Beside myself w lack of response and lack of host support!

[Brook19]

I’m a 5 Star Super Host who takes great pride in customer service and comfort. No issues except one guy left used condoms under his pillow for me to clean up. Abnb insists on honest reviews so that’s what he got. Don’t even know what the ISSUE OR INCIDENT IS but Abnb case manager emails at 2 am saying they r reviewing an incident and to respond quickly w details or I will be cancelled from Abnb. I call three times. I email three times. Nothing. They suspended my account and blocked all open days without telling me WHY!!!!!!!????????? This is my only source of income and they r screwing me up. How can this even be allowed???? Guilty til proven innocent????? Cs reps claim they can’t help. Diff Dept that I can’t contact. I’m stuck in Abnb bull**bleep** hell. Can’t seem to be able to go ABOVE AND BEYOND the people I contacted. Any ideas? It’s totally ruined my mood and my day. Thanks

[Mary996]

Ooooourf @Ann72 ... you bite! First time I've felt bitten by you haha! BUT there is something that I want to explore here.... so I'm going to persist. It might have value. It might be for the bin!!

Maybe @Brook19 will have some feedback from her perspective... 

There is definitely an imperfection in the review system. The retaliatory reviews is a big thing and further to your point about staffing it is taking a while to kick in ... but the principle is there ..thanks to it being picked up by Catherine,  and the source of the suggestion was, I think, our lovely @Cathie19 . (Anyway that's an aside).

Its been stated here that amongst us are people either avoiding giving reviews at all or leaving meaningless brevities or even misrepresentations for unstated reasons possibly having come to deals with wayward guests who then get inflicted onto other unsuspecting hosts. Is there a way to mitigate this?

Just posing the question for now (whilst trying to hone a solution.....!!), as this is getting long. But thinking as we already have staff dedicated to helping find resolutions  I don't think there would necessarily be an extra demand on staff....especially  if we come up with a formula....and also if their services are required it could be meaningful for them to be interceding. And it could be one of us if the Ambassador thing gets traction.

But I'm thinking say taking Brook's case ... she had a guest who had been great per earlier reviews - maybe his neglect wasn't picked up maybe the venues had fantastic cleaners - but he was noticed by Brook and hasn't been allowed to get away with it. THUS for a short period there was a revealing and truthful review in his face that was there for the benefit of prospective other Hosts who might prefer to decline him. Suddenly said guest ....after duly apologising and taking responsibilty for his conduct ... is willing to look at himself.

Brilliant. That's what we want.

BUT THEN ...  

Said guest wants to book another holiday or after a period of reflection and angst realises he may have blown his reputation and decides he wants to retaliate to try and clear his name. So he comes up with some bogus complaint ... and BOOM.... Brook is in the poo. Suspended and going through this agony just for having been honest. (We don't know if this is the causative factor and its just speculation but the fact is that Brook's Listing has been suspended and she is going through it and might never leave another honest review again if this isn't thoroughly dealt with).

So how could things operate in the alternative ... and in this instance possibly?

Well Brook's review pulled up this negligent guest and good thing too. He also apologised and that is to his credit. If there was a further step that allowed the guest to make financial amends wouldn't that be in everyone's best interest?

[Brook19]

His apology seemed genuine. I didn’t respond. Because why. But had he asked, I would have edited the review in a different less damaging way. However, they were terrible guests on all accounts. Anyhoo, that’s a wrap on my end. I don’t like that they can retaliate by reporting a 5 star superhost for some egregious issue. Sour grapes for sure!

[Ann72]

Dear @Mary996 ,

I am sorry I did not get back to you right away about your feeling bitten.  It was a frantic, insane, desperately rushing kind of day.  I'm calling it "Little Fires Everywhere."

I didn't mean to bite you but if you feel bitten that is all that is important.  

I believe the guest is allowed to make financial amends through the Resolution Center.  Guest damages something, host asks to be recompensed for damage through the Resolution Center, guest makes financial amends through the Resolution Center.

Forgive me for not reading the whole middle of the post but see above re: Day.  Now the property manager and my dinner guests are at the door so off I go, but don't feel bitten.  Intention only to set facts straight!

[Mary996]

Oh gosh I'm so sorry to have caused you concern @Ann72 .

I was teasing you ... honestly .... and took no offence. Get those fires out and, only, once you're up to date and feeling relaxed can you be free to philander on here....!!

I'm having a few ideas and essentially I want to get behind other Hosts on the big issues.

[Sarah977]

Being able to revise a review would lead to all manner of shady goings-on. Like a host writes a bad review for a bad guest, the bad guest writes a typical revenge review lying about everything from saying there were no towels and unwashed bedding, to the host racially discriminating against them, then the host and guest make a deal to revise their reviews. Good for that particular host, terrible for any host reading the revised review making it sound like this was a great guest. 

If people write honest reviews, there should never be any reason to regret them.

If a guest causes damage, and is forthcoming right away with payment, since we have 14 days to review, the host can choose not to mention the damage as the guest handled it responsibly, or mention it but say the guest took responsibilty.

If it were accidental damage, I wouldn't mention it, if it was a result of guests just being generally disrespectful, I would. Even if they paid up.

[Linda108]

In all probability the review triggered the Air BNB suspension, @Brook19 , and the feedback you have received about review language is very good. Transparency about "investigations" is not part of the Air BNB process.  It is like when a parent tells the kid to think about what he did wrong and the kid asked what he did wrong and the parent says you know what you did wrong so just think about it...Yeah, it is a bit frustrating.

[Brook19]

Hysterical. Great analogy. Thank u for making me laugh over what is a v frustrating day!

[Dale711]

Hi @Brook19 

You are right,

I agree with you; You’re not alone. I have been there and understand your frustration.

Airbnb was warning me a couple of times about the review guideline and the housing standard.

Since then, I do a simple short review, never mentioned the detail and 1* star category to the  ‘ unwanted’ guest

e.g., ‘Careless , lack of communication and doesn't respect internal rules’ I can't recommend.

Plus * 1 star

[Brook19]

Thank u that’s awesome!!

[Sarah977]

@Brook19  BTW, it's fine to go into all the gritty details of a guest's transgressions here on the forum if you need advice about writing a review or response. It helps other hosts to know what happened so they can offer appropriate advice. Also it's fine to vent here. 

Those sorts of posts are best made in the "Host Circle" section of this forum, which only other hosts have access to. The "Hosting" and "Help" sections are visible to all- hosts and guests alike.

As far as whether Airbnb removes negative reviews, it's not that common. What is more common is that some hosts simply don't leave honest reviews of guests. Some find it emotionally difficult to say anything negative. They liken it to "If you can't say anything nice, don't say anything at all". That's good advice if we're talking about not telling Aunt Jane that the new dress she bought is hideous and unflattering. But that shouldn't apply to reviews, which need to be honest, otherwise reviewing is pointless.

And some hosts will leave low stars but a nice written review, because guests can't see the star ratings you leave. But neither can hosts who don't use IB, so those written reviews are totally misleading for us.

I have also found that if I cross reference reviews, the ones that read "Nice guests" without any real info are usually left by property managers with scores or hundreds of listings. If the guests didn't burn the place down, they get "Nice guests". I totally discount those types of reviews.

[Ann72]

@Brook19  Although I agree with my esteemed fellow hosts @Colleen253 @Linda108 @Sarah977 @Dale711 - I loved your bad review.  The worst thing they did, in my eyes, was have a FedEx delivered without your permission.  That just set the tone for everything else.  Actually would not have needed to hear anything else and, as @Sarah977 intimated, the personal bodily stuff is just part of hosting.

[Brook19]

Lol well said Ann. I was horrified that someone would do that without asking and even worse or dumber, not letting us know! Ur right, it did set the tone and while I intimated what I had to clean I never said half of what I wanted to say. Loud sex. Banging headboard on wall every night leaving the paint marred. I didn’t mention a few other things but I get the point of a different way to say things. I always think before I write and I did here too. U know he messaged me right after he submitted review and left a nice apology for the state of how they left things so I find it hard to believe he made a stink. Do u think when a bad review is written, it is flagged for some Abnb gestapo to check? What a turn off. 

[Ann72]

@Brook19  My God, he just gets worse and worse, doesn't he?  Hideous experience for you.  Hideous experience that would have been a "that's hosting for you" experience if it hadn't been followed up by the Kafkaesque nightmare of being suspended without a word of explanation.  

I don't think that what you wrote would have made Airbnb bat an eye, because I doubt they have enough people or enough bandwidth to prowl reviews unasked, but I do think that the guest freaked out and complained.  What an entitled whiner.  I think Sarah's right and the whole thing will blow over soon, but ugh.  I can't.

I had someone show up early recently and that was bad enough for me to write, "[Guest X] seemed nice enough but needs some Airbnb practice, as she came early without asking and didn’t register the correct number of guests. Like many hosts I’m willing to accommodate guests’ needs but prefer to be asked first."  I braced myself for a complaint but haven't heard a word.  I've decided to continue this practice of appearing to kill them with kindness but wrapping it around a complaint in future because it seems to de-claw them.

It would be fun to come up with a review for your guy:  "[Guest Y]'s nocturnal athleticism is impressive!  His support of FedEx came in handy during his stay, and his madcap disregard for convention - he amusingly substituted the sheets for the garbage can! - is something the rest of us can only aspire to.  A minimalist, he prefers towel racks to be bare of wet towels at all times.  You will love donning a fetching HazMat suit when entering the space upon his departure."

Hoping you get your listing back ASAP!

[Debbie930]

Brilliant!!! 🤣🤣🤣

[Colleen253]

@Ann72 Yessssssssss 👌