Help - how can I prevent a no show from giving me a bad review?

[Tom385]

I have a guest who booked two nights and didn’t show up. I have yet to receive any assistance from Airbnb with the issue and now the guest has just sent me a request for money. This is the first I’ve heard from the guest despite sending them multiple messages, email and sms and calling them. I have received no apology or genuine explanation from the guest so I’m not inclined to issue a refund. My concern is that they will give me a negative review despite the fact that they haven’t been in my accommodation, is there some way of blocking them from giving me a review?

[Ian-And-Anne-Marie0]

@Tom385 You only need to refund that amount specified in your cancellation policy. AirBnb arrange refunds and it is them who issue refunds. Don’t pay the payment request.

Did your guest cancel or just not turn up?

If they didn’t cancel they would be in a position of needing to pay the whole booking up until their planned departure or until they cancel.

The guest sending you a payment request for a refund could be construed as an attempt at extortion in exchange for a favourable review. I would contact CS to inform them of the payment request and that you feel you are being held to ransom to pay monies in exchange for a favourable review. The AirBnb review process forces this fear on hosts and it should just not be tolerated.

[Tom385]

Thanks for your assistance. Do you know if there’s any way of making it impossible for them to leave a review seeing as they didn’t stay in our accommodation? 

They didn’t cancel and didn’t contact us at all until the refund request. I was very concerned for their wellbeing as they didn’t reply to any of my attempts at contacting them.