Using review as a payback for not refunding payments

[Gladys183]

Hi everyone, this is my first time here 

Why cant they investigate reviews, guest who has not been to your property asked for refunds , you declined you get a bad review about your property that they haven't seen yet, not even in the country yet.

Some will book for a day, used the place checkout early, cancelled the reservation just to ask for refund, Airbnb suggested i reply his review but that will only affect my business not him.

[Angelica-Y-Jorge0]

@Gladys183 unfortunately Airbnb will not remove the review. If someone booked a property they have the ability to review the whole experience. This includes communication with the host before and after. I agree it is not great but is the reality. I would like to see a tag on the guest's review saying they did not stay in the property. This would still allow them to review the experience but notify others there was no stay. 

The one way to get it removed is if you have messages in the Airbnb system from the guest threatening a bad review if you do not provide a refund. In this case, Airbnb considers the review not genuine and will remove it for you if you contact them to dispute it

Hope this helps 🙂

[Sarah977]

@Gladys183  Sorry this happened to you, it is indeed a bad loophole in the review policies.

I'm not sure what you mean about leaving a review response only affecting your business. You should leave a response that says something like "This guest cancelled before arriving, he never saw the property and his review is completely fabricated."

That just makes it clear to future guests that the review should be dismissed.

I didn't check as to whether you left a review for this guest, if not, you should have, as he was given a chance to review. That would affect his ability to book in the future if you said that he cancelled before arrival and then harrassed you for upholding the terms of your cancellation policy.  No host wants a guest who does that.

[Dale711]

Hi @Gladys183 

Welcome to the community 😊

Airbnb reviews system 'It's out of your hand!'

                                                                                  and, ' doesn't make sense!'

I called it ' revenge reviews', and I've over a dozen untrue, unfair and revenge reviews.

As the review are the backbone of Airbnb's community and maintain that structure, Airbnb has guidelines to ensure all reviews are fair, honest, and relevant to the guest travel and experience.

Airbnb's default position is not to delete, censor, or edit reviews. By that means, Airbnb may remove a review only if it violates Airbnb Review guidelines.

You may click the link below for more information:

https://www.airbnb.com/help/article/13

https://www.airbnb.com/help/article/2673

https://www.airbnb.com/help/article/546

You can always be a response to the public of the untrue review.

Report to Airbnb to remove it if it violated the review guidelines.

Happy Hosting! 😊