HELP! Discriminatory review, clearly in violation of Airbnb's content policy, being ignored by Airbnb

[David1200]

I have been a part of Airbnb for over 3 years, hosted over 700 guests, and have nearly 500 reviews. For the first time ever, I have had to reach out to Airbnb customer service due to guest review. The review that was left that was not only a completely false, revenge review that was a result of a request for damages caused by the guest. But the review is extremely discriminatory and clearly violates Airbnb's content policy. The guest used the word "racist and pervert". To give a bit of a back store. Approximately 2 weeks prior, an Airbnb guest broke a glass shower door, Airbnb covered the damaged under the host guarantee. As a result I had to have a contractor replace the shower glass, the shower glass was custom and had be ordered and delivered to the house. Now to get back to the reservation with with the false discriminatory review. The shower glass was delivered to the property minutes before the guest's check-in, I was notified and immediately reached out to the guest checking in to let them know, and ask if it would be ok if I stopped by within the next 30 minutes to move the heavy and fragile glass off the front stoop and out of their way. The guest said of course no problem at all. So I did just that. I was there 30 minutes after communicating with them, moved the package into the backyard into the shed, and unpackaged the door (as I had to confirm with the courier there was no damage within 24 hours). While unpacking the husband of the guest came out and started chatting with me, complimented the property on how beautifully renovated and asking if he could help in anyway. I thanked him for his kind words and replied that if it he and his wife didn't mind, it would be helpful if I could take a quick measurement of the shower the glass was intended to be place in, to confirm the door dimensions were correct. He replied "of course not please feel free." I was in and out of the property in 30 seconds and left. Fast forward to checkout. The place was left in a disastrous state and between the stained rugs, linens, broken decor, and additional cleaning costs the guest had caused $500 of damages and additional cleaning costs. Per Airbnb's policy I had to notify the guest of the damages and initiate a claim before the next check in. The guest retaliates with a 1 star review accusing me of being a racist perve. I am a white male, the guests were an African American couple. Here is the review "I would not recommend this place at all . The host was very intrusive ! He came by the property while my family & I were there to do “measurements “ & was in the backyard for a prolonged period of time . Instead of waiting until my family & I checked out to do any “work “that needed to be done he lingered around the house .. it was very creepy & very inappropriate. I assume that he was being racist or he was being a perv .. either way I would not come again to find out ."

I am making this post as I have had an open case on this matter for nearly a month and after 4 calls to customer service and over 6 hours on calls/ hold. I continue to be told the department handling this will reach out to me, no one at Airbnb has responded to any of my numerous emails or even sent me an email to acknowledge the case is being reviewed. I have spoke to Airbnb representatives, Autumn, Ana, Anne, Varun, and Puja K. None of them have connected me with the department reviewing this case or done anything more than state "they will note our conversation and escalate it to the proper department." NOTHING HAPPENS! As you can imagine beyond a 1 star review being damaging to my ranking system and superhost status. The false verbiage of this review is extremely damaging to both my business and me personally. 

The case numbers I have been told that are open are 888701621 and 89110528.

Hosts, any advise you may have about how to get Airbnb's attention would be appreciated!

It's clear to me Airbnb has been grossly negligent in there lack of response to this issue. I don't know what else to do other than have my lawyer begin the process of filing a defamation of character suit against Airbnb for allowing this content to remain on their site.

Thanks in advance for any help or insight any of you can provide. Hopefully this post will get the attention of someone at Airbnb.

David

[Debra300]

@David1200,

It is very unfortunate that these events have transpired.  I know that it must be very frustrating.  Thankfully, you still have a stellar overall rating.

You are a seasoned host, and probably aware of this already, but you should always follow up any phone/text/email communication with a guest with a recap message sent on the Airbnb message system.  Something like, "XX, I really appreciate that you let me come by to unpack my shower door, and confirm the measurements in the house.  I really appreciated your offer to help, but thankfully I was in and out in just five minutes.  Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions or issues.  Enjoy your stay."

[David1200]

@Debra300 

That is great advice, I typically do send follow ups but this is a situation when its helpful to create that dialogue.

Any thoughts on ways to start a claim but not open yourself up to a revenge review like this?

[Lisa723]

@David1200 some people report success getting Airbnb's attention on Twitter and Facebook. Regarding how to start a claim without triggering a revenge review: it's difficult. You can post your own review right away and hope this prompts the guest to post their own review before the claim filing deadline. 

[David1200]

@Lisa723 

Thank you for the ideas on getting Airbnb's attention through FB or Twitter.

[Debra300]

@David1200,

Based upon my own experience, and those shared by other hosts here in the community, I recommend sending a follow up Airbnb message for even innocuous phone/text chats, and emails.  You can always pose the message as a means to ensure that the guest's questions have been answered or issues have been resolved.  For example,

"Hi XX, I just want to make sure that your questions were answered during our phone conversation from earlier today/a few minutes ago. In regards to your question if guests are allowed to do XX XXXX, yes you may as long as you (include guidelines)/no you may not, because (include reasons).  

You also asked about XX XX.  I am not sure, but I will check and provide an update on what I've found out by (include date or time). 

Please feel free to contact me here on Airbnb if you have any additional questions."

As @Lisa723 stated, it's difficult to raise a claim and avoid a retaliatory review.  If you try to wait until after the guest leaves a review, it may be on the 14th day, and you could possibly miss your opportunity to leave your own honest/factual review and submit claim.  In my opinion, hosts should only submit claims that they think have a legitimate chance for reimbursement, because Airbnb doesn't make it easy.  This is another reason why the Airbnb message system should always be the primary form of guest-host communication, because if a guest admits to any wrong-doing it's captured and visible by Airbnb staff.

[Mike-And-Jane0]

@David1200 Hopefully the fact you have been called a racist and pervert will help here. the review policy clearly states:

To keep reviews relevant, we recommend avoiding the following:

• Commentary about a person’s social, political or religious views
• Profanity, name calling, and assumptions about a person’s character or personality
• Content that refers to circumstances entirely outside of another’s control
• Content about services not related to Airbnb (ex. an airline, rideshare, restaurant, etc)
• Commentary about past Airbnb reservations, hosts, or guests, or about the Airbnb product where it does not relate to the listing, host or guest you are rating

When we receive a report of a review that violates this policy, we may remove the review from our platform. Repeated violations may lead to suspension or permanent deactivation of responsible account(s).

So the bit I have added in italics SHOULD get the review removed.

It is one of the biggest issues with Airbnb that hosts have to claim for damage before the next guest checks in and so this inevitably generates a retaliatory review. @Lizzie @Quincy @Katie It would be simple to allow a review to be suspended and then removed IF a host claim for damages was successful - Why can't Airbnb at least try to make it fair for hosts?

[Dave52]

@Mike-And-Jane0  I Agree 100% with you, IF a host makes a credible claim for reimbursement for a damages including the proper documentation, this should block the guest from submitting any review.  This way, retaliatory reviews are blocked.  It should be automatic and coded into the system because as we all know, it is currently impossible to contact airbnb CS.

[David1200]

@Mike-And-Jane0 

Exactly the verbiage of the review policy that should make this removal cut and dry. The review/ claim timeline and process is definitely an issue, no good way for a host to avoid retaliation reviews.

@Dave52 

You are 100% correct, you might as well just take the damages as a loss. Better than a bad review in most cases.

[Dave52]

Have had one case of a "retaliatory review", but this was pre-COVID when somebody was "at home" at airbnb CS.  I was able to get the review removed after a week or so because it was clearly off-topic and irrelevant to my space or hosting.   This seems to be the case with yours.  Yet I cannot imagine trying to get a retaliatory review removed now, nobody is at home at airbnb to do it, and they are the only ones who can do it.  It puts hosts in a tough spot, lately I've considered never asking a guest to cover damages because they will likely write a bad review out of spite and this might cost me more.  As you say, a 1-star review can hurt future bookings and your Superhost rating.  I think airbnb should address this growing problem as it hurts the integrity of the platform to have inaccurate (retaliatory) reviews.

[Katie]

Hi @Mike-And-Jane0, thanks for the tag, and your feedback here.

@David1200 I'm so sorry to hear about the issue you've got with the review - very frustrating. I've just sent you a DM so take a look when you get a minute. 

[David1200]

Wow! Kai with Airbnb FINALLY just got back with me stating that she did not see any violations of Airbnb's content or review policy's. What is she reading!?!? This has got to be the most blatant violation out there! This is extremely concerning, it took 2 months for anyone to get back to me, and the representative doesn't even seem to be native English speaker or even fluent, given the number of grammatical errors in her response... COME ON AIRBNB!!! Go to batt for your hosts for once!!

Here is her response:

"Hi David,

Thank you for reaching out to us about the review that was left for you by Charli for the reservation HM3JTDSCMB.

Airbnb’s review policy guides hosts and guests to write reviews which are relevant and will help our community make informed booking decisions. We examined the content of this review, but we did not identify any violations of our policy. For this reason, we are unable to remove the review from the Airbnb website.

For your reference, here’s a link to the review policy:
www.airbnb.com/help/article/2673

Hosts/Guests always have 14 days to leave a review after a completed trip.
We close the review period after 14 days because we want people to write reviews while the trip experience is fresh in their mind. Also, to keep it truthful and clear, we are not allowing to host or guest to edit it once it goes on public on Airbnb community.

I noticed that you have been a wonderful host and 425 of 5 stars of reviews. I am sure that your future guests will take you are great host and guest.

I understand that this is not your desired outcome, and I am so sorry that I cannot assist you on this further.

Sincerely wish you could only have delightful experience with us for the next time.

Best regards,
Kai"