Strict Cancellation leads to Bad Review

[Lesley62]

After 9 season of hosting with AirBnB, we encountered a situation where a guest reserved a space for a month's stay. The guest arrived, didn't like the place and left but did not qualify for a refund. The guest was, however, allowed to leave a review. As you might imagine, the guest was unhappy about the refund policy, but left a bad review based on imaginary complaints.

Question: Why is the the policy? It pretty much guarantees that if a host follows the refund policy, the guest will be unhappy, and the review will be bad. Why in the world would I want to continue as a host under these unfair circumstances?

[Colleen253]

@Lesley62 It's by design. Airbnb hopes that hosts will live in such fear of a retaliatory bad review that they will throw money at the guest. Guest and Airbnb win. Host loses (either way, mind).

Anyway, so sorry you got stung in this way. But your track record speaks for itself (as you mentioned in your great response). It's obvious that the claims are fictitious. Future guests will clearly see that. You may be able to get the review removed though,  if you are persistent, and are willing to go through enough inept service ambassadors to hit on one who is competent. The review calls you a hoarder, which could be grounds for removal.

https://www.airbnb.ca/help/article/2673/airbnbs-review-policy

• Profanity, name calling, and assumptions about a person’s character or personality

Did you offer to refund this person for any portion of her abandoned dates that you would be able to rebook? That can often calm a disgruntled guest down long enough to get past the review period, depending on the person and the situation. Especially if you approach it the right way. 

[Anonymous]

@Lesley62  I'm several countries where it operates, including the UK, Airbnb is required by consumer protection law to allow reviews from guests who cancel on or after the check-in date. This is mostly to prevent bait-and-switch schemes from hiding behind a fake reputation, but it's also a nuisance for reputable hosts whose guests failed to read the listing properly.

I don't see a good case to have the review removed, but it might still be possible to edit your response. As a guest, I would not feel reassured by a host asserting that critical feedback must be wrong because prior reviews have been positive. I'd be likelier to book if the host gracefully corrected any inaccuracies, put the review into context (e.g. guest was not a good fit for the home and decided not to stay), and perhaps even acknowledged the details that guests of some persuasions might feel are shortcomings.

This situation isn't 100% preventable, but the pre-booking correspondence is the best chance to make sure the guest has the right expectations. Also, you are free to override your cancelation policy any time a greater refund resolves an issue, though no amount of money can prevent a negative review if the guest feels like leaving one.