Retaliatory reviews.

[Marian-Wodskou0]

We recently had a family staying in our gite in France who broke all the rules including standard Airbnb rules. However, when I posted our review of them - which Airbnb ask to be as honest as possible - They wrote a bad review in retaliation. 

You cannot film or photograph bad behaviour or the sound of someone's voice or the 'look' they give you in the street. I managed to speak to a supervisor who could only commiserate, but there was obviously no ultimate support for us as hosts as we were having to deal with hostile guests who were disrespectful to us and to our property. I offered for the guests to check out if they were so unhappy, but they decided to stay.

When they finally checked out and left us with a bad review,  we contacted Airbnb again and asked Airbnb to take the review down, but Airbnb refused to do this and also took our Guest Favourite badge away! 

We are still in shock at this 'punishment' meted out to us by Airbnb. By condoning bad behaviour and publishing lies from a guest, Airbnb are actively putting our listing, and therefore our earnings, at risk. 

Our question why would Airbnb choose to believe one guest out of several 100 people who have given us 5 star reviews over the course of 3 years and in this way allow for our listing to not only drop in status; but this reaction also encourages Hosts to only leave 5 star reviews instead of telling the truth? 

The investment that each host puts into their properties lies in the hundreds of millions against a guest/traveller is only briefly passing by. 

This makes no sense and I feel like I am part of a bad movie right now. 

[Shelley159]

Hi @Marian-Wodskou0 

I just want to make sure you know that guests cannot see your review until they post their review. 

While it's possible that the guest may have expected a bad review from you, there was no way they could actually have seen your review until after they posted theirs.

[Patrice353]

Je confirme.

Un locataire ou un hôte ne peut pas voir les avis de l'une des parties tant que l'autre n'a pas rempli la sienne.

Par contre si vous avez eu des mots avec eux, ou simplement signalé que vous n'étiez pas d'accord avec ce qu'ils faisaient, ils vont avoir tendance à vous pourrir.

Cela m'est arrivé avec des locataires qui voulaient partir en fin d'après-midi au lieu de 10h00 comme indiqué dans le règlement de mon appartement. Pour se venger ils m'ont pourri l'appréciation.

Translation added by Community Manager

I confirm.

A tenant or host cannot see either party's reviews until the other party has completed theirs.

On the other hand, if you have had words with them, or simply indicated that you do not agree with what they are doing, they will tend to rot you.

This happened to me with tenants who wanted to leave late in the afternoon instead of 10:00 as stated in my apartment rules. To get revenge, they ruined my appraisal.

[Marian-Wodskou0]

Many thanks Patrice, I did find that out when I studied the review policies more closely. 

My main point was that the guests broke not just one, but ALL the rules including standard Airbnb rules.

Not only was I given a bad review which was clearly a result of me asking via messages if he would kindly at least follow the one rule about protecting our pool, but the fact that Airbnb refused to take the review down, and on top of that took away our GUEST FAVOURITE badge.

That makes me more upset than the client behaving badly as it has shown me that Airbnb are taking sides, and in this case to my detriment. There is no one in Airbnb management to talk to, they are no longer interested and one of the call centre agents, told me not to worry, after several more good reviews the badge should come back. The season has ended for us now and won't start again until next summer. It all feels wrong, unfair and controlled by algorithms owned by millionaires. I thought Airbnb was special but this has left me with a bad taste in my mouth. Que faire? 

[Marian-Wodskou0]

Thanks Shelley. I did find that out when I studied the review policies more closely. 

My main concern was the reaction from Airbnb to the negative review, which was given to us as the guests had a bad conscience. They had unauthorised guests staying and they used the spare bed without any sheets and used all the decorative covers and cushions that are normally removed before a stay, just because they did not want to ask for more sheets for their unauthorised extra guests.

Airbnb refused to remove the bad review and on top of that took away our GUEST FAVOURITE badge!

I am so shocked by this kind of bias, as it was not me who broke any rules - I was hosting our beautiful home as I always do - preferring to let the clients enjoy in peace, but answering any queries as swiftly as possible. 

Airbnb has let us down and dont seem to care. Very disappointing.  

[Shelley159]

Hi @Marian-Wodskou0 

Just to put you at ease, Airbnb doesn't take away a guest favourite badge. All that happens, is that all of our listings move up and down on a list the whole time, according to how they are ranked based on the guest favourite criteria. The top 20% per country are shown as guest favourites at any given time - this is updated once every 24 hours.

In this case, the guest left a bad review, causing your listing to drop in rank. It temporarily moved to below the top 20% of listings, and you lost your guest favourite status. However, as your reviews (and those of others) keep coming in, the rank changes the whole time.

I have some good news: if I click your listing today, it has its Guest Favourite badge back. It's always temporary and depends on our overall rank, but really great when it's there!

[Patrice353]

Il reste malheureusement le fait que AirBnB ne fait aucune réelle enquête (sûrement trop cher) et qu'un locataire peut donner de fausses accusations envers un hôte et que AirBnB semble donner raison au premier qui accuse (voir d'autres affaitres où c'est le propriétairer qui accuse injustement un locataire).

Pour ma part je pense que AirBnB cherche à décourager les propriétaires qui ne sont pas assez rentables pour eux. En tout cas c'est ce que j'ai compris lorsqu'ils m'ont annoncé que je pouvais continuer à louer mais que je ne recevrai pas l'argent versé par les locataires.

[Google translation] 

Unfortunately, the fact remains that AirBnB does not do any real investigation (probably too expensive) and that a tenant can make false accusations against a host and that AirBnB seems to agree with the first one who accuses (see other cases where it is the owner who unfairly accuses a tenant).

Personally, I think AirBnB is trying to discourage owners who aren't profitable enough for them. At least, that's what I understood when they told me I could continue renting but I wouldn't receive the money paid by tenants.

[Marian-Wodskou0]

Thank you @Patrice353. Sorry for my slow reply. I only just saw your comment and appreciate your help. I hope you have a good season and rentals coming in. 

[Marian-Wodskou0]

Hi @Shelley159 

Thanks so much for taking the time to write to me and explain all of the above - I understand it so much better now. 

I sincerely apologise for not responding until now - I am not technical and I am a senior citizen these days, so sometimes I also forget that I shave seen things - but I seem to have never seen this, nor replied to you. Many apologies and thanks so much for taking the time to reply and for showing me the badge came back! I saw that a while back and then got very confused. 

Hope you have a good season ahead of you with summer on your doorstep. Best wishes, Marian.  

[Shelley159]

Great @Marian-Wodskou0 😀, there's always some new feature to get used to on Airbnb!

[Joan2709]

@Marian-Wodskou0 

Please immediately post a public reply to this guest's review. Keep it factual, short and non-emotional - you are writing it for future guests; not this guest. Do not say anything in your public reply that would cause Airbnb to remove it. Display to future guests that you have reasonable requests due to the local conditions and are a reasonable Host.