Guest reviews

[Kerry63]

Hi. We have hosted a few Airbnb guests in our home, who have all loved it and given positive feedback. My last guest checked in and said the house was disgusting. I had the home inspected on their departure as they checked out the same day. I was advised that our home was clean and all looked good. They complained about garbage in the bin - the bin was outside the home as the refuse was being collected that day. They complained about bird droppings on the patio - this is a farm property so hard to avoid on the day, and there were very few! They complained that drinks were still out on a tray - we leave these out as a welcome drink for our guests. I was so shocked when they advised me. As I was not there I took their word for it and offered to settle with them and not get involved in reviews etc. I have since learnt from Airbnb that it is my decision as to how much I refund. I have offered them a 50% refund on what I received. So my question is are they able to review me to the public of Airbnb if I do not review them first?

[Steve143]

Hello @Kerry63,

Sorry to hear that this happened to you.

Yes, if you don't leave a review any review they leave will be visible on your profile and listing page 14 days after the checkout date.

If they don't leave a review and you do yours will appear on their profile 14 days after checkout.

If they do leave a review with which you don't agree you can leave a response. That response will be public on your profile only, under their review. The general advice for these responses is

keep them short - 3 or 4 lines

don't mention anything in the respopnse that isn't in their public review e.g. don't respond in the review to any point they mentioned only in private feedback to you

keep it professional and unemotional. Defensive comabtive responses reflect more badly on the host than on the guest.

Steve.