There seems to be quite a lot of confusion as it relates to the policies around guests who are allowed to leave a review without actually seeing your space.
I've personally experienced this issue myself, where a guest cancelled on check in day, after check in time, but before actually seeing the space. The review was harsh 1 stars all around, including 1 star for cleanliness.
How is it possible that a guest should be able to leave a review without even seeing your space? The answer is they can't. But we'll get to that...
From my experience dealing with a number of Airbnb support agents through messaging, phone, and on twitter... most support agents stick to a story similar to this:
"During our initial conversation you informed me that you had a guest post a review that you did not agree with, as the guest had not stayed at your listing, and you requested the review be taken down. After I investigated the matter, searching through the message thread and checking the review itself. Having consulted my team and supervisor on the matter, we have determined that this review does not violate Airbnb's content policy, Airbnb's nondiscrimination policy, or Airbnb's extortion policy. In which we base our decision to remove reviews."
Objectively most agents agree that it doesn't make a lot of sense that a guest should be able to review your space against things like cleanliness if they've never experienced or even seen your space. Unfortuntely they feel like they don't have a mechanism or a clear policy to support the removal of reviews from guests who have never actually seen your space. So they leave the review up.
The good news of course is that some teams at Airbnb have stated quite clearly what the policy should support.
Here check this out... this is the latest Global Host Q&A session with Brian Chesky and Clara Liang (Product team)... it's made pretty clear that a guest should NOT be allowed to leave a review if they haven't seen your space. Here's the link to the video (the 45 minute mark is where it begins): https://www.ustream.tv/recorded/115836032
Here is a transcription of the video:
"There's a weird overlap that can happen on a last minute cancellation on the day of check-in. So let's say your check-in time is 2 o'clock, and the guest flight is delayed or something and they end up cancelling at 3 o'clock... they haven't seen your house yet but the system thinks they are checked in... cause your checkin time is 2 o'clock there's a weird window on checkin day where its possible they have the opportunity to leave a review but they didn't actually see your place." - Clara at Airbnb
She goes on to provide a suggestion for how to deal with this issue...
"and if that ever happens to you just give us a call and we'll help get that review removed." - Clara at Airbnb
Wait. What?!
So... most support agents say guests ARE allowed to leave a review even if they haven't seen your space and yet other teams at Airbnb has made it clear that they should NOT be allowed to leave a review. Hmm. Quite the contradiction. This is frustrating.
I was told no in messages, on the phone (by multiple agents), and on twitter... I was about to give up. For me that single 1 star review knocked me out of superhost status, and I got a message that my listing was demoted for 5 days, and some other penalties... so I decided to give it one more shot.
I called Airbnb again, and asked to speak with a case manager who was not familiar with any of my existing threads. I explained my situation and linked them to the video and asked them to just watch that section with their supervisor. After all the main content policy has a very important statement built in... which reads "We reserve the right to remove any content, in whole or part, that violates these guidelines, our Terms of Service, our Community Standards, or for any other reason at our sole discretion."... the last part is the best part... "for any other reason at our sole descretion."
Luckily for me the last agent I spoke with used some descretion and watched the video, and understood what the intent of the review system actually is. They agreed that a guest should NOT be able to leave a review if they have not seen your space.
The review was removed from my listing and I'm eligible for superhost again (wish me luck!).
Suggestions for hosts:
- So if you're ever in the position where a guest has left you a review without seeing your space I'd suggest you share that video link with your case manager.
- Keep you cool, the intent of this rule is clear so just do your best to explain the situation.
- If you get a no answer, call back and ask if you can speak to another agent who is unfamiliar with your case.
Suggestions for Airbnb:
- Post this policy somewhere
- Communicate it to your support teams (from the agents I spoke with this type of support case seems to be very common and likely quite time consuming on your end, and highly frustrating for hosts.
- Consider inacting an actual 'checked in' action. To avoid this 'weird window' if a guest hit a 'I've checked in' button... the system could tell if they had actually checked-in and seen the space. If they have, great then they are eligible to leave a review, if they haven't then they're ineligble.
Hopefully this posts helps someone else out there!
Happy hosting!
John