Negative review for listing that indicted there is potential for noise in the building.

[Alison564]

Hi all, 

I have received my first 3 star review 😟 from a guest who stayed for one night for business. In her very short review she stated “ It was very clean but the building the suite was in was quite noisy. Sleep was definitely interrupted.” 

There was no communication from the guest during the night or the next morning to indicate there was  problem. It wasn’t until I was able to view the review a day later that I was aware of an issue and there was still no indication or message from the guest to say what type of noise, where it was coming from and when it occurred. 

In the guests private note to me she went on to say she would have liked instructions for the TV, which we thought was fairly easy to operate but I will add to our check in instructions for future guests.  But I received no communication asking for instructions. She went on to say someone had parked in her assigned parking spot and she had to park elsewhere, but there was no message to myself regarding this so she took someone else’s spot with no regard as to where they would park. Then the final complaint was she didn’t know where to dispose of the garbage, this I have clearly stated in my check in instructions which I don’t think she read at all. So all of this and not one single communication from the guest until it is time to leave the review and because she was negligent in reading about the listing and the potential for noise and where the garbage shed is located she leaves a 3 star review.

So I am disputing this with AirBnb and my first AirBnb support person said it doesn’t go against their review guidelines. I have asked to appeal it and it is being looked at their supervisor now. 

I would leave it alone but I received an email stating that receiving a 3 star review puts my listing at risk of being suspended. I was quite upset and told the support person that the guest was negligent in reading the listing notes and the check in instructions. And I don’t think one poorly rated review should have such harsh consequences. It would depend on what led to the review I would think as well. But for my guest to be allowed to negatively rate me for an issue that is being warned about on my listing is unfair I believe. 

Airbnb support said they would get back to me but I don’t feel very hopeful. 

Thanks,

Alison

[Alison564]

I would say it is worth it @Huma0 @to always call or send a message if you feel it is unfair and I don’t let up, I have asked to speak with their supervisor at times and gotten results. 

[Huma0]

@Alison564 

Well, I did mention this to the last CS rep I was dealing with. I made contact about a technical glitch with my Superhost stats, but as part of the conversation, mentioned that I felt that a review from a few months ago was unfair because the guest was complaining about stuff clearly stated on the listing and which he said he was alright with before he booked (in fact, I actually turned down his first booking request because he didn't get back to me in time and only accepted the second request once he had confirmed he was okay with these specific things). 

The rep basically ignored my question. She was totally hopeless anyway. I've decided it's better not to waste time on unhelpful CS reps. My experience has been that if you have a good rep on the line/message thread, even though they might be dealing with some other issue entirely, that you should use it as an opportunity to get other issues resolved. 

They will always ask if there is anything else they can help you with, and that's the time to respond, "Well, yes, actually..." You never know. It's worth a try.

[Huma0]

@Helen744 

Thanks. Yes, I am quite well acquainted with the review and content policies. It's stated clearly in the former that Airbnb doesn't mediate in terms of accuracy, i.e. it doesn't matter if the statements made in the review are true or not.

Before Airbnb added this to the policy, I had had a retaliatory review and the ratings removed for being untrue and unfair. I didn't even ask for it to be to be removed. It was actually his suggestion when he noticed it while helping me with another matter. 

However, since they added this clause to the policy, the CS reps' standard response seems to have been "It does not violate the content policy..." and that it doesn't matter if the content of the review is true or false, it is "the guest's experience".

I think that in @Alison564 's case, it was the combination of the fact that the noise was from elsewhere in the building (beyond the host's control) and that this potential for noise was stated in the listing that made the rep remove it, i.e. it fell under the 'irrelevancy' section. 

When I asked for a review to be removed because the guest claimed that she was not told about something important, when in fact it was stated several times in the listing, plus she was messaged several times about it before booking, plus she admitted after I contacted her following the review that she had not read the listing, the rep didn't care. He did not bother to check the listing or messages, just immediately told me that he couldn't remove it. This was a long time ago now so I wouldn't bother trying again, I was just wondering for future as guests complaining about stuff that's crystal clear in the listing drives me mad!!

I think it is pot luck really and just depends on the rep you get but I guess it's worth a shot.

[Helen744]

@Huma0 I dont know how they can say it does not matter if its true or if  the guest admitted, to not reading the rules, or, the 'description' of your property The guests 'opinion is relevant, but not to the extent the circumstances surrounding it become irrelevant,  and to suggest that the'host', you in this case did not disclose, when it is clearly written in your listing, would I think justify removal of the review.It would come under damaging to the host and irrelevant comment since it had all been covered by the listing. Tricky but not impossible H

[Huma0]

@Helen744 

I agree with you, but the rep did not. He just kept repeating over and over "it doesn't violate the content policy" and "it's the guest's experience" so I gave up. 

Actually, it's not the guest experience, is it? The guest claims to have experienced not being told about something (she had no other complaints) but her actual experience was being told several times and just not bothering to read the information. 

My first action was to contact the guest and tell her I was surprised by the review because it was stated on the listing and in the messages several times. She admitted her mistake and said she would change the review. However, when I explained that she couldn't change it, only ask for it to be removed, she became hostile and said she was on holiday and I shouldn't be bothering her with this.

This was all in the message thread, but the rep wasn't interested in reading that or my listing. Perhaps I should have pushed the point about relevancy, but I could tell I was going to get nowhere with him.