AirBnB removes guest's negative review for stating the truth.

[Russell49]

So 14 months ago I had a 0-1 review guest who left a disgusting mess of "DNA" all over the expensive quilt covers and tried to hide it, left dirty dishes all over and didn't clean up after himself. 14 months later AFTER his stay, he complained to me that it wasn't fair that I left him a negative review. I wrote it tactfully and honestly.

I stated in the review that he was new to the platform and that he left a mess on the quilt covers that he tried to hide, dirty dishes everywhere,etc....

AirBnB decided to remove the review stating it was against their policy. WTF? If a host cannot honestly review a guest's stay, it will only be a problem for other hosts in the future.

I am now so annoyed at AirBnB that on principle I will not be taking bookings for a while. Ratings and reviews are the hosts only and final option of fairness to warn other hosts of misfit guests. When this is taken from us, it sets a bad precedent.Between this action and removing my superhost status over 0.1 %, I have pretty much had enough with this company. They need to learn WHO provides their product and service. I simply feel AirBnB's business model has gotten worst in the last few years.

[Anonymous]

@Russell49 Any mention of bodily secretions - even implied - is usually enough to get a review removed.

I can understand your frustration here, but on the other hand guests don't get reviewed at all on most of the other major platforms. 

[Russell49]

Well, I didn't say bodily secretions lol. On the review, I stated "the guest made a mess of our expensive quilt covers and tried to hide it".  Obviously it gets the point across without being graphic and for all anyone knows they could have dumped food or drinks on it.The point is that the guest will treat your property like it's disposable-that was the suggestion.

I will say that if a guest does something, they should get called out on it via review. It's obvious why AirBnB protects them-they are cash and we are their property.

[Anonymous]

@Russell49. I think if I read a review like that, it would make me suspect that the host isn't normally washing the quilt covers between guests. Which just...eew.

[Robbie54]

@Anonymous "I think if I read a review like that, it would make me suspect that the host isn't normally washing the quilt covers between guests. Which just...eew." Really? Come on, don't let your imagination run away with you. Russell has 4.9 for cleanliness, which is great. 

Going back to the review I believe @Russell49 wrote it as accurately as he could without being too specific as to what the mess actually is. It's his job to warn other hosts if he had a bad guest, and they're going to need to know why.

Airbnb have shown, yet again, that their review policy is incapable of being fair. And who gives a crap if other platforms dont have reviews, its Airbnb who we're hosting on and talking about.  

[Russell49]

@Robbie54 

Yeah, I tried not to get specific what kind of stains they were! lol  The point I was addressing in the review was that the guests treated our property poorly.

What AirBnB is doing is getting nitpicky on the host for the problem of the guest. Our last line of defense against a guest who is less than stellar is to be via review and rating, but when AirBnB take this option away from us then what is the point in having a rating/review system???

It's not like I told the public that the guest had spermed all over the quilt cover let alone drop a pizza on it. I only mentioned that they made a mess. They also made a mess of dishes and didnt bother rinsing them, so I mentioned this. I also mentioned that they were 0 review guests to suggest that they will likely need further vetting if they want to remain on the platform.

[Anonymous]

@Robbie54  Not sure this really falls into the category of things hosts need to be warned about. If you rent a bed, you expect that people are going to do private/intimate/yucky things in it, and it's your job to sanitize the linens regardless of whether the evidence is visible.  

So yes, if your complaint is that you were forced to wash the quilt cover, my reaction would be not be horror of horrors, not your expensive quilt! It would be what, you mean you don't always do that?!

[Russell49]

Yes, we are expected to wash linen, etc-this is a non-issue and a give in....but when the mess is so bad that it requires 3-4 wash cycles  for the quilt cover alone, then I would say it warrants such complaints in a review! We can assume guests will have "their fun", be intimate, etc, but it is not our expectation nor our business as we respect their privacy..Though it does not give the guest a right or pass to make our quilt cover's look like a painter's cover-especially when AirBnB asks for us to rate a guest and gives us the criteria.

Yes, we are required to clean-and we clean our place very well, but this kind of mess is excessive and with the manners and cleanliness of a swine. Keeping in mind the context of AirBnB and that it's platform is based on staying at someone's home, not a Motel 6. Big difference and thus guests are indeed rated on ...drum roll....CLEANLINESS. When there is a mess of dirty dishes spread around, enough DNA on the quilt cover for Ancestry/23andMe to determine the future g-grandchildren, etc then I would say it's more than the expected cleaning that should be involved.

[Anonymous]

@Russell49  It probably would have been more effective just to say that more than the expected cleaning was required. The closer any detail of your review brushes against private bodily matters, even implicitly, the likelier it is to be removed. 

A review need not be humiliating to be helpful.

[Russell49]

@Andrew4 

It POSSIBLY would have been more effective-no guarantee, BUT I get the impression that the guest threw a fit to AirBnB and they  would have appeased him anyways for future bookings.

They made no mention of how or which statement my review broke AirBnB's policy, but just took it down citing policy was breached but they need to speak with their team to figure out what to do.A review that was not spiteful, over the top or malicous but honest and based off of AirBnB's 3 points of criteria for rating a guest.They made the criteria, not me.I just review and rate off of the standards that AirBnB allows us to review and rate a guest-which is very minimal anyways.

In other words, the very first move for them was to appease the guest opposed to the host's honesty-and before even talking to their team as they suggested they should do, they took down my review-which was not vulgar, nor suggestive of bodily fluids. Making a mess of my quilt cover can mean a number of things-sex not included.

Keep in mind, this review was 14 months old and the guest just complained about it 2 days ago!!! Would AirBnB even give the benefit of doubt to any host asking to get a poor review on their property for a 14 month old review?

[Russell49]

@Anonymous

I am almost certain that the guest got refused a stay based on my review and his whole reasoning to get his justified review removed was to be able to stay with a BnB property-which deceives hosts into thinking he is an ideal guest with a flawless record on AirBnB's platform and whom will be respectful of property.

This isn't just dishonest, but it may as well void the reviewing process all together.The fact that he complained 14 months later is even that much worst and shows he doesn't even use AirBnB much, while I have hosted well over 300 guests. A smart business platform would suggest to place it's value on the host in this instance, not some 2 reviewed guest who rarely uses BnB and when he does is a potential hassle. 

As a host would you be inclined to accept some 2 reviewed guest when he has a 50% bad track record? Of course not, but enough kicking and screaming and the guest can rig the system which they subscribed to.

[Anonymous]

@Russell49  It's a shame that future hosts won't get the benefit of your honest review, but then again it's not that hard for a guest to start over again with a new account, clean slate. 

I agree that it's hosts' duty to review honestly, but personally the reviews play a small role in my decision about whether to accept a booking. I've always found  the quality of the correspondence to be a better predictor than the guest's past reviews. 

[Russell49]

@Anonymous Very true. A guest can simply restart an account. Airbnb's removal of the review is an example that honesty and looking out for it's hosts doesn't pay off.

[Robbie54]

@Anonymous I wasnt stating that should be the only reason to warn other hosts, there were other things, as "etc, etc.." implies. 

[Russell49]

@Anonymous 

What in God's name would lead you to believe that I don't wash the quilt covers in-between stays? lol

How do you arrive to such a  conclusion when the complaint I made was based on a guest's lack of cleanliness and consideration?