Getting a Review Removed - Doesn't meet points?!?!

[Anna9908]

I recently had a review on my property where the guest referenced a totally different Airbnb's past stay/listing. The past guest said, "We were a little spoiled I guess from the last Airbnb we stayed stay at, people had left coffee, they're spices and there was a ton of towels. At 1st it felt a little lacking". What I gather is this guest is stating that I didn't have coffee nor spices for her to use during her stay. This 100% is a false statement (now maybe she did not know where to find them). Since she referenced a totally different listing this is not relevant to my listing nor is even the truth. I have tried to dispute the issues saying that under Airbnb's policy this isn't relevant. The policy clearly states: "(3.) Reviews should be relevant." "To keep reviews relevant, we recommend avoiding the following: commentary about past Airbnb reservations, hosts or guests". When I contacted support they said that they could not remove it because it didn't meet enough points?!?!? What does points have to do with it? Airbnb CLEARLY has a policy that says to be relevant you should avoid referencing past reservations, yet they refuse to remove it for some points system that isn't published. I am sorry but this is just wrong, and again, another example of how Airbnb really doesn't honor policies. Hosts beware!!!

[Anonymous]

@Anna9908   As a reference point, here is the entire text of the review you're referencing:

Anna was very sweet and prompt in her communication. Everything was exactly as stated. We were a little spoiled I guess from the last airbnb we stayed stay at, people had left their coffee, they're spices and there was a ton of towels. At 1st it felt a little lacking but turned out to have everything we needed and sometimes less is more isn't it. The porch with the hot tub, fireplace and view was my favorite. Oh and that upper deck, wow just wow. Great drinking water as well, it was very cold coming out of the fridge and clean. Great times were had.

That sounds to me like a very positive review - certainly one that wouldn't dissuade a guest from booking your beautiful cabin. I think if the only comment in the entire text was about the guest's previous stay, it would be irrelevant. But what I see here is an honest and thorough review that draws from past experiences to make a complete statement about the guests' experience. This seems much more helpful for prospective guests trying to make a decision than those reviews that were purely complimentary but didn't say much. 

Look, you have a successful and much-loved listing, a very high rating and great reputation on Airbnb. The fact that someone had the audacity to find some tiny perceived flaw amidst a sea of compliments would be a crazy thing to get your knickers in a twist about. And you know what? If Airbnb made a habit of censoring every review that the host deemed insufficiently flattering, I sure wouldn't trust that anyone else's "Superhost" status was earned honestly. Would you?

[Anna9908]

Andrew, I understand your opinion that the guest review was flattering. However, from my perspective it is confusing to future guests. The review is very difficult to read, in general. When she mentions her being spoiled with other Airbnb stay, then list things we actually provide. It is confusing and not relevant per Airbnb's policies. Any other platform that actually has ratings/reviews honors their policies when a user brings content to their perspective. This singular review doesn't take away my "superhost" status. However, it is confusing to future guests. This is the whole intention behind reviews. Reporting reviews that violates policies needs to be upheld, otherwise ... Why have the policy at all? This is also a legal issue for many companies. To display a policy then refuse to honor it. If you think that having a singular review removed in someway takes makes my superhost status unearned - think again. However, if a guest violates Airbnb policy and I report it, it does need to be taken down, plain and simple. I would hope if you were ever in this situation, maybe with a less flattering review, Airbnb would actually honor their policy. 

[Anonymous]

@Anna9908   The review policy recommends a few things to keep reviews "relevant."  A recommendation against something is not the same as a prohibition on it, and when they introduced that "relevancy" clause they did advise that reviews containing an irrelevant detail would be upheld if it also contained useful information. Don't take my word for it, see here: https://www.airbnb.com/resources/hosting-homes/a/making-reviews-more-relevant-and-useful-for-our-com...

"If Airbnb determines that the review contains no relevant information about a host or guest or listing, the review will be removed. Reviews that contain mostly irrelevant information are also subject to removal, but only where the relevant information does not meaningfully inform community members."

So their decision isn't inconsistent with the policy. They reserve final say over whether content on their platform merits censorship based on their guidelines. And I'm sorry, but censorship is a really extreme reaction if the only thing you fear here is "confusion" to your future guests.

If a review contains inaccurate or misleading information, the perfectly simple solution as @Sarah977 suggested is to publish a Host Response, addressed to viewers of your listing, that corrects any misconceptions that may have been caused. I know you're aware of this procedure because you've done it at least once before, although on that occasion you made the common mistake of addressing it to the reviewer.  

[Sarah977]

@Anna9908  There is no way I would ever ask for a nice review like that to be removed. If you really feel you need to  correct the coffee/spices remark, you can leave a response along the lines of "Thank you for your review,  XX. I'm glad to hear you had a nice stay and it was lovely to host you. One small correction for the benefit of future guests- I do provide coffee, spices, and plenty of towels, so either you couldn't find them, in which case I would have told you where they are located had you asked, or perhaps you got the details of your stay here confused with another Airbnb you were writing a review for?

[Sarah4235]

what a pain, I understand you

[Anna9908]

Listen, I pride myself on having great guest stays. Per Airbnb's policy the tone of the review makes no difference. It is NOT relevant for a guest to mention her past stays, additionally in an untruthful way. She left me 4 stars and the only flaw was spices and coffee that we do leave for guests. It is not a relevant comment and is confusing to guests. I personally feel disputing a replying to reviews is petty. I have seen it both ways for guest and hosts. I personally did it once and vowed never to do it again because the person was completely ridiculous. It may be a good review in your book, however, it still violates their policies and frankly is confusing to future guests because we DO provide those things. Calling on a past guest stay VIOLATES the policy per relevancy - plain and simple. If I have an issue with it, which I do, then I have a right to ask Airbnb to enforce it and remove it.   There support representative does not deny it is in violation of being relevant. Instead she stated, "The review needs to have at least 3 of these examples in other for it to pass the threshold for it to be removed. what I am disclosing to you is how the process works." No where in the actual policy does it state this. You cannot make a policy then straight refuses to honor it. Which they are doing. As a user of the community it is 100% my right to ask for it to be removed. I don't see any grounds that has actually been publish for Airbnb to refuse it. Yet, they did. I am not happy with the review, it is problematic and can confuse future guests. It costs Airbnb NOTHING to remove the actual review. 

[Sarah4235]

Hosts are human too but they don't understand  you do your best but it's never enough, cruel, very cruel

[Anonymous]

I get the impression that you'd like to speak to the manager.

[Sarah977]

@Anna9908 "I personally feel disputing a replying to reviews is petty."

Clarifying misleading statements in a guest's review isn't "disputing". It's exactly what review responses are intended for. To let prospective guests know that something stated as a fact in the review wasn't correct, or that an issue that was your responsibilty has been dealt with. 

If the guest saying there weren't any spices or coffee or plenty of towels is the issue for you that prompted you to try to get the review removed, which it seemed to be, then why not just set future guests straight on that in a short sentence and be done with it? Why all the drama over getting it removed? It was a nice review with a very small bit of incorrect info.