UNJUSTIFIED BAD REVIEW FROM HOST

[Hugh114]

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The hosts at this accommodation kept asking for a review from me after a 2 night stay and when I did not respond I believe they gave me an unjustified bad review just because I had not given them a review.

I have attached photographs of the accommodation just before we checked out which show how clean and tidy we had left the place.

I have not been able to get a response to this complaint from Airbnb. Has anyone else had this happen to them and how have you dealt with it?

**[Sensitive information removed in line with - Community Center Guidelines]

[Anonymous]

@Hugh114   The best thing to do when you disagree with the way you're portrayed in a review is...well...exactly the opposite of what you did. 

Are you aware that your review response is a part of your public profile?  When you respond to a host's review, the intended audience is not the reviewer, but rather the next hosts whose listings you request. You could have taken that opportunity to appear gracious, humble, or contrite - but instead, for reasons I can't begin to understand, you chose to come off as vindictive and critical, basically cancelling out all the good will you'd earned with all your previous reviews. You seem to feel that the main criticism was about the cleanliness, but any host can read between the lines and see that the host also found you to be excessively demanding prior to your stay. The tone of your comments only served to reinforce this.

Most hosts wouldn't have held it against you if you'd just left that review alone, but upon looking at your response they'll instantly profile you as someone with a foul and fussy attitude who is likely to damage their listing with retaliatory reviews. I would not hesitate to decline a request if I saw this exchange in a guest's profile. If you were renting your home, would you want to hand your keys over to someone who seems like a bit of a douchebag?

I don't know why you'd want to waste the time of Airbnb's customer support staff - as you might have noticed from the news, they have much bigger issues to deal with right now. And nothing in what this host wrote is in violation of the content policy, even if you personally feel it was unfair. If you choose to keep on contacting Airbnb about this, my recommendation would be that you ask them to delete your response, as it makes you look much more undesirable as a guest than the actual review does.

[Hugh114]

Andrew 

Your right maybe my response is a little curt however we were really amazed when we got a bad review when the place was left spotless.  Reading back your right maybe I should have toned down my message however its quite ironic that you have responded in such a way, at least I had been wronged!

The only request I made with the host was if we could drop our bags off early prior to check in so we could go for a long walk, thats not too much is it?

The hosts had messaged us after we had left, without any complaints, thanking us for a nice note we had left and asking if we would give them a review in turn for getting a review from them, implying that everything was ok and they were happy.

The issue here is that the host had written us a vindictive untrue review, as can be seen by the condition of the place in the images.  The only motive I can think of for this is because I had not written them a review. I am not expecting an immediate response from Airbnb in light of current circumstances but i do think its necessary to flag to the team, hosts who write untrue negative reviews especially where evidence can be shown.

[Anonymous]

@Hugh114   Trying to get Airbnb to intervene is a waste of your time as much as theirs. The host was well within their right to say that they were disappointed with the state of the home, as this expresses a subjective opinion. It's understandable that you disagree with it based on the effort you put into cleaning, but this is not any grounds to have the review removed. The photos might be useful to you if the host had claimed for damage compensation, since that is an objective matter with a standard of proof. But a review is just a person's opinion; it's not going to be put on trial (fact is, everyone who gets a negative review believes that it was undeserved, no matter what the reason). Fundamentally, the fact that you disagree with someone's opinion does not make it untrue.

The only request I made with the host was if we could drop our bags off early prior to check in so we could go for a long walk, thats not too much is it?

That's a normal request when you're dealing with a hotel with 24-hour desk service. But for many Airbnb hosts, it actually is quite a big ask, because they are organizing their day's schedule around your recreational whims and in effect have to check you in twice. There's nothing wrong with inquiring about this - some hosts are more than happy to accommodate early arrivals - but you should do so with the understanding that it is an additional service above and beyond the terms of your agreement. 

I don't mean to suggest that everything here is your fault. I personally find it in poor taste for a host to insist on a review, and I think it behooves them to be explicit about their expectations for the final cleaning if they're going to critique it. But that's a bit beside the point; there's nothing you can do to improve that host's opinion of you as a guest - all you can do is try to create a better impression for future hosts going forward. 

Both your review response and your commentary in this forum are having the opposite effect. 

[Hugh114]

Andrew 

Your dead right the reviews are subjective and I would be more than happy to take a hit if I left somewhere in a mess.  This scenario is different this host wanted to trade off reviews and it seems when they thought this wasn't going to happen they posted a negative review.

The bag request was an ask the host could quite easily have declined I was not insistent they have simply used this against me.

Your right again this commentary may not do my profile any favours on here, however it does sit right with me that hosts can attempt to trade off reviews and  lie about the condition of their accommodation.  It undermines the whole process and would expect people like yourself who it will also effect to be wary of this taking place on Airbnb.

I thank you for your comments they have been useful let's not waste anymore of our time on this.....