3rd Party Reservations

[Laura2272]

This is a policy that needs to be addressed. 3rd party booking is cancelled before check-in time. Guest is allowed to post a negative review for a host he/she never met and a property he/she never saw. Result? Host's status is negatively impacted despite doing nothing wrong and alerting Airbnb to what CSR referred to as "bad actors".

[Alon1]

@Laura2272 

I don't entirely understand your post. I don't know if  you do Instant Book or who cancelled, you, the guest or Airbnb?

Nevertheless, what I can ably inform you, if the 3rd Party Booking was undisclosed at the time of booking, you can request Cancellation without penalty. Moreover, if you still honoured the booking and then found you got a negative review, you can request Airbnb delete the Review and Ratings. I know it because six months ago I had 3 such Reviews from the previous 12 months deleted by Airbnb. 

Best Wishes. 

[Laura2272]

Sorry for the confusion Alon. I posted my situation with @Rachel177 below.

[Rachel177]

@Laura2272 like @Alon1 I don't really undersrand your post. I've looked through your reviews and you seem to have great comments from all your guests. Is there something I've missed?

[Laura2272]

I'm sorry for the confusion, the situation is so frustrating. This is what happened:

Airbnb called me Fri nite with a heads up; a FPG was having trouble making a reservation and they were trying to help him.

The following morning, Emmanuel Maleki was IB'd. He had no profile pix. I contacted him and asked that he add one. He said he was on the road and would do so at his next stop.

4 hrs later I sent him a reminder. He forwarded images of two different driver's licenses, neither of which was his. When I questioned him, he said he was making reservations for two employees of his computer tech company.

After several back and forths with him, I called Airbnb to get the reservation cancelled. While we were on the phone, Emmanuel messaged offering to cancel. I agreed. He wasn't pleasant about it, but he did so.

Despite this being a 3rd-party booking and the fact that he never met us, let alone stayed with us, Airbnb allowed Emmanuel to write a review of his "stay". He left one-star.

This is not the first time Emmanuel has run this game BTW

I called Airbnb to say "what?!?" and they said he can do this. I escalated the issue with Airbnb and was told there are no words in the review, Emmanuel just left 1 star. I argued my case for 40 minutes, but they kept saying they are unable to remove the star.

The supervisor, Jason, suggested I post my displeasure with the outcome here as it may help change policy going forward.

I'm really torn between wanting that star off my 5 star status and not wanting to waste any more time reeling in the negativity this person created. 

[Helen3]

A guest cannot leave a review until they stayed with you or cancelled within 24 hours of their planned arrival. @Laura2272 

Was the booking cancelled within 24 hours of your check in. (see Airbnb Help centre - reviews).

I think it is clear that this has been done in retaliation for you asking him to cancel his third party booking.

I would try Airbnb on social media and say it is unfair that a guest who tried to make a third party booking against Airbnb's T&C was allowed to leave a clearly malicious one star review across the board for a property that he didn't stay in and has never seen.

If they don't remove it I would definitely leave a response.

[Laura2272]

Thank you for sharing your thoughts Helen.

Emmanuel cancelled within a half-hour of check-in.

I did write Airbnb on Facebook and on Twitter. Nothing came of either.

There are not words big enough to descibe how frustrating this has been. 

[Helen3]

That is why he was allowed to leave a review then.

I am sorry this has been such a frustrating experience and that Airbnb haven't been more helpful.

Hopefully you left an honest review for him to warn other hosts.

[Alon1]

@Laura2272 @Rachel177 @Helen3 @Emilia42 

re:   'he was making reservations for two employees of his computer tech company.'

He would be permitted to do this legitimately if he's got what's called a 'Work' or 'Business' account registered with Airbnb. 

If not, you should be able to insist Airbnb delete the 3rd Party Review & Ratings

  . (Though I remain baffled as he does not seem to have loaded a Review?

     At least I don't see a Review by Emmanuel on your profile. And if that's the case, I don't understand how you are aware that he loaded a 1 star Rating without the reciprocal reviewfrom you?

[Laura2272]

Thank you for your response Alon.

Emannuel's review hasn't posted yet, I'm within the 14 days and haven't written my review. 

I know the one-star rating is pending because a CSR mentioned it and the Case Manager confirmed it.

At this point, I guess I just need to write a review of him that warns other hosts but doesn't adversely affect FPG's impression of me as a host. 

[Emilia42]

@Laura2272, 

wait until the 14th day to write your review. That way it won't appear on your profile sooner than it needs to. 

I cannot believe CS will tell you about an antonymous review (as if it doesn’t influence your review of the guest) but they won’t remove a review of a guest who never entered your space and broke Airbnb’s TOS.

I’m baffled.

[Laura2272]

I will wait, thanks for the reminder. I have some time to craft a well-worded review.

Agreed, CS provded nothing but additional frustration. Even when he was recapping, I had to keep correcting the rep. His focus was on Emmanuel's behavior. While I agree that should be addressed, my focus (I kept saying) is to have a one-star rating removed. It was put on my listing by someone who broke Airbnb rules and who never stayed with me. How is he allowed to review a property he never saw? Ugh!

[Helen3]

@Alon1  yes we know this, but this isn't relevant to @Laura2272's  situation.

She had someone lie to her and make a booking indicating it was for him only to find out later it was a third party booking.

@Laura2272  it is very unusual for a case manager to tell you details of a guests review.

Leave the 'guest' an honest review. Thumbs down. Report his profile. 

[Laura2272]

Thank you for your reply @Helen3 . I  agree; I was surprised that the CSR told me about the one-star rating. I later confirmed that information with the case manager. 

Thank goodness they told me! I assumed there would be no reviews as the reservation was cancelled. It would have been a shock to receive one star and then have no opportunity to respond. 

I have to write an honest review. I wish any of his previous hosts had done so! One host responded to Emmanuel's "could have been better" review of her by saying what he'd done. Her original review was all good; such a disservice to other hosts.

We have to look out for one another.

[Alon1]

@Helen3 @Laura2272 

Helen, thank you for clarifying what is 'relevant' to Laura's situation. Because frankly I'm lost in the process. It seemed to me that a 'Work' Account might have been relevant in this case. But evidently not according to you.

Otherwise, all I can say based on experience, that a Personal Account 3rd Party Bookings Review & Ratings can be deleted if it infringes Airbnb Rules, T&Cs. However, it sometimes takes more than one attempt or even several attempts to find the right person in Customer Services.

- Six months ago, I had three 3rdPB Reviews & Ratings deleted from the previous year. But it required a considerable amount of time and effort over the course of a month.

- The Case Manager who eventually grasped the issues and undertook the action to delete the three offending Reviews & Ratings is called Gessielli. I think he's based in USA. 

Perhaps Laura can attempt to locate and contact Gessielli.

Best Wishes.