@Lizzie
This is all just lip service from Airbnb. We recently had an intensely stressful and upsetting experience where Airbnb gave us, and continues to give us, no support in what was a security breach of our home, with unauthorised people in our home (which we were alerted to by our neighbours). It was an incredibly stressful experience and is ongoing as Airbnb refuses to remove the false guest review with blatant lies and false statements, which can be proven as such by Airbnb communications and external security camera footage already provided to Airbnb.
(**Further detail of the situation is included further down*)
The guest had the audacity to leave a review rating us 1 star for everything (and overall), and stating falsely, amongst other things, that;
- we had yelled abuse at them (false - as proven by the external security camera vision we provided to Airbnb). We were calm at all times and had to ask the guest to lower their voice so as not to disturb neighbours
- that we threatened to call the police as soon as they had 'visitors' (false - we did not raise the matter of contacting police until the following day, many hours after their reservation had already been cancelled *by Airbnb*, it was late afternoon and they were still refusing to leave our home or communicate with us).
At all times we were simply calmly and kindly trying to maintain our clear ‘House Rules’, however the situation escalated solely due to the guests’ aggressive and rude behaviour and repeated breach of ‘House Rules’ when calmly reminded of our ‘house rules’, and being asked to have the unauthorised guests leave. Its also worth noting that the guests, prior to their breach of 'house rules' had, unprompted, complimented us on our 'beautiful home', and noted they were enjoying their stay.
Probably most upsettingly, the guest noted in their review that Airbnb had contacted them after the event to *apologise* to *them* for the experience. We didn't even receive a phone call from Airbnb to check if the guests had actually left our home, despite keeping Airbnb constantly informed as to the situation, and informing them that we had, ultimately, had to call police to assist us in having the guests leave.
I also had to enter into debate with Airbnb as to why we should not be out of pocket for the reservation cancellation when Airbnb wanted to refund the guest for the remaining days of their stay and deduct this from our payout!
The Airbnb representative has now simply told me that they cannot remove the review, case closed. Such a disappointing and stressful experience which has really left a bitter taste. Is this the way Airbnb supports their long-term hosts and stands by their own written policies regarding 'revenge reviews' and false, defamatory statements? A guest can delete their profile and start again any day they choose, with little loss. Airbnb expects that hosts must simply bear the long term impact of false reviews and revenge reviews.
**Further detail:
We were notified by neighbours that our guest had unauthorised/ unknown people inside our building and home due to a noise disturbance coming from our home. Unauthorised guests/ visitors are contrary to our crystal clear House Rules, and very clear messages highlighting this policy to guests *before* we accept a reservation (we really just want every guest to be a good 'match' for our home and vice versa, so they enjoy their stay). After contact from the neighbour we checked our external security camera (clearly noted in our listing) and confirmed that there were unauthorised ppl inside our home. After being asked calmly and kindly (first via Airbnb msg (unanswered), then an attempted phone call (unanswered), and then, later, via our home intercom from the building doorstep) to have the unauthorised ppl leave our home, the guest came outside and yelled at us, told us they could have anyone they wanted in our home "because they paid for it", and again allowed unauthorised ppl back inside our home a second time later the same night. They then simply refused all communication. We were left in a position where confrontational guests with unknown unauthorised people were inside our own home and they were not communicating with us at all. I was in fear for the safety of my home, and my own safety should I try to speak to the guests again.
Airbnb "support" gave us little to no assistance, only agreeing to cancel the guest reservation the following morning, after a stressful, sleepless night and at least 4-5 (!!) phone calls to Airbnb in an attempt to get help/ assistance. We’ve been around the block enough to know that Airbnb would have offered even less support had we cancelled the reservation ourselves, despite having grounds to do so. Airbnb ultimately agreed to cancel the guests' stay, and then turned every assistance to the guest.
After Airbnb cancelled the reservation (and we gave the guests, under pressure from Airbnb’s ‘customer service’ person, until 1pm to depart our home) the guests refused, by written message, to leave until Airbnb found them alternative accomodation. Ultimately, at 3pm, we advised the (non-communicating) guests via Airbnb msg that we would have to call police to assist us with their removal as they had at that time been trespassing in our home for a number of hours and would not even answer the intercom. As a woman, I was not going to enter my own home to confront two combative male guests. We did in fact have to call the police, who were thankfully very understanding and helpful in ensuring the guests left our home.
