Removing a bad review after Guest throws a party and breaks rules

[Paige12]

We are besides ourselves in disappointment and frustration after having tried over and over again to get Airbnb to remove a bad review which was posted by a recent guest who was upset about us having intervened after he threw a party with approximately 25 people breaking both Airbnb's own No Party Rules and our own. We get passed from one Airbnb rep to another with no success and regardless of getting turned down we get no explanation as to why they are ignoring their own policy for reviews by guests who do either of those things to be subject for removal.   It's really outrageous.

[Colleen253]

@Paige12 The language they used in that policy leaves the door open just wide enough for them to be able to deny the hosts who complain and try to have a review removed. I'm not sure anyone to date has been successful getting a review removed under it. The creation of that policy was just another lame attempt to appear as though they were doing something positive for hosts. The reality of it is just another in a long string of disappointments. 

[Paige12]

It's really outrageous.

[Elaine701]

Sorry to hear of this (again). We've been down that road too many times, and have been forced to take matters into our own hands. 

Another problem is that the (outsourced) support people are rather clueless and perhaps more significantly, under pressure from their paymasters to process as many cases per day as possible. They may even be incentivised to process a minimum number of cases per hour or day, which is probably not small. The easiest thing for them to do is just to say no, case closed, and move on to the next case, which keeps their numbers up. 

Broken record: Prevention is the best cure. Unfortunately, vetting guests, and scaring them away before they book is >your< problem. Airbnb isn't going to help. Watch your back. 

Sorry. I do feel your pain. 

[Paige12]

@Elaine701If you knew how thoroughly we vet our guests you would be flabbergasted. Two legal pages worth of questions and acknowledgements in our Application then 6 more (legal size) pages of Reservation Agreement terms and conditions. We even added a cover page recently explaining additional expectations and the importance of being honest in our application because those who have plans to do things they know are not allowed, lie on the application thinking they can get away with them after the fact.

[Elaine701]

@Paige12 

I'm impressed!

We are now receiving lots of inquiries, mainly from no profile, no history guests. So, we also ask a lot of questions, many "leading" questions to try to evaluate what their real intentions are. If they seem to be hiding something, etc. I am now declining or scaring away nearly half of them! 

But they still slip through the gauntlet occasionally. And so, we really do feel your pain. 

Airbnb is useless in these cases. We've begun demanding a real security deposit from high risk guests, which seem to either scare them away, or they pay it and behave themselves. So far it's working, but I'm under no illusions. 

Hopefully, you scare away the worst of them, but sorry you had to suffer this one. Hopefully, it's the last 🙂

[Mike-And-Jane0]

@Paige12 I can't see a bad review - Did you succeed in getting it removed?

[Paige12]

It's from a previous guest named Edward who stayed in May in this listing of ours: https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/4033666?preview_for_ml=true&source_impression_id=p3_1621282907_0%2FssZe...

And although it wasn't a very bad review, it was a short comment about "feeling under surveillance" because the owner lives on site (meaning in one of the three units at the Villa we operate). I do regret posted a very lengthy reply but at the time I felt it important to try to convey to readers that it's a great asset having onsite management to be available when needed/ desired. It's actually our policy to stay out of people's hair unless they need us and this particular guest requested help on many occasions during his short 4 night stay but then grew angry during his stay over two incidents one when after asking to borrow some fishing poles the owner overheard him and some of his group talking about other friends coming to stay so the owner polity confirmed that they were having others not previously paid for stay and mentioned that there are additional charges. The second incident was the owner having to ask them to take a loud, rowdy party elsewhere after one erupted at the property even-though everyone is required to agree to our no party rules prior to being accepted.

[Mike-And-Jane0]

@Paige12 Was the stay/review before or after the party policy review change? If it was after did you actually report the party to Airbnb at the time? 

[Paige12]

The review was posted recently and the Airbnb anti party policy was created months ago. We reported the party just after we broke it up and it was confirmed after we requested an email confirmation by the representative we spoke to but this and lots of other evidence is completely being ignored by Airbnb.

[Colleen253]

@Paige12 The guest “Edward”, for whom you left a good review? Maybe that was the problem.  Perhaps it was hard for anyone to believe you had a problem with the guest when you left them a great review….

[Paige12]

That maybe part of the issue. Other than the main (party) incident, they were relatively good guests and we tend to go easy on our guests regardless but considering we documented the party, we shouldn't be having the problem that we are with this.  We gave him a low rating on following house rules.

[Colleen253]

@Paige12 Not sure I agree that a guest who threw an unauthorized party with 25 people is a good guest in any way shape or form. That sums them up and all I need to know, right there. By all means, if you must be 'easy' on a guest in a review, go ahead and say something nice, but at the very least mention what they did wrong as well. Many hosts don't use Instant Book and aren't privvy to guest star ratings (not that they tell much of the story anyway). Other hosts need to know what this guest got up to.

[Inna22]

@Paige12 the language of this review is consistent with many others are saying. Did he leave low stars as well? If not, just move on.

Unsolicited advise if I may... keep your responses very short. Something along the lines of "the guest had an unauthorized gathering of 25 people and was asked to leave" is to the point and explains the review. I did not even bother to read your response when I saw how long it was

Having said that, I was truly hoping this new policy will give me a little more freedom to deal with the parties. My houses are a magnet for those trying to throw one due to size and location. Its a shame that nothing has changed

[Sarah977]

@Catherine-Powell  Why did you make an announcement about hosts being able to have revenge reviews removed from guests who throw parties, when that is clearly not the case?