Reviews loophole - mental health concern for refunded guest

[Kim2654]

I booked a 30 night stay in a room in an apartment with the owner and their partner. Room was listed as 'private'.

On getting to the 2 bedroom apartment, 1 room was booked to a young foreign couple with little spoken english and the other room to me. The 'owner' (never saw a partner) essentially squatted in his lounge for 9 of my 10 nights. He would go in my room when I wasn't there (I'd notice things had moved and/or felt he'd been in there) and every other day he'd either be asking for access to my private room. On day 10 (I'd normally not be there) he attempted entering my room, unannounced. I was naked. 

I contacted AirBnB requesting a refund. They reviewed the case and gave me a full refund. I thought that was it...

The host decided to write a review on me. Full of half truths, some lies and stated AirBnB backed him and gave me no refund. I have found this very distressing. 

I contacted AirBnB, fuming, that a bad host could review me but apparently he can. 

AirBnB's policy on this needs to include,  if AirBnB deem a host has wronged a guest, the host cannot write a review on the guest. How or who can I escalate this to? I am mortified that AirBnB can allow his comments about me to remain on my profile page when I wanted nothing to do with the man. Also, I had to review him to enable to see what he'd written about me to ascertain whether I should report his message. With so much talk around mental health and cyber bullying these days, I'm flabbergasted this can actually happen. I wanted to move forward, now I've had to read his bull**bleep** review of me and it also needs to remain there - forever - because that's his version of events. This is not right. Can anyone help?

[Mike-And-Jane0]

@Kim2654 As a host please believe me when I say the review system is equally dire for hosts. It would be so simple to stop revenge reviews but Airbnb don't seem interested. 

Do please put this behind you and move on. You have refuted his allegations (calmly and sensibly) and more importantly YOU know the truth of what transpired. 

[Anonymous]

@Kim2654  I can understand why you chose to end your stay early; I also wouldn't be comfortable with the host barging into the room unannounced. The Terms of Service (2.3) do allow the host to enter the rented space during the stay, but it's a real transgression of hosting norms to do so without notice, and when you have shared spaces such as bathrooms there's a certain etiquette around knocking - especially when the door doesn't have a lock.  

As far as reviews are concerned, all stays are eligible for host and guest reviews unless they're cancelled before the check-in date. Many hosts also wish that guests could be blocked from reviewing them if they broke the rules or caused damage, but this is not the policy. It's pretty rare for a review to be removed, so if you plan to continue using Airbnb, your best defense against claims you feel are inaccurate is to correct them in a Review Response with your future hosts in mind as the audience.  Notably, most other rental platforms don't feature reviews of guests or include properties with live-in hosts, so you might decide that one of the others suits you better in the future. Or, perhaps next time you might consider avoiding listings that have 0 reviews, because a new listing is a work in progress - it's hard to know whether it's deliberately misleading or just unrefined.

As for the refund, it's entirely possible that Airbnb granted you a 100% refund at least partially out of pocket while also letting the host keep his payout for the time you stayed. The Guest Refund Policy does not say you get to stay somewhere 10 days for free - it's supposed to only apply to unused nights. So it could well be the case that you both "won" the refund dispute. In this case, nothing in the host's review is demonstrably false. While it's unflattering, it's still useful to future hosts trying to make an educated decision about whether to accept your request. 

[Helen350]

Fantastic @Anonymous ! - Spot on! - Particularly the last line.😉😂

[Sarah977]

@Kim2654  I'm sorry you had such an uncomfortable situation. This host doesn't get it at all and totally disrespected your privacy. If he's going to rent out his bedroom he needs to remove the personal things he needs before a guest occupies the room.

But when you encounter a situation at an Airbnb that isn't acceptable, you need to contact Airbnb and cancel and leave. Continuing to stay, using utilities, towels, bedding, etc and then asking for a refund after the fact isn't okay. That's like buying a dress, wearing it for 10 days, then returning it expecting to get your money back.

Re reviews: You do not need to write a review in order to see the review the host has left. All reviews are published 14 days after check out, if only one party left a review.

Don't fret over that review. His review of you, as another host reading it, just made me think that he has no idea about respecting a guest's privacy and your response gives your side of things. You have really good reviews aside from that one and I think most hosts would just disregard the outlier.

As others pointed out, Airbnb lets lying, misleading reviews stand whether they are written by guests or hosts. I kind of get it, as it's just one person's word against the other- no one else can know who is telling the truth. But it's one of the things users get quite upset about, both hosts and guests.

[John5097]

@Kim2654 

I think your distress over this situation is justified and hope your case can be escalated to someone in a position to review. I find you to be very credible and accurate, and think having the host review removed would be the right thin to do. The host misrepresented the listing that led to an egregious invasion of privacy. You may also consider seeking legal advice. 

[Kim2654]

Thanks @John5097 

I'm really surprised AirBnB would choose to give me a full refund (I expected to pay for my 10 nights so I thought AirBnB were amazing for this) only to tell him they agreed I was in the wrong (AirBnB confirmed I was paid from a 'slush fund' so he just got a slap on the wrist) then their systems automatically allow him to review me. AirBnB did understand where I was coming from.

If AirBnB choose to refund a guest in full (even after 10 nights) I feel like they have already agreed the host is in the wrong so they should click a button that does not allow either party to comment or contact one another. I feel like this could really trigger a mentally unstable person. I will try to have this system change happen

[Sarah977]

@Kim2654  Airbnb issuing refunds really has nothing to do with them deciding that one person was right and the other wrong. It has to do with damage control. They normally try to accommidate guests as much as possible, because they want you to continue to book through Airbnb.

You wrote an honest review of what happened during your stay, which will make a lot of guests wary of booking this listing, so the host didn't just get off with a slap on the wrist. 

Also, Airbnb could very possibly have given this host a warning about respecting the privacy of his guests, but they won't share that information with you, just as they won't share their dealings with guests with the host.

[Dixie7]

Spot on Sarah. I think it's misrepresentation of the accommodation by the host to advertise a "Private Room" when in fact it was a room that he needed access to for his personal belongings. I probably wouldn't have lasted 10 minutes if I'd book this private space and found I would be sharing it with the host. Looking at the host's listing, I've got a feeling Airbnb have had a few words with him. 

[John5097]

@Kim2654 
You are quite welcome! I think however you decide to proceed is your choice.

To recap: 

1) You booked 30 day reservation for private room.  

2) Listing description was that host had their own room.

3) Host slept on the common area in the living room. 
4) Host kept seeking access almost daily for his own personal belongings, with and without your consent, until he finally walked in on you undressed on day 10. 
5) On day 10 you cut your 30 day trip short over host invading your private space. 
6) You did not expect refund for the nights you stayed. You just wanted out and away from this situation, and away from this host. 
7) Airbnb issued you full refund. You thought that wold be the end of it but now the host has the nerve to post dishonest review about you. 
8)Now you are distressed and want his review removed. 

By the way I agree that your review and response is very credible, but I can also understand how awkward or embarrassing that would be for you for future bookings. You asked and had no  agreement to have host walk in on you. 

I think this would need to be reviewed by a second level support, but I'm not sure how to go about that. 

At this point its your choice on how to proceed. You could keep trying to have your case escalated. You could seek legal advice. You may decide any more would be a waste of time. I suggested seeking legal advice because I don't know what the burden of proof might be. I wish I could help more. At some point you feel you have done the best you could. 

[Kim2654]

Thanks for recap @John5097 😊

In my emotional state, I forgot to note that I wanted AirBnB to review their policy with reviews. Neither party should be able to review if one party has been issued a full refund. It's just inflammatory and makes an awful experience even more awful. 

[Mary996]

Your counter Review is cracking! You issue a much needed caution and the benefit of seeing what he says, against your account, is that you fully expose him.  If I was considering his place I would be warned off and so grateful to you!

[Mary996]

Its working. In this respect the system is actually working. Plus you may have a cause of action against that man if you can be bothered (I would not describe him as a Host and if you wanted to persue it you may have grounds to see him removed from Hosting) .

But please know that you have done a wonderful thing and thank you very much whatever you decide to do, even if nothing further (you have already done a lot), I hope you will celebrate and I raise my glass to you!!

[Helen350]

@John5097 I disagree! I find the guest's review over the top & hysterical. It would be wrong to remove a successful experienced host for an honest mistake. 'Legal advice' would be petty, malicious & vindictive. It was the host's OWN HOME for goodness sake! - Better suited to a hotel!

[Helen3]

Regularly accessing a room which is meant to be solely for the guests use and the host sleeping in the communal lounge for the duration of the guests stay when this is not made clear in the listing is not a one off mistake @Helen350 

It sounds like a hosts putting money before the comfort of his guests and a host who clearly isn't abiding for any of the Airbnb guidance around Covid in terms of social distancing, cleanliness etc @