Bad guest review

[Anne9793]

As s guest, I had never had any bad reviews. Then I had a misunderstanding with a host about how clean she wanted the apartment to be. It was literally a misunderstanding. After discussion with AirBnB (even the lady on the phone agreed the host was being unreasonable), I agreed to pay a little more money for the cleaning. But the host  left me a very negative review.

Under normal circumstances I wouldn't worry about it, since I have rented since then and gotten good reviews. The problem is that the host who gave me a bad review is in Paris (as am I) and her review was in French. It is the only review of me that's in French. (I had rented an apartment for the Christmas visit of my adult children). Now I am trying to rent for them in Paris again and I worry that a host who doesn't speak good English will only focus on that review. Already, one host hasn't responded within 24 hours and the second one hasn't gotten back to me yet either. 

I feel that because of the unique nature of this situation I should be able to have the review taken down. (I responded it it in English back then because I wanted to make sure that English-speaking hosts were not dissuaded). Is there anything I can do? Thank you

[Anonymous]

@Anne9793  Airbnb removes reviews that violate their Content Policy, but nothing in this host's review appears to be against the rules. I'm sure you don't feel the negativity was deserved, but almost nobody who's ever gotten a bad review in the history of bad reviews has ever believed they deserved it

Nothing about your circumstances would merit censoring the host, but you are the author of your response to her review, so you can ask Airbnb to remove it. That might be a good idea, because to be totally candid your response actually makes you sound worse than the review does. It basically boils down to "I spent a lot of money so it shouldn't be too hard for you to flush my family's poop down the toilet."

Had you written a more gracious and humble response, i think you could overcome 1 negative review in light of all the positives. But if your attitude comes across as entitled, that triggers every experienced host to expect a problem guest.

In addition to removing that toxic response, I'd suggest acknowledging the bad review upfront in your future requests, and trying to assure the host that you'll be careful to leave the home in a tidy state with no fecal matter in sight. 

[Sarah977]

"(I had rented an apartment for the Christmas visit of my adult children). Now I am trying to rent for them in Paris again "

Renting for someone else is called a 3rd party booking and is against the terms of service of Airbnb. The person who books has to be among the guests who are staying. That alone will cause most hosts to decline a booking, regardless of the bad review.

Get one of your adult kids to open their own Airbnb account and book through it. If it's a matter of you wanting to pay for it, obviously you can work that out between you.

[Anne9793]

Thank you @Sarah977 and @Anonymous. I will do those things. I did already have my review of her removed because it was very positive -- I wrote it before I saw hers. I confess I was a little upset since she called me dishonest and said I showed a lack of respect. Anyway, I do think this is an exceptional case because of the language issue. How can I ever get a positive review in France if I can't get a rental here? Whereas in the U.S. there are lots of reviews, so even if I got a bad one it would be mixed in with others. Any other thoughts would be most welcome. 

[Anonymous]

@Anne9793  Honestly, the country or language in which you receive a review doesn't make a difference. All of the reviews are visible to everyone regardless of the language. And when language barrier is an issue, Airbnb has auto-translation embedded in the format, and a host who's not observant enough to notice that is probably also not attentive enough to be looking at reviews anyway.

Also, if your review of the host reflected a genuinely positive experience, it's a rather bad look to remove it purely out of revenge. Hosts care not just about the reviews you receive but also the ones you leave; the absence of a reciprocal review in this case only bolsters the notion that the host was correct about you being a disrespectful guest.

[Sarah977]

I assume you left a positive review because your stay was fine. To then have it removed, simply because you didn't like the review you got from the host strikes me as really childish, vindictive behavior.

@Anne9793

[Jessica-and-Henry0]

@Anne9793 

"I really don't think it's that hard to flush the toilet." 

Wow. Totally gobsmacked that someone would actually say this to their host (after check out), whose home you (your children) stayed in. You should make this your new family motto.