't use Instant Book. I get quite a few Inquiries where the guest has every intention to book, but they want a question or two answered first. Most of these are experienced guests, so they know to send an Inquiry rather than a Request. 

I have pre-approved most of these- at that point the guest goes on to book and I don't have to do anything more on my end. If I didn't pre-approve, I would then have to spend more time dealing with a request they would have to send in order to book. 

[Helen3]

I was only going by my own experience I've pre approved about 25 booking and only one went on to actually confirm.

absolutely can see why it would work better for hosts nit using IB. @Sarah977 

[Mark116]

Airbnb has a LOT OF NERVE to criticize any host for discounting their listing when they usually recommend prices should be about 1/3 to 1/2 of the price hosts have posted.  Ah, the fun never stops here.

[Dale711]

Hi @Valerie780 ,

I'm so sorry for your experience and understand you're frustrated.

I do have the same experience as you.

Airbnb removes my public response and warns me that my review was violating the housing standards.

Yet, I knew which review cause and noticed that I'm wrongly used the words.

I've over a dozen untrue, unfair and revenge review, I did respond to the public.

Nevertheless, I never and ever again wish to respond in the public to a negative review after the warning.

I feel disappointed with the unfairness of the Airbnb review system.

Recently, I have another revenge review that stated-" the sh#t@ place!",

because I advise the guest, "Kindly not make noise, please turn off the phone low speakers at the midnight, and be mindful of other guest sleeping hours in the dormitory shared room."

The next day, the guest check out left me a 1 * stars review with- " the sh#t@ place!".

Since I do not wish to respond in the public, I contacted Airbnb, they claim couldn't find anything wrong with -" the sh@t# place !" reviews.

What should I do?

It out of my hand! 

Letting you know that reviews are the backbone of Airbnb's community and in order to maintain that structure Airbnb have guidelines in place that ensure all reviews are fair, honest and relevant to the travel and experience.

Airbnb's default position is not to delete, censor, or edit reviews.

With that being said, in rare cases like this, Airbnb may remove a review only if it violates the review guidelines.

You may click the link below for more information:
https://www.airbnb.com/help/article/13

https://www.airbnb.com/help/article/2673

https://www.airbnb.com/help/article/546

Review standards system?  

It doesn't make sense.

Happy Hosting!    

[Susan1188]

OMG I gave a deep discount to extend the stay of a guest because there was horrendous jackhammering noise in the community, in the apartment just below.  Now my calendar seems blocked!

[Solveig0]

I've had the same. Airbnb has removed a completely random review saying that it was discounted. And I can see from my local (Denmark) airbnb facebook group this same has happened to a lot of people. I hope its a bot gone wild, but its pissing me off, to be polite about it. 

[Nick]

Hi @Valerie780 I took the liberty to sent your information over to Customer Support after reading your post. I will send you an update via Direct Message. Thank you