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!

[Helen427]

Privacy Laws permit for people to have the right to be forgotten, including online.

There's many laws that lurk where Cross Border regulations are to be factored into account also.

Thanks @Gianluca26 

[Traci170]

I had guest give me rave five star review but she only filled in one star.  She being older thought that was what she had to do to write a review.  It really hurt me as far as ratings ...hoping people  will read what she wrote but hate when my property comes up it has a one star

[Sarah977]

@Traci170  Users can ask that their own review be removed. If she misunderstood the star ratings, and you have explained to her that she destroyed your rating by accident, and that it will seriously damage your business, ask her if she would contact Airbnb and explain what happpened and ask that they remove it. It can't be changed, but it can be removed entirely- you'll lose the written review as well as the rating, but in this case that's your best option.

[Pat271]

This is eye-opening…I never knew that self-authored published reviews were so easy to get removed.

It brought to mind a booking request I once got, from a man who had reviewed 2 or 3 hosts from previous stays. In one of the reviews, he complained that the noise rules at the complex pool were enforced too regularly. He also complained that in the unit, he could hear people walking around upstairs, and said he even knocked on their door to ask them to tip-toe around the house more quietly.

I denied his request to book and suggested to him that our place was not a good fit, as our complex pool rules are also enforced regularly, and we also have residents above our unit that might walk around.

So now I understand that to avoid getting his requests thwarted in the future, this guest could have gotten his own review removed, in which case I would have never recognized that he was not a good match for my place. That would have been unfortunate for both of us.

After thinking about it, though, I can understand from a legality and privacy point of view that one should be allowed to remove one’s own content from the web.  

[Traci170]

Oh goodness I hope guest can not get their reviews removed...I base my acceptance off ones I can read.  I had one girl that was such a liar and had tried to sublet the other room while she was staying during height of season.  She had reserved for two people and tried to have three more and make $$$$$

[Traci170]

Having a guest for six weeks...already getting a discount...I will for sure supply tp and paper towels and such enough for time..but can I just start them off with laundry and dish/dishwasher soap or do I need supply for entire stay.  ALSO what do people do about service animals...She had asked if I take dogs when made reservation and I said no..but if did...need big deposit that I would FULLY refund if no problems and additional 50 toward cleaning dog hair etc...she than said "never mind won't bring"....now she is in route and heard dog bark and she says she has service dog...airbnb says I can get fined if tell her no....how can this be???

I love dogs but feel duped...

[Huma0]

@Traci170 

This is a thread about having reviews removed.

There are many others threads on here (including a lot of recent ones) about service animals. Just type 'service animals' or 'guest brought dog/s' and you will find plenty of discussion on the topic!

Here are a few for starters:

https://community.withairbnb.com/t5/Hosting/Service-animals/m-p/426956

https://community.withairbnb.com/t5/Help/Dogs-House-Rules-service-animal/m-p/1387400

https://community.withairbnb.com/t5/Help/Is-a-quot-Emotional-Support-Dog-quot-a-service-animal/m-p/2...

Likewise, there are threads about what supplies hosts provide.

[Segun12]

You don’t need to provide supplies for the entire stay, just enough to start them off. For the service animal you should ask to see the dog papers because all service dogs are registered so as to be sure she isn’t lying about it being a service dog.

[Laura2592]

@Gianluca26 a guest removed a 5 star review from me around this time last year because I called her out (nicely) for not following house rules and bringing a bunch of additional people to my cottage. She was so nasty and upset by my gentle but honest review she told me she was immediately having her review for me removed.  And I noticed it was gone a few weeks later. No big loss. But yes, this is possible.  And often guests use it to retaliate.