Bad review from guest who cancelled

[Mandy81]

Hi Guys

It's my first time posting here I only just found it in a google search.

So I had a guest who was supposed to stay earlier in June she said to me her flight lands at 5:30pm so she would check in in the evening at 1pm she cancelled so she never checked in and based on the previous info she gave had not even arrived at the airport yet.

Today I have seen she left a really negative review about my listing she says things that just are not true like its £200 in a cab from the airport (its actually about £80 from the furthest airport and £25 from the closest) she says a few other things that are just not true and ends with it's not worth it at all but she cancelled and never came even in her assessment of the place she marked me down on cleanliness and checking in. My question is can I do anything about this it's just made up stuff and I don't know why and will this one star review now affect my super host status?

Thanks in advanced guys

[Ange2]

@Mandy81    Very odd but unfortunately not that unusual on this forum.  Did she get a refund? 

Try contacting Airbnb and see if they will remove it. She was allowed to leave a review because she cancelled on the day of check-in, even though she never arrived—an Airbnb glitch that has yet to be resolved.   https://community.withairbnb.com/t5/Help/Contact-Airbnb-A-Community-Help-Guide-UPDATED/m-p/413245

[Mandy81]

Thanks for answering Ange, I contacted them and they have refused to take it down which I find unbelievable because that means anyone can just lie without consequence, it was really discouraging we put so much into being hosts and if we've made mistakes and got a bad review then fair enough but people shouldn't be able to just make things up.

Thank you

[Mark116]

@Mandy81  It's totally unfair, but the same thing has happened to a lot of hosts.  At one point airbnb said they were going to start preventing reviews from people who never even arrived on the property, like what happened to you, but then they changed their mind for some reason.  

[Mandy81]

@Mark116 Thanks Mark I've realised by reading some of the posts this has happened a lot it's such a shame that we are not protected more as hosts by Airbnb from things like this I'm not sure what we can do to prevent this.

[Anuj2]

I find Airbnb support team sometimes act like a robot than a human being. The process are there support Host & Guests and not to make their life difficult. Last year I lost my Super Host status because one of the guest stayed with me 7 times in a row, but the booking was made by his office colleague which forgot to submit the reviews. 

Now Since he stayed 7 times and there was no review it affected my listing status for the guest not doing their responsibility. While I spoke to support stating if the guest is staying with me 7 times it is purely a reflect of he likes the place and hence the review should be updated or I should penalise. 

But as mentioned they are robots, the review as part of process hence host is the one to get penalised. What a irony. I requested the guest to send email review which he was kind to do so and was feeling bad on me loosing status due his faliure but in the whole mix AIRBNB team had no compassion or regrets of the shortcomings of their process. 

Now I have another case where guest never checked in and cancel same day at 10pm and expected the complete refund which under . my cancellation policy was not permitted guess what he does he leaves a negative review. 

How can AIRBNB allow that ? knowing anyone in that situation will provide negative feedback as he is going through the emotions of loosing money. 

If this is the way Airbnb treats hosts guys what have been doing so long. Have you been accepting every unjust move of Airbnb staff on you and your place & your life style have been accepted or you guys just keep quiet since it has not happened to you?

Need some guidance to understand why these forums exist are they usings hosts to be their support team or this is an area where hosts they cry crib and then move and slowly get habitual of the unjust by Airbnb. 

Airbnb exist because of hosts so should be treated with respect and dignity if nothing more !!

[Mandy81]

@Anuj2 sorry to hear about your superhost status I had a lot of short bookings this month and not all reveiwed so I almost lost mine too but that's not fair that you lost yours because someone loved what you were doing so much they kept coming back.

[Anuj2]

Thanks Mandy I hope Airbnb get their act together before any competition catches up.

[Beth80]

@Mandy81 

You can write a reply to the review and gently try and correct things.

I strongly suggest that you post a copy of what you are thinking to write here first and allow other experienced host to review it first. Remember all replys are actually directed to the future guest who read her review and wonder what is going on.

[Mandy81]

@Beth80 thanks for this I replied before I knew about the community saying basically this guest never stayed it was a cancellation and the information she has provided is untrue. Thank you for the advice.

[Mini14]

I've used the public reply to a guest's review recently but in the midst of editing my response  I sent out the reply accidentally. I was dissapointed that I could not edit my response. Airbnb should give us Hosts a time frame to edit our reviews. 

[Helen3]

Hi @Mini14 

If you want to make sure your reviews or responses to reviews are correct, just type your reviews or responses into a word document, edit them until you are comfortable and then you can paste the final reply. In this way you won't accidently upload the wrong information.

[Mini14]

Yes Helen I should have known better! Normally I do a draft first but in this instance I was so upset that I just wanted to send a reply. Here you can edit your posts and Airbnb should consider being flexible to do that for the public responses too.