Terrible Guest - Revenge Reviews

[Corey184]

AirBnB should have a means of removing a revenge review from guests.  We received very positive text messages complimenting us on the property, the amenities, and the home in general.  But once a guest checks out, and if a claim in filed (within 14 days or before the next guest checks in) and a claim is made, it provides the guest to write a revenge review.

We have 5 star reviews up and down for over 80 guests, and one jerk ruins it.

I won't mention a name, but if one looks and my reviews, it is Robert A. from Chicago.

Updated to remove the full name of the guest.

Edit:  It looks that that review left by the horrible guest is no longer associated with my listing.  It's a Christmas miracle!

[Sarah977]

@Corey184  I don't see any bad review on your profile. 

Did you leave a review stating his behavior? That is how you warn other hosts, because the only hosts who will have an interest  in this are those who get an inquiry or request from him. This forum is not the place to post names of guests and in fact, the forum moderators will likely remove it.

[Corey184]

Thank you for the reply @Sarah977, I have edited the post to remove the name of the offending guest.

I did leave a review, but I feel that revenge reviews should be removed, particularly when there is evidence that the guest did enjoy their stay, and that the review was motivated by dishonesty and revenge.

I know in the grand scheme of things, one bad review is obvious for what it is, but it still irks me.

Thanks!

[Sarah977]

@Corey184  As I said, I don't see this bad review you are talking about on your review page. How long ago was this stay? 

[Corey184]

Hey @Sarah977 , you are correct, that guests review is no longer there.  I guess AirBnB did listen?  It was there two months ago.  Yay!

[Sarah977]

@Corey184  Oh, they removed it? Cool. 

[Genaro18]

I am disappointed in the replies. I really was counting on people sharing what they actually know about the step-by-step process and the ways in little hidden methods to get the situation is resolved or one of them is little things like their review is completely unrelated to the actual booking or the stay. agents have a lot of latitude but you have to communicate really well and carefully

i will go first. There is nowhere to view this policy, but there are two ways to get the same result.

- reviews can be removed, that’s the dream

- reviews can be HIDDEN which effectively removes them from public review, but they exist. THIS IS THE ONE they can be gently and politely prodded into doing — sometimes.

- STARS ARE FOREVER. Even when you manage to get action? Don’t look for your average to change. Good luck with trying to get any agent or any written aspect of the user guide to back me up on that lol. You’re gonna have to trust me I’ve spent many many many many hours on this

ive had a guest removed by police, removed from the platform forever, revenge review removed…. But that 1 star? Everybody can remember what it was like when you have a straight a average and you failed one test how long it takes to pull the mathematics back up to your favor. It’s flat out unfair but we live with it

[Robin925]

I have been able to have reviews that were derogatory removed, and in general the rating removed as well. In my experience once the review is removed (if it was for breach of community standards) the stars are removed as well.

My experience with this is to document everything out of ordinary or less than perfect in a guest. Be cool about it though not everyone is perfect and you don't want people to hate your place. If they break a small rule let it go and don't review unless its serious.  Keep all communication in IM, not in person, or follow up with confirmation of in person conversations, do not apologize for anything, but do notify guests of problems and seek their acceptance. A guests agreement they accept some less than perfect issue, before or just after check in can go a long way in protecting the host. 

[Huma0]

@Genaro18 @Robin925 

Of the few guest reviews that Airbnb has removed from my listings, they always removed the star rating as well. Just make sure you ask them to do this when you request the review is removed.

It's very difficult to get a review removed, but there are some ways, depending on what has been written.

@Genaro18 

Can you expand on reviews being hidden? I have never heard of this. Of course, if the star rating remains, there is probably no point in doing this anyway.

[David7870]

You can realist your place and start over, right? 

[Elaine701]

@David7870 

Yes, guests often do this when a host writes a bad review, which facilitates continuing to book places without resistance. Just close their account and open a new one. Many hosts don't bother to look at the profile of who's booking, but for those that do, no history is always better than a bad one. 

Hosts on the other hand, spend years developing a demonstrably good reputation, with good reviews and high ratings. It attracts bookings and facilitates getting decent prices. It's a lot to give up because one dubious guest writes a scathing, fabricated retaliatory review because they got caught doing something they shouldn't have.

Besides, there's better ways to address that. If a host has 50 glowing reviews, and one says the exact opposite (especially if it's extremely emotional) , it's pretty obvious to future guests that something's amiss. Besides you can always succinctly illustrate that in a response to their review. 

But again, the best cure is prevention. Look at who's asking to book. If they have no profile or history, ask questions. Their responses (or lack of them) can speak volumes about who you'd be handing the keys to. Scare them away if they seem suspicious. Just be patient. There's another booking around the corner. It's Airbnb's greatest strength. 

[Richard531]

@Elaine701  I really appreciate your hopeful, proactive, and optimistic comments.  Especially about "the best cure is prevention."

However, I have to disagree with the general position of two of your main thoughts.

1) 50 glowing reviews and 1 outlier. . . 

Yes, these situation are very easy to recognize (and discard) for people like you and me (let's call us "smart people."  However, a decent portion of guests (let's call them "dumb people") are going to be negatively affected in some type of way.  That is, a smart person does indeed blow right past these reviews knowing what they are.  Dumb people will read the whole thing. They'll get a laugh about it.  And it will affect them to perhaps NOT book.  However, they might even book your place anyway.  But this can be even more potentially dangerous.  How?  It's possible that then they'll remember some negative aspects of the outlier review and start to notice them for themselves if the place isn't 100% perfect.  Now you have "oh, I get what that person was talking about!" happening if their experience goes sideways.  That is, this crappy review will not go completely ignored.  It just won't.  That is, that single outlier crappy review will matter for some amount of time.  And of course the ding to your overall 4.9X review average will suck a lot too.  

2) ". . . in a response to their review"

This part I have to aggressively disagree with even more.  I've browsed ~100K reviews over the years (I'm obsessive!).  There has been exactly zero examples of a response from a host (even a great host that I know is brilliant and I know is correct) that didn't appear to be slightly defensive, pompous, short tempered, eye rolling, etc.  If you have that horrible review (the 1 in 50), the host's best response is to absolutely say nothing and let the review fade away as fast as possible (book! book! book!).  There's really no version of a response that helps the host.  You'll have CS tell you "you can always respond to the review"  but that offers no comfort.  If a bad review sticks, there's nothing OK about it.  

[Huma0]

@Richard531 

I have to side with @Elaine701 here.

1. You really don't want those dumb people to book, so if they get scared away by that outlier review, well, that's a win, win. Sure, you might get some who go ahead and book and remember that one review, but well, dumb people often don't bother to read. Once the outlier review is buried under many other great ones, few guests can be bothered to read that far down. 

In my experience, none of the negative or less than glowing reviews I have received have ever had any impact on my bookings. Nor have I ever had a guest mention them.

2. Of course, it's never a great idea to write a ranting or personal response to a review, but it can be done effectively. I don't have any examples of my own to give you, but here's a fictional one:

"Unfortunately X and Y did not seem to have read the listing description before their stay. For some reason, they expected to have the entire house to themselves, were astonished that I live here and that I have cats. I would encourage all guests to read the description to ensure it's a good fit and to choose an entire listing rather than booking a private room and expecting the host and other guests to vacate the house!"

I would add that it's a good idea to write responses to the positive reviews, not just the negative ones, so that you aren't unnecessarily highlighting the bad ones.

[Elaine701]

"This guest initially expressed delight with the villa, until they were confronted at check out time regarding the cigarettes butts ground into beer stained carpets, broken mirror, filthy kitchen, broken plates and glasses, heavily stained bedding, and the 98 beer and liquor bottles found at the bottom of the pool". 

Nothing personal. Just the facts, ma'am. 

This of course, if you even allow guests like this through the gauntlet. Or have the audacity to confront them about it. 

[Sarah977]

@Richard531   I quite disagree. It's true that many hosts shoot themselves in the foot with the type of review responses they leave which come across as defensive or aggressive. 

But I've read many responses that are fine. They are simply factual, correcting something quite misleading (or a lie) for the benefit of future guests. Or if a guest did have a legitimate complaint, the host indicates that it has been dealt with. 

There is a host, as I recall in Albania, who was the master of pithy responses, which I quite enjoyed reading. Very brief, managing to put bad guests in their place while getting across to future guests that bad behavior won't be tolerated. 

One I recall was a review that simply said, "Forget this place". The host's response was something like, "And let's not "forget" that you had a dozen extra people over, threw a party and got booted out."