Big news: You can get your published reviews removed!

[Gianluca26]

After 7 years and hundreds of guests today I learnt a new trick that is against Airbnb terms but customer support confirmed that do it often so I want to share it with you so you can take advantage.

What happened: had a guest who left marks all over the walls and damaged towels (holes). I left a 4 start reviews for her mentioning that she was a good guest but she could pay more attention. She agreed with me and I got a 5 star reviews so I didn't even ask a penny for the additional cleaning and the towels.

A few days later she then contacted Airbnb asking to remove the review she left on my profile in retaliation for receiving 4 stars from me. At this point both reviews were published so according to the rules reviews couldn't be edited or removed.

Airbnb customer support contacted me saying that "whenever an author asks them to remove content from their website they must comply with and that includes reviews".

Astonished I contacted a second agent and he confirmed that they do this often. Best part was when the Airbnb customer support agent agreed with me saying that their review system is rigged!

[Colleen253]

Reviews can’t be edited after publication, but they can be removed. Indeed, the author has the right to request removal of any of their own content. It’s a different story if you ask for removal of something authored by someone else. 

https://www.airbnb.ca/help/article/13

https://www.airbnb.ca/help/article/2673/airbnbs-review-policy

[Gianluca26]

Blablasblas

[Colleen253]

@Gianluca26 Yes, I know that, it’s just not as easy. But definitely, if a review written about you violates the review or content policy, it can be removed at your request. 

[Gianluca26]

No, it doesn't need to violate any of the review or content policy

[Sarah977]

@Gianluca26  You haven't understood Colleen's responses. 

A user can have their own review that they have written removed and it doesn't have to violate policy. 

But to request that a review left for you be removed, you have to convince customer service that it violates some aspect of the review policy.

And I don't know of anywhere in Airbnb's policies that states that asking to have your own review removed is against any terms.

I do agree, however, that a user asking to have their review removed in retaliation for the review they were left that they didn:t happen to like, is a nasty and childish thing to do.

[Gianluca26]

@Sarah977  @Emiel1 @Colleen253 You don't need to convince them, there is a loophole Airbnb has been aware of for years and they never solved it and this is a 100BN public company.

[Katrina79]

@Gianluca26interesting, I’m going to try it! 

[Colleen253]

@Gianluca26 

Not so sure it’s the case that reviews and responses are inextricably linked like that. Hosts and guests who regret their hasty and unfortunate responses have asked for those responses to be removed. AFAIK, the reviews remain once the responses are gone. 

[Huma0]

@Gianluca26 

I don't think you have understood. This isn't a loophole and it's nothing new. A host or guest has always been able to ask for the review they wrote to be removed. At least, I have known this for a few years, so it's definitely not a new policy and there's nothing to be 'solved'.

Just the other day, a review/ratings from a recent guest were removed, but only because the guest herself requested it. I spoke to several Airbnb CS reps about this particular review and all of them told me the same thing, i.e. that they could not remove the review on my request. The author (guest) must request it: 

So, again, it's not a loophole, nor a trick. It's policy and has been for a while.

It does not make any difference if you are asking for someone else's review to be removed. In that case, the review has to violate Airbnb's review or content policy. There's no way around that.

[Carol--Pie-0]

Yes, I had a guest who checked in and checked out on the same day without any explanation. I called the guest to find out what the issue was. No response. Nothing! So I thought maybe there was a death in the family or husband or child who was with them took sick. I rushed to the space and found that they did enjoy the delicious chocolate we provide for guests. Lo and behold, the guest posted a terrible review. I then attempted to call the guest second time with no success.  Then I called the Abnb Help Center to have the review removed. The review was removed due to the guest refusing to respond to host and not following Abnb policy.  

[Peter1854]

I am a host with 2 properties,   I also have a partner that is a  airbnb guest. She stayed at property in Malibu California, after checking in, her daughter tried to take a bath, when she turned on the hot water,  the handle fell off into her hands the hot water and spewed out at high pressure. we have video of the issue, she did nothing wrong, the valve was very worn and broke with the simple use of turn it on. She called host right away for help, no reply and was panicked, so she called me and after 20 minutes we were lucky to find the main water shut off valve and turned all water off to the house.   My partner got a call later from hose, asked the host to fix the problem, but did nothing. She them told host that she wanted to be credited for the one day, host did nothing, so she said she would leave a negative review, which she did the host left a horrible 1 star review for her.  Now no one will rent to her because of the review.  This seems totally unfair do you know how this could be fixed, that is remove the negative review for her as a renter?

[Sarah977]

@Peter1854  While it's certainly wrong that the host was not responsive to the issue, your partner did something which is totally against Airbnb policy- she attempted to extort the host by saying she would leave a bad review if he didn't refund her. That  isn't okay, to threaten like that. 

She should have phoned Airbnb to report the issue and they would have likely made sure she got some sort of refund. But she blew it by not following stated policy that when a host is not responsive, the next step is to contact Airbnb, and should never have tried to extort the host in exchange for not leaving a bad review. Reviews are not currency to exchange for money.

[Peter1854]

Yes, you are correct in that statement, I do agree with that premise, she should not have threatened with the negative review, I said the same to her. 

not to excuse it, but she was frustrated with lack of response from Host.

That said , is her account burned for life?  with the 1 star rating , she can't rent anything. do you know If there anything she can do to appeal to Airbnb on this 1 star rating?

Thanks,

Peter

[Emiel1]

@Gianluca26

There is no "big news" here.

On request Airbnb will always remove a published review when written by the requester himself.