Racist guest and fake review. But airbnb wont remove it

Aurora139
Level 2
Augusta, GA

Racist guest and fake review. But airbnb wont remove it

I had a racist guest stay at one of my family members homes and would not pay. I am a property manager who had to call the police for him to leave and he sent very racist comments to her and trashed the house. His whole entire comment review is fake! From how many rooms to who was there! I am very frustrated with the customer service who would not remove the fake review, we have many of the racist screen shots, even another customer service rep said he broke policy and blocked him from us and did a payout. We also have the photos of the trashed home and police call but the person we spoke to said no to removing his review. Does this not go against their policy?

Thanks for reading

8 Replies 8
Andrea2893
Level 4
Las Vegas, NV

Try requesting a different case manager or even request to speak with a supervisor to have the case reviewed again. 

Linda108
Level 10
La Quinta, CA

@Aurora139   You are calling on behalf of another Air BNB host, right?  Any reason why the host cannot call directly?  Have your family member call directly.  

Anthony608
Level 10
Silver Spring, MD

I am experiencing this right now.  I have two bedrooms with a shared bathroom and one my guests got very upset when he realized he would have to take a shower after two black women.  Sensing what was going on, I offered to clean the bathroom on the spot for him.  He declined, used the bathroom, but then on the way out made a comment that he didn't like using the bathroom after other people.  He left a 4 star review, which in itself isn't bad, but marked the house down as being unclean and an inaccurate listing. 

 

He clearly did this because he didn't like using the shower after a minority woman.  I also don't think he read the listing and thought he would be by himself.  I called AirBNB this morning and they said they are reviewing the case.

@Anthony608   You have a great many positive reviews and in the last 5-6 months I do not see any negative comments.  Perhaps the review was removed?   Did the guest really express discomfort at using  the shower because of race or was it more generic because he was unaware of the shared bathroom?

@Linda108He left a public review that was generically nice, but marked the room as 4 stars overall with 4 star cleanliness and accuracy.  I ordinarily wouldn't contact AirBNB about something like that, but it was so blatantly obvious he had downgraded the room to 4 stars because of what happened I felt obligated to call AirBNB.

Linda108
Level 10
La Quinta, CA

Ah, that makes sense, but I don't believe Air BNB uses the Content Policy for non public guest feedback.  Obviously with your review record the 4 stars will not have an impact.  If you have proof of the guest's racist comments, that might be a reason to flag the profile, however.

There was another situation about six months ago where two German women stayed with me for about a week.  They were overwhelming with their praise of the room, saying how they had previously stayed at an AirBNB in New York City which was terrible.  I helped them organize their tours of Washington DC and even called museum information lines and translated for them so they would know hours of operations and featured exhibits.

 

When they left, 4 stars all over the place in the individual categories and 4 stars overall.  Then it occurred to me, the last few days of their stay the other room had been occupied by an African American gentlemen.  The German women had been using the shared bathroom as if it were their private restroom with hair products everywhere and underwear drying on the shower rod.  I asked them to please take personal items out of the bathroom and the one time I observed them passing this black man in the hall, they gave him looks like daggers.

 

It was enormously clear they downgraded their rating to 4 stars because this gentleman had been present and they clearly didn't like a minority using the bathroom they also used.  There was no proof however, so nothing could be done.  The situation I described in this thread is a bit different because the man involved actually sent a message saying he wanted to use another bathroom.  I will see what AirBNB does; maybe they will take the review down.  As you said, one 4 star is not that big of a deal but I have had an unfortunate streak of jerks coming through leaving 4 stars for no obvious reason.  Not enough to make much of a difference, but everyone does hurt a little.

Sarah977
Level 10
Sayulita, Mexico

@Anthony608  Since this has now happened to you twice, it might be worthwhile for you to add some wording to your listing, saying that as you rent bedrooms to unrelated guests and are open and welcoming to all, anyone who has an issue with sharing the bathroom and common spaces with someone of another race, nationality or gender, would be best to book another listing.