Will Airbnb delete a negative review from a bad guest?

[Marie7196]

Hello, I'm relatively new to hosting. I do a monthly stay and this is about a recent guest that checked-out today. I have no intention of giving her a review because there’s nothing good to say about her stay. But I also don’t want her to leave me a review because she was a horrible guest.

Here are the things she did to my house on her one month stay:
1. The guest left the refrigerator open the whole night and next day, my one month worth of groceries got spoiled. When I asked her about it, she said it was an accident. But the fridge is hard to miss because she will pass by it every time she goes in and out of her room.
2. She smeared poop on my desk
3. She stole my bathroom caddy
4. Smeared blood on the light switch and sink
5. Brought dirty and muddy shoes in the bathroom, even though I provided her with pair of slippers, she will walk barefoot drenched and soaking wet on our hardwood floor 
6. She spits on the floor every time

In the beginning she seems nice and friendly. I fell for her sad story that she told me during her first week. So I became forgiving of her violation of house rules. One time she was hungry and she said she have no food, I cooked her breakfast even though it’s not included in my service. I also bought her cereal and chips ahoy so she will have something to eat when she come home since she like sweets so much. I went extra mile to make her stay enjoyable and comfortable despite the fact that she’s violating house rules and trashing my house because I pity her with her sad story.

I worked so hard everyday cleaning up after her mess because I want to be a superhost, and I don't want it to be ruined by one bad guest review. 

I reported her to airbnb today. I'd like to know if they will delete it in case she gives a bad review. I'm still waiting for the airbnb to message me back.

Did this happen to you? 

[Jillian105]

Hi Marie. I'm sorry to hear about your trouble. I have three listings on Airbnb for several years. From what I understand after talking with Airbnb about reviews, I can suggest a few things.

1. Call Airbnb customer service and discuss specifics, also verify my suggestions; they are awesome and you'll learn alot.

2. You can cancel during an active reservation if a guest is breaking house rules, such as what you described. You do not have to tolerate that kind of behavior or abuse to yourself or your home. They can go to a hotel.

3. If a guest leaves a review that is not true, specific to the listing itself, and/or emotional in content, then Airbnb can review it see through that and can remove it. For example... I had a guest that did not read the details about the house and then left a response cause they missed house rules or details; it may be removed and you always have the opportunity to leave a response and explain what happened too.

Hope that's helpful.

[Marie7196]

Thank you, Jillian. I will do that. 

[Mike-And-Jane0]

@Marie7196 please do not follow @Jillian105 's advice. Sadly it is just wrong. Airbnb do NOT arbitrate over the truth of a review. If, and only if, the review breaks the Airbnb rules then there is a small chance it can be removed.

I am somewhat disturbed by your plan not to leave a review. Would you not have liked to be pre-warned about this guest? There is nothing wrong with having an honest review of the guest to warn subsequent hosts. Finally your response to any review left by the guest is critical - Do not address your response to the guest but rather to future prospective guests.

[Sudsrung0]

Dont rely on Airbnb to remove a bad review, Only twice have I requested a review to be removed and they didn't remove it, still there, Airbnb's response to me was they were leaving it there but my reply was good,

Just give a straight forward review and be honest, give it a few days before you do it stay calm, right now you are fuming not a good time to do it.

You are warning other host about this guest thats really what it about, 

[Huma0]

@Marie7196 

@Mike-And-Jane0 and @Sudsrung0 are correct. It is not that easy to get Airbnb to remove a review. You can find more details of the review policy here: https://www.airbnb.co.uk/help/article/2673/airbnbs-review-policy

As you can see, it states:

"If you feel a review is untrue

While we encourage and expect all community members to post reviews that contain objective and accurate information, Airbnb doesn’t mediate disputes concerning the truth of reviews. We expect the author of the review to stand behind the content of their review."

I am not saying it's not worth a try, but you'd have more luck having a review removed if it violates the content policy in some way or is totally irrelevant as it being untrue is, according to Airbnb, not a good enough reason.

You will need to wait and see if she leaves a review (she might not) and what it says. It sounds like you went out of your way for this guest and didn't confront her other than speaking to her about the fridge, but I could be wrong. Perhaps she will leave you a good review! 

In any case, you should definitely leave an honest review. If someone else had left a review warning you, it could have saved you from this nightmare guest. Remember, the guest does not get to read your review until she has written one herself, or the review period (two weeks from check out) is over, by which time it is too late for her to write one. She can leave a response to your review, but that will appear on her profile, not yours, so I wouldn't worry too much about that. 

If you do not want the guest to review you, the best thing to do is wait until the deadline is almost up to leave a review for her, so that it doesn't prompt her to write one too, but if she writes one in the meantime anyway, there isn't much you can do about it other than respond.

If you let us know what happens in that respect, we can offer you advice on the best way to write a response.

[Marie7196]

Hi @Huma0  @Mike-And-Jane0 and @Sudsrung0 

Thanks for your advice, I will leave the guest an honest review for the other hosts.

I talked to her twice, the other one is about bringing muddy shoes inside the house and instantly offered her a brand new bedroom slippers. But she didn't use it and continued working barefoot and every time she comes out of the bathroom, I will mop the wet floor that she left. One of the mistake I made is she didn't have a review yet and she begged me to accept her and I fell for it.

Could you please help me how to screen a guest? Do you have a list of questions to pre-screen them? Is your Instant Book turned on? (mine is on). What do you do to avoid bad guest? Thanks in advance.

[Huma0]

@Marie7196 

My method is to have clearly spelt out house rules. Many will say mine are too long and perhaps they are right, but I have found that if I don't spell out certain things, there are problems. 

In my rules, I have an 'Easter egg' question that guests must answer before they book. It's not only to ensure they are aware of the rules, but it helps to let them know you are serious about those rules.

I did use IB for a while, but I turned it off a few months ago because I was getting too many problematic bookings, which not only resulted in guests breaking rules but lower ratings for me too. I was also reiterate a few points in a message to ensure the listing is a good fit for the guest, e.g. the cats, or the stairs. 

With guests who already have reviews, even if they are good, it's worth reading also the reviews they have left for hosts, as these can be telling, e.g. if the guest is a complainer/overly fussy/critical.

I like all guests to have verified ID and a profile photo, so have these as requirements in my settings (if you use instant book, you can also require them to have positive reviews, and then new guests must request to book) and to tell me a bit about themselves and the purpose of their visit. Don't be afraid to ask questions. A guest's communication can often tell you more about them than the reviews!

[Gillian166]

I have a lot of guests with 0 reviews, they aren't all terrible! 🙂
For a newbie I will also include "as you are new to airbnb if there's any part of the process you don't understand please don't hesitate to ask me here in the message box". 
If they reply that they aren't new, then you know they've burned a previous profile (worst case), or have some reason for having a new profile (it could be something more innocent like divorce or even forgot they had a profile already). 

+1 to the others, absolutely do a review ! 

[Huma0]

@Gillian166 

There are a number of reasons someone can be not so new to airbnb and not have any reviews yet. 

They might have signed up a while ago because they were interested in the concept, but just never got round to booking before, or someone else in their party made the booking instead.

They may have stayed at many airbnbs, just not been the booking guest. Unless the booking guest links the other guests's profiles, which they often don't, the review won't appear on the other guests' profiles.

Sadly, there are also some hosts who just can't be bothered to write reviews or don't like to. I've seen quite a few comments here on the CC from hosts who say, "I never write reviews," as if it's something to be proud of.

I recently hosted an amazing young man. He was really a wonderful guest. He had no reviews but told me he had stayed in one Airbnb. I asked if his friend maybe booked it. He said no, the host just didn't leave a review.

Then, of course there are the ones who have just created a new profile after a bad review...

How do we know the difference?

[Helen56]

@Marie7196  Hi Marie,

I'm so pleased to hear that you will leave this guest a bad review - I don't want her in my house!  Even if you don't mention the poop, blood and spitting (but I hope you will!) at least just say: "I will never host this guest again and don't recommend her.  Hosts please message me for the disgusting details."    Thanks again for warning us hosts about her.

[Sammy-L-0]

@Marie7196 I have so many questions, but I will limit it to two. Why in the world would you allow a guest stay who spits on the floor and smear poop on your desk? Why would you not.wrute a review to warn other hosts

[Marie7196]

She smeared poop on the day of her check-out. I just given up talking to her about the spit. 

I didn't know that I can terminate her booking by spiting on the floor. 

[Karen114]

@Marie7196  I think it is your duty to give this guest an honest review of your experience.

She sounds disgusting and no host should  have  to deal with that. 
She can’t retaliate in her review of you because both of you have to submit review before it will be published. 
If she does leave a poor review of you, simply respond with the truth. 
I am sorry that you had to deal with this however it should be a learning experience for you. Best of luck 😊

[Marie7196]

@Karen114  It was indeed a learning experience for me. 

I decided to give her a review and if she gave me a bad one, I will respond truthfully.

I checked your listing, beautiful home and location. I saved it when I go to Florida.