Revenge Review

[Emma574]

Hi everyone,

We recently had a guest stay that put a claim in for a full refund, Airbnb investigated her claims which were found to be false. Within minutes of her claim been denied she left a malicious review that went above and beyond. Airbnb refuse to remove the review, it’s the first review people see when our listing comes up and is impacting our business. 

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Many Thanks

Emma

[Sandra856]

Hi @Emma574 🙂

Sorry to hear about this .

What you can do is to write a response that make the guest look stupid. 

You should know that the guest will never see your response. She won't get a notification that you wrote a response so ONLY upcoming, potential guests will read your response. (But upcoming guests won't know that she won't see it so write it as it is to her).

You should sound professionel , non-emotional (no cat fight or any bitching..haha ) and sound over the top kind so every upcoming guest will think the review was a revenge review because Airbnb didn't refund them. You can word it so upcoming guests will find sympathy for you and the situation that the guest left you in. That is my advice 🙂

[Branka-and-Silvia0]

@Emma574 

Unfortunatelly you didn't review your guest so you don't have to opportunity to reply to her review as @Sandra856  suggested.  But, the good thing is - you have other, wonderful reviews so your future guests will hopefully disregard this odd one.

[Sandra856]

@Branka-and-Silvia0 it is a myth that we can't leave a response if we don't leave a review. I did it myself about 2 month ago. You can see it by going to my profile and look for the review from Benjamin from Germany. I have had 2 Benjamins lately but it is him from Germany, Minden/June 2019. I didn't leave him a review but noticed afterward that I was able to respond to his review anyway. I tried and it worked.

Best, Sandra 

[Branka-and-Silvia0]

@Sandra856  really? If so then it's great .... but I tried once and I couldn't... strange...

[Sandra856]

@Branka-and-Silvia0 Take a look at my profile. Benjamin, Germany from Minden /June 2019. It was when I noticed it and wrote a reply. Maybe it wasn't possible in the past but it has definitely changed as it is now. 

[Sandra856]

@Branka-and-Silvia0 I just wrote a response to a review to a guest I didn't review 2 minuttes ago. Stig from Norway/August 2019 if you want to see.

It almost sounds like I don't leave reviews at all now... I almost always do but sometimes it slips 🙂 

[Branka-and-Silvia0]

@Sandra856 

so how do you do that ? Where do you find your reviews, where do you click to open the text area? Step by step please

[Sandra856]

@Branka-and-Silvia0 The thing is I just press re in the webbrowser on my phone and the review address is automatically suggested as I use it so often 🙂 I use chrome webbrowser on my phone because it offers much more than the airbnb app. The address to my review page is https://www.airbnb.dk/users/reviews/3593997. If you find your airbnb number and switch it out I think you will find your own private webbrowser review page. But also try finding your airbnb page via your webbrowser on your phone. It looks diffrent than if you look at it from a computer. 

[Susie111]

@Sandra856Thanks for sharing, great to know.

[Branka-and-Silvia0]

@Sandra856  I've checked again and no, I wasn't able to leave a reply to her review.

I've got an email from Airbnb:

Now that the review period is over, we’ve posted xxx’s review to your Airbnb profile.
While it’s too late to write a review of your own, you can send your feedback to xxx using your Airbnb message thread.

(and here is the red button link "send feedback" to the message thread)

When I went to my profile with all the reviews I've got, I could see her review but without the option to reply.

[Sandra856]

@Branka-and-Silvia0 you have to do it from a webbrowser. It is not possible from the app. As you probably know there is a big difference between the two. The page looks like this. 

[Sandra856]

[Sandra856]

@Branka-and-Silvia0 You can see on my profile I just left a response to Stig from Norway less than 30 minutes ago. I didn't leave him a review. But you have to do it from the web browser like shown via my screenshot. 

[Emilia42]

@Branka-and-Silvia0 Had three weeks past? You only have a three week window to leave a response.