My experience as a guest

[Norma90]

My issue is, why is it that Airbnb is allowed to post bad reviews, about guest and host, without investigating the issue and making sure that it is real? A lot of times stories are made up and posted in order to get back at a host, or a guest, for some issues, or no issues at all. These bad reviews which are not true can be damaging and devastating to others. They can hurt if they are not true. I rented a room from Princess, for almost two weeks. However, i had to cut it short because her home is roach infested. She asked me and tried to bribe me to stay. I refused to stay; she then asked me to return at the end of the week for a refund. In addition to that, she also asked me not to tell Airbnb about the roaches or, write a bad review. Initially, she had no intention of giving me a refund.... i got Airbnb involved. In order to get back at me, she told them that i cut up her pillows and stained her coach. I never sat in her coach, there were cushions and pillows in her coach, i could never sat in them even if i wanted to. I never even eat in her room. She bought fruits for me to sweetened me, i left them in the roach infested fridge. If anyone had told me she would do this, i would say no, not Princess, because she was so sweet to me, even when i was leaving. I am hurting, if host or guest could post lies about a person, then i want no part of this . I certainly will not allow anyone to tarnish my reputation. I have always tried to treat people the way i would like to be treated. I hope that i never have to book an Airbnb again. the whole experience is deplorable. On the other hand, i know that there are some wonderful host and guest out there ...i had met some. Thanks

[Huma0]

@Norma90 

Airbnb states in its review policy that it will not get into disputes about whether a review is true or not. You could try to ask them to remove this review as there was a dispute involved, but I don't think they will as the review is really vague and doesn't say anything that could violate the content policy as far as I can see.

Remember, you can reply to the review if you want to, but if you do, keep it short, factual and unemotional. Do not include anything inflammatory, or mention the resolution dispute/refund issue, as this may get the response removed. My suggestion would be something like:

"I have no idea why Princess would accuse me of being vindictive. I had to leave her airbnb because it was infested with roaches. It was nothing personal, the apartment was simply not fit to stay in."

Also, you said that she was very sweet to you, but then you also say she accused you of non-existent damages. Was that after the review period was over? If not, then you should have left an honest review for her, especially when you were notified that she left a review for you. Did you think after she made those accusations that she would leave you a glowing review? It sounds like after you contacted Airbnb, she was not so sweet after all!

[Norma90]

@Huma0 

Thank you for your suggestions. So far i have not read her review ... even though Airbnb told me in an email that she wrote a review. I am trying to keep stress out of my life. She was nice to me in order to keep me quiet, to keep me from telling others about the roaches. I did wrote an honest review, i do not tell lies about others. Everything that i said is true.

[Huma0 · Accepted solution]

@Norma90 

Mmm, okay. This is mysterious. Your review does not appear on Princess's profile, so I assumed you did not leave one. Perhaps she was able to successfully have it removed because there was something in it that she convinced Airbnb violated their review or content policy.

At the same time, she currently has no active listings, so perhaps she deleted her listing due to your bad review or Airbnb suspended or delisted it, but your review would still show on her own profile, so none of it makes sense. Anyway, it seems that by leaving an honest review, perhaps you have had some impact and other guests will not suffer the same and that is a good thing. 

Her review for you does not say anything very specific and does not mention any of the accusations she threw at you. However, it is still not positive and it might not be a bad idea to contact Airbnb and ask them to remove it. If they did delist her due to your complaint, it would be reasonable for you to ask that it be removed (the ratings too so that those don't affect you either).

If that doesn't work, you can still respond to her review explaining the situation so that future hosts can see that she was the problem. Like I said, if you decide to do this, keep it short and unemotional.

However, I do understand why you do not want the extra stress. If you decide to do nothing, I think you will be okay as you have other nice reviews. However, I sense that this is stressing you, otherwise you wouldn't have posted about it here.