protection from retaliatory reviews

[Giorgio367]

I learned It is up to airbnb to decide if a review is offensive or irrelevant, but As a Super Host I believe we deserve AIrbnb trust. We received a retaliatory review, this person tried to book outside airbnb , we sent the whatsapp messages to Airbnb support, the guest asked repeteadly for discounts.

before the end of her one month stay, this woman booked again for 2 more weeks under her boyfriend name, then a few days ago, she texted me she wanted to extend for the all winter , until then she was peaceful and apparently calm, even she apologized that she had not written the feedback yet , when she heard that the apartment had been booked by someone else, she became sour and after a few hours posted a terrible offensive and false review. How can I tolerate to be decribed as " Giorgio is only interested in making money" is it not offensive by airbnb standards??// without any evidence ???

how can I tolerate that she describes the apartment "dirty flat", not having Heating??? this is absolutely fake and bad information for the airbnb community, scroll the 21 reviews we have on that property, they say the exact opposite!!!

It is so frustrating that I have to tolerate all this joke and at this time she is still staying at our apartment with her boyfriend , ready to leave a second terrible review. How can Airbnb leave this kind of weapon to a guest, how they are allowed to lie blatantly and cause image and economic damage to the Host (super host) community?? Airbnb can read trough the messages archive, there is not a single complaint made by this guest, she decribes the apartment as "Bellissimo", When they re-booked under her boyfriend name he said to me "we are very happy to be your guests again"

How are people allowed to destroy someone else reputation like this?

with a second bad review I will not be able to maintain super host status and will take years to regain it, for what? to be at risk of being retaliated by another psyco guest whom was denied a late checkout??

We are evaluating the situation to be liable of a legal action for defamation and damages

Airbnb can and should take steps to at least hear from the guest what we did wrong, asking evidence. I have lost precious time and I am in a bad mood since the review have been published, now these people are still inside my house and I don't feel comfortable at all with this, they can have caused damages and then they will say that we are asking compensation because of the bad feedback, what a situation.

this policy does not work , in the airbnb community pages you will find hundreds of comments of unhappy hosts , we have no protection against retaliation, I have had the full experience of this now.

very dissatisfied

[Sarah977]

@Konstantin228   Yes, you can leave a response to the review. Something along the lines of "These guests broke several house rules which they were called out on, and apparently found it necessary to retaliate by leaving this review. They didn't understand the concept of Airbnb, thinking we should be their personal maids, washing their dirty dishes, and assuming they could invite other people to the house without permission.

Please refer to our other reviews for an accurate picture of what you can expect when booking our listing."

A response to a review will appear on your review page, not the guests', so it should be brief and just used to correct false impressions for the benefit of future guests.

[Konstantin228]

Thank you for your support, I just don’t understand how Airbnb would allow this obviously untrue and fact less review.

[Sarah977]

@Konstantin228  Unfortunately Airbnb's attitude is that whatever the guest wrote is a "reflection of their experience".

In a way, I can understand- in many cases there is no way to prove that the guest is lying- it's just the guest's word against the host's. And it would be naive to think that no host would ever lie.

But in cases where it's quite obvious to anyone that the guest is lying, for instance if they claim the place was filthy when the host has 100 5*cleanliness ratings and written reviews saying it was spotless, or messages from the guest saying they had a great stay that Airbnb can see, only for the guest to leave a terrible review because they were charged for damages, it's totally unfair for Airbnb to let the review stand.

[Konstantin228]

And this is exactly the case, our place has always remained 5* spotless and we always made unique gifts and experiences for the guests, it was unbelievable when Airbnb stated it’s guests opinion and it will stand, given we have proof. Seems Airbnb didn’t even bother reading how untrue that review was.

[Anna9908]

I had a recent issue with a guest. He stayed and caused $145.00 worth of damage to an interior door. When I confronted the guest about it requesting he pay for the damage. He denied he damaged the property and joked that he saw it when he arrived.  I know they damaged the door because I was there and my cleaner was onsite examining the property before he arrived.   I asked if they would remove the review because it was clearly biased and sent in retaliation. Here is the example, he gave me an overall 3 stars, but rated me a 3, 4, 4, 5, 5, & 5 on sub-categories. AirBNB refused to remove it. I told them it was biased and left in retaliation. Even in the review, the guest states the property was amazing. 

Here is exactly what he said:  “great cabin; 4wd is no joke. but please do a thorough inspection of the place as soon as you get there; door jams, locks, windows, appliance, etc , and report any and all issues IMMEDIATELY as the owner will hold you liable for the damaging if you did not report the damages. the three stars are not because of the cabin; the space is wonderful and the amenities are great. the cabin was spotless when we entered and felt like home. two stars were taken for the fact that we were flat out accused of damages we didn't commit, which have otherwise ruined what was a great trip for my girlfriend and i. also, there are no blinds in any of the house so you do feel a little exposed at night.” 

Shouldn't this be removed?

Airbnb support sent me this message: "Airbnb’s review policy guides hosts and guests to write reviews which are relevant and will help our community make informed booking decisions.

We examined the content of this review, but we did not identify any violations of our policy. For this reason, we are unable to remove the review from the Airbnb website."