Guest review

[Jenny1428]

Hi all,

I'd appreciate any advice on leaving a review for a bad guest. I've only been hosting since May and we just had a guest who vandalised parts of our property and left all the bedding soaked in urine. We had to replace all soft furnishings, repaint several walls and replace a furniture too. I suspect they may have been filming amateur porn, but who knows.

I invoiced the guest for the majority of the damages and he did pay it, but obviously the right thing to do is leave him an honest review as a warning for other hosts. I'm concerned that doing so will impact on our bookings as other prospective guests could see it and I know I'd be put off booking somewhere if I knew this had gone on in the bedroom etc.

I raised my concerns about this guests behaviour and my safety concerns with Airbnb, a "senior safety officer" messaged me back, the whole response seemed pointless and very disappointing. As far as I'm aware no action was taken.

I feel a bit vulnerable leaving a review and this guest has reviewed us, but obviously I can't see it yet. We have all 5.0 star reviews and I know our property was immaculate when the guest entered, but following his behaviour I thought it very weird that he reviewed us immediately on leaving. I'm concerned what his review might say. I asked Airbnb to look into this but they refused. Now I have to leave him a review by tomorrow or I'll lose my option to respond to anything he has written. 

TIA for any advice here

[Mike-And-Jane0]

@Jenny1428 You absolutely must review this guest. I fear they may leave you a bad review which you can respond to but not leaving your own review will suggest to some prospective guests that the bad review is truthful.

Now I would not go into great detail in the review - something along the lines of 'XX caused significant damage to our property which, whilst XX paid for the remediation work, means I would not recommend him/her to other hosts and would not host him/her again.'

[Jenny1428]

Thank you @Mike-And-Jane0 I really appreciate your advice on this and your suggested review sounds much more professional than mine would have. Would you mind if I use some of your words?

If he has left a false bad review for us are Airbnb likely to get this removed for me? Because I haven't received any support from them on this guest issue so far and I'm so disappointed.

Thanks again

[Mike-And-Jane0]

@Jenny1428 happy to help.

Airbnb won't move reviews unless they break their review policy - Sadly falsehoods are allowed under this policy. The key to an unremovable bad review is that your response must be aimed at future guests NOT at the author of the bad review.

[Brian2036]

@Jenny1428 @Mike-And-Jane0 

I completely agree about not going into the gory details.

Just note that there was extensive damage and that you have spent thousands putting your property back into perfect condition.

Their review is going to be posted whether you post one or not, so just do it and help us all identify destructive guests.

[Jenny1428]

Thank you @Brian2036 You're both right about keeping the details out of it.

I just wish that Airbnb would have taken some action to prevent him doing the same thing to other hosts he has future bookings with (He'd been reviewed by 6 other properties in the preceding 2 months so seems to spend a suspicious amount of time in Airbnbs).

[Branka-and-Silvia0]

@Jenny1428  I am curious - what kind of reviews he got from other hosts?

Airbnb should immediately ban such guests from the platform

[Jenny1428]

@Branka-and-Silvia0 My thoughts exactly. No-one who behaves like that should be able to enter a host’s home.

But Airbnb’s “senior safety officer” did not care or take any action at all. Hence it’s down to me to deal with on my own. Feel very vulnerable and I am beyond disappointed in Airbnb. I sent them photos of the mess that was left and it feels as though they have taken the guests side. Pretty disgraceful and I’ve lost ALL trust in the platform sadly.

[Sarah977]

@Jenny1428  One thing to know is that Airbnb will never disclose what actions they have taken against a guest or a host. So while you may see that this guest still has an active profile, he could end up being banned at some point if and when the report makes it through to some trust and safety rep.

Or they may have put a flag on his account, giving him one more chance, and if they get another report, will ban him.