Guest cancels same day, threatens legal action to get a full refund, and AirBnB invites them to leave a review???

[Fiona725]

Hi

We've been offering a small self-contained unit as short-term accommodation for 12 years, and are usually fully booked.

This week a guest arrived, decided they didn't want to stay, accused us of all kinds of illegal practices such as false advertising, and threatened three times within an hour to take legal action against us if we did not provide an immediate full refund (this is before AirBnB had even sent us the payment).

I fully refunded them the same day.

Now AirBnB have invited them (and me) to leave a review, despite the fact that they never stayed with us, and I am concerned that someone who is in the frame of mind this person seems to be will leave an untruthful negative review.

Is there anything I can do about this?

[Linda108]

Yes those same day cancelling guests can leave a review.  I see you have many very positive reviews.  If the review violates the Air BNB content policy, it can be removed.  However, many times someone's opinion can be negative and untrue but not removable.  Just write a professional and short response that clarifies the guest did not stay and was refunded.  

[Anonymous]

@Fiona725  You can't prevent the guest from leaving a review. All stays canceled on or after the check in date are eligible for reviews, and actually Airbnb is required by law in several countries including the UK to allow this (mostly to prevent the tactics the guests accused you of). 

Even though the guests didn't stay, I still recommend writing a short review noting their threatening behavior and tapping thumbs down on "would host again."