So frustrated with how AirBnb is suddenly treating hosts. We have been active for over 7 years with 7 listings and suddenly AirBnB seems to be treating hosts worse than usual. This issue has become a discussion in our local STR facebook groups. We recently sent this message to support. I'm skeptical that anyone will actually care. Has anyone had similar experiences?
OUR MESSAGE TO SUPPORT:
Your review and quality system is flawed. Tonight, we received a notice that one of our listings was temporarily suspended. We were not asked for any input or anything. No account was given for the 135 4-5 star reviews, the only focus was on two reviews. We received an automatic suspension which makes no sense.
When we asked our guest why they left us a three star review, the guest was confused as 3 stars would be an average rating on any other system. 4 would be exceeding expectations. 5 would be way beyond expectations. Our guest told us " I left an honest review, with an average rating. I did not question your communication nor did I say anything bad about you or the condo, nor did I complain about the value. Three stars is not a bad review, it is exactly average." As they understood it, 3 should be the acceptable rating. They were confused why that would be bad, as they left us glowing remarks.
As for a previous review, our guests decided they wanted to leave early around our July 4th holiday, because the weather had become rainy and some outside events were canceled in our vacation town. We told them we could not give a refund on a holiday because of rain, and they vowed that we "would regret not giving a refund" So, they complained about every aspect of our listing, posted false information, and gave us a 2 star review. We had zero recourse, as it seems the circumstances do not matter. No real person looks at the fact that we have over 135 overly positive reviews and considers that there could be a nefarious motive to this sudden 2 star review. Instead, the review is taken at face value and not questioned. The fact that this is even allowed to be posted, when it is such an outlier and obviously posted out of spite, is crazy. We did nothing wrong other than deny a same day cancellation over rain on a holiday.
In summary, because of one spiteful guest, and one guest that did not understand the rating system, we are penalized and will forever have these unfair reviews shown on our otherwise spotless listing. No one asked for our input. The automated system has taken the human connection and interaction out of the entire process and the hosts are left to suffer.
