Clarifying content policy

[Susan612]

Air Bnb content policy states “we reserve the right to remove any content, whole or part, that violates these guidelines or our terms of service. (Click in terms of service and you are taken to the terms of service).

Terms of service section 10 gives guidelines for reviews. Section 10.2 in fact states a review “must be fair, truthful and factual.” As well as not contain any offensive or defamatory language. 

In discussing the content policy’s reference to the terms of service with a case manager supervisor I was told by that supervisor;

“Customer service evaluates reviews alongside the content policy alone.”

After a couple email exchanges where I felt like my questions asking about the terms of service being mentioned in the content policy were not being answered directly I simplified my question.

I asked the supervisor flat out

1. When reviewing a review as per the content policy does your team consider whether the review violates section 10.2 in the terms of service. Yes or No? 

2. If a review is not fair, truthful or factual or contains offensive or defamatory language will that review be removed Yes or No.? 

Her answer was “I apologize but I am unable to follow you down this line of questioning.”

 You all are hosts vulnerable to a guest leaving a review that is not fair, truthful or factual. 

Would anyone be willing to address this matter further and see if you get a more affirmative answer that the terms of service section 10 regarding reviews will be enforced if violated?

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[David126]

I read it and like a lot of things it is open to interpretation.

I am sure that how you view it is different to how I would view it, we have different backgrounds, different understandings about what words might mean

I do not know how many people ABB employ to deal with these things, I have only had to make contact with them a few times and certainly in one case English was not their first language and I can see that dealing with such nuances is difficult when it is.

Then add into the world wide nature of AirBnB.

You only have to look at the Host Guarantee and the Extenuating Circumstances to realise that the practice and the written policy vary.

As long as I have a rough idea what the reality is then I can manage my business accordingly, I realise that in any given situation it might not go my way. You could well speak to 10 different CSR's  and get 10 different answers.

I do not sweat the small stuff, I have 3 rooms and short stays so in a busy week often have 10 reviews to do, that is bad enough.

[Susan612]

@David126 ageee that can get 10 different responses from 10 different case managers and policies are open to interpretation which is why I posted this because I believe the polices have intention by whoever created them that goes beyond all our interpretations and the case managers should be consistent. 

Can you be more specific about what you are referring to in bringing up the host guarantee and extenuating circumstances? 

[David126]

I have an Insurance background and so understand the HG wording and see a common theme on how it is dealt with by ABB in the many many posts on here, that does not match the written word.

I had somebody cancel on me, obtained a full refund under Extenuating Circumstancs and I know they did not provide any documentation to support their claim as required. I have also read many posts where a similar thing has happened or a refund has been given outside of the written policy.

Customer Service positions like this do not tend to pay well, I assume have a high tunrover, doubt many have a legal background which is actually what you would need, and no doubt have limited training.

[Susan612]

@David126 are you saying when a guest claims extenuating circumstances the reservation money is taken from the host? 

[David126]

Nobody else to take it from, why I say you can never assume AirBnB will uphold your booking conditions.

I looked at your profile and if I was picky as a Host I would be worried about a couple that suggested you cancelled short notice.

[Susan612]

@David126 curious why you don’t read reviews? 

[David126]

Reviews, they give me nothing, most are fine and the odd weird one used to annoy me. So I stopped reading them.

If anybody has anything important to say well I am on site, they can say it to my face.

I spoke with a friend who has just listed and I think he said he has had 7 so far, 1 was odd and naturally that was the one he was talking about. Told him that I never read them, he said he can not help himslef, weird fascination, told him it was part of the business and not to get sucked into the odd ones.

Just remembered it was a complaint about his location, as if he could do anything about that, she booked and they were skiing and obviously did not want to pay the Ski Town price and searched lower and he popped up as we are much cheaper here, duh there is a Map showing his rough location, I show my percise location and still get the same thing.

I have seen people on here who take reviews personally and forget it is business.

[Susan612]

@David126 it is business and that’s why I think review policies should be enforced. I am solely a guest and I rely greatly on reviews and call me crazy but one bad review could draw me away from a property because I have been to a lot of properties and am surprised how many reviews leave out things that I think are important facts ... like the property has construction materials all over the yard or the husband and wife hosts talk very loud in the morning at 5 am in the kitchen which is right next to your bedroom. So when I see a bad review I know on one hand it could be a disgruntled guest but at the same time it could be someone just being honest 

[David126]

Find me one thing on say Amazon that has a 100 reviews and all are good?

If you will not stay with anybody who has had a bad review you will be restricting yourself to new hosts or those with only a few reviews.

I remember being told at a Tourism Conference that small businesses are best avoiding any review system, I was spammed sometime ago on Facebook so I deleted the review option. Somebody I knew who had never stayed with me. It is a problem for the bigger operations who can afford to employ somebody to manage the social media.

Sadly the review system is what it is, and even if the ABB rules were fully enforced as you understand them to be there still would be issues, nature of the system.

[Susan612]

@David126 apologies I wasn’t clear enough with my words. I don’t walk from every property with bad review but I do consider comments guests make in deciding whether to book so it is important they be fair truthful and factual 

[David126]

Most reviews are OK, but some are not.

More reviews more likely you are to get weird ones.

[Susan612]

@Ben205. Just curious was your case manager in the US or Overseas? 

[Susan612]

@Ben205. First remind the case manager the policy states while or part and there is no reason to remove all. Back soon with more 

[Ben205]

@Susan612Good question about where the case manager is based. Call a UK number but the accent was probably US. Didn't ask and it could be anywhere, I suppose.

I think @David126 has probably got it right that the review will disappear soon enough, and it's not critical, just clumsy. I probably will pursue it, though, just to see how ABB handle it. They've always been helpful to me up to now. We'll see.

I think if it was an important issue, it could be very frustrating. I read reviews when I stay places, and if there was a negative review in the top 6, I would probably choose somewhere else.

[Az2]

it would be cool if some official moderator from airbnb would come to this discussion and bring would help us to understand how system works.