Revenge Reviews

[Allie179]

AirBnB needs to create a new policy for how to handle REVENGE REVIEWS. My only 2 bad reviews have come from guests who retaliated after I have filed a claim for damages. I did post a reply to the revenge reviews, but that does not make up for the reviews dropping my rating from 4.89 to 4.73 and causing me to lose super host status! I have finally recovered my rating to 4.8 and just yesterday had a guest that left with nearly $3k in damages. Since I know AirBnB won't protect me from a revenge review, I'm now forced with the decision between submitting the claim immediately and risking my rating and future super host status or taking my property offline for 14 days and waiting until after the rating period to submit my claim. Being forced to take my listing offline for 2 weeks in order to submit a claim is a loss of revenue for myself AND for AirBnB. There needs to be a policy that offers protections for hosts against retaliation reviews! How do we get AirBnB to do something about this issue? There are dozens of post threads on this topic. How do we get their attention?

[Anonymous]

@Allie179  They're well aware of how hosts feel about this issue, but your post illustrates why they want to keep it that way. If the fear of a retaliatory review deters hosts from filling claims, it ultimately saves them money. Why would they want to change that?

However much you're emotionally invested in your Superhost badge, you have to ask yourself if it's worth absorbing a $3000 loss for. And besides, trying to prevent a bad review from a bad guest is about as futile as trying to change the weather. The only time when you really have the power to do this is when you're screening guests before accepting a booking.

[Allie179]

Thanks, Andrew. It's not so much that I'm emotional or precious about the badge, but rather I understand the search algorithm and the guest trust in superhost badges increases the booking power of properties with the badge. It's hard to quantify if the loss of revenue from not having the badge compared to the $3k in damages.

[Anonymous]

@Allie179   The Superhost badge is a behavior modification tool, so of course that's how Airbnb want us to believe about it. In reality, the benefits are drastically overstated. Of the hundreds of guests I've hosted, and the many people I know who have stayed at Airbnbs (by now, almost everyone between 20 and 50), I can count on one hand the number who have ever noticed the "superhost" thing and zero who admit to being influenced by it. Personally, mine never had any impact on my occupancy rate - the only benefit I've ever experienced from it is that one coupon per year, which is less than what you make in your cleaning fee alone.

You have a gorgeous, very spacious home in a popular and central location, and excellent value for the price. When travel recovers from the pandemic slump, this kind of listing tends will be in high demand regardless of stars and badges. So don't forget - you're the boss here, Airbnb is just your listing service. Keep earning great reviews of course, but don't let your listing service manipulate you into acting against your own interests out of fear for the bad ones.

[Tommy150]

The review period also seriously needs to be CUT way back.  14-Days is absurd.  It should be 48-72 hours max... That's plenty of time for the host to have checked the property and plenty of time for the guest to carve out 2 minutes if they want to leave a review.

If we could get reviews posted quicker and not leave them open, it would leave hosts in a lot better position to be able to claim damages without retaliation!

[Helen3]

I don't think 2-3 days is a reasonable period when many guests are travelling so may not have good Internet access.  @Tommy150 

what Airbnb needs to fix is the issue of revenge reviews for hosts who evict bad guests/claim fir damages 

[AZ-Housing0]

14 days is reasonable? Common, if they don't leave review in first 3 days, they won't leave 90% of time.

[Peter154]

I absolutely agree and support!

It is not understandable why Airbnb doesn't support their (Super-) hosts.

After 300 + positive reviews ( 4.8) I had on scammer guests, that threatened with a bad review -and did it, its an insulting and offending fraudulent review, filled with lies and wrong accusations- But Airbnb "support" doesn't delete it. Unbelievable.  We have to stick together to solve this unfair review practice

[Allie179]

Hi Peter. I kept escalating this review and itemizing the reasons that the review was wrong. I finally found a support person that made a ruling in my favor and the review has been removed.

[Kyle476]

@Allie179 I support you and your efforts with having a revenge policy in place. It is truly needed on the platform to protect other hosts, by allowing and encouraging other hosts to feel comfortable enforcing the  rules that they have in place for their listing. I too am an Airbnb super- host and recently filed a claim for resolution, where a guest smoked marijuana in my listing during there stay. Mind you they accepted my house rules before their booking and agreed by accepting that they would comply with my rules and therefore, not smoke in my home. However, when inspecting the property after the guests check out I found the home to smell of marijuana and tobacco smoke. This was really upsetting to me as I really focus on overall cleanliness of my listing and want every guest to experience the listing as it is presented, a non smoking home. Therefore, I felt that I needed a professional cleaning service come to verify the odor and therefore give me something to stand on when moving forward to collect the additional costs associated with a deep clean that included the walls and carpet and furniture located on the second floor. The company used was a cleaning company that is well known across the United States. The quote was $450.00. The space is small so this deep cleaning needed to be done, to ensure that the odor would never be noted by a future guest that was booking a non smoking listing. I called AirBNB they informed me to file a resolution with the guest to pay these charges. Mind you I collect a $350.00 security deposit through AirBNB as well. However, note this is really not anything in fact I would not even call it a security deposit as they decide if you can collect this. Therefore, after asking the guest to pay the additional fees, he declined immediately. Then I had to wait for Airbnb to determine their thoughts, they said pretty much too bad, can't collect the security deposit and that the additional cleaning would not be able to be covered because it was intentional and not an accident that a guest caused such as breaking something etc... I guess I understood this as they knew they were smoking so it was not an considered an accident, so it would not qualify under the host guarantee. Therefore, since it did not qualify under this insurance my security deposit would not be able to be collected or claimed either. I then began to begin to second guess myself and my understanding of a security deposit and wondering why if this is how Airbnb manages a security deposit they are pretty much useless. With this, I simply got upset was never rude to Airbnb and or the guest. In fact I was probably too kind to someone who just permeated my home with marijuana and tobacco smoke. However, I was just trying to move on and accept that clearly in AirBNB's eyes it is ok for someone to rent a home with a no smoking policy, smoke inside and then leave. So nothing happens to the guest so they can continue to do the same where ever they go and stay and AirBNB will do nothing so the defiance as the guest realizes that nothing will happen to them. I personally think it is absolutely insulting, to commit such an act in someone else's home, and I would never commit such an action however, I don't smoke nor was I raised to damage someone else's property that did not belong to me. Mind you my listing is on my 130 acre farm so they had plenty of room to smoke, I just don't want such activities to occur in my listing. However, I have up and moved on paid the additional fees and just assumed that it was the cost of doing business. On day 13 the guest of course sent a review of 1 star on every level and wrote nothing but only left two emoji's, that I personally don't even really understand and really don't know what they say about the stay or my home as a whole. Therefore, I then reviewed the guest gave him 3 stars unknowing what star rating he left for me. So I gave him an honest 3 stars. Yes he defied my rules which was very upsetting, however he left the home otherwise in overall good shape and he communicated overall pretty fair during the visit, so I felt that he deserved an honest 3 and I mentioned he probably should consider a listing next time that allowed inside smoking. Then I submitted and saw the review he left for me which states noting about his stay overall, simply lists an emoji in the description box and in the private message section he left a big smiley face, with the big smile with white teeth exposed cheek to cheek. Therefore, I took this as "got ya sucker". Therefore, I was upset and again wrote and called Airbnb about this ridiculous review, that to me does not reflect me or my property at all especially since every other review is 5 stars, a total of 20. Yes that's probably a low count, but for just starting this hosting journey 1 year ago in rural America, I felt that it was pretty good. However, this one review left by a guest that defied my rules and got away with it ruins my reputation, yes others can see that all my other reviews are 5 star, but my point this is clear to be retaliation if you ask me, especially since the guest wrote nothing about his stay and or his experience. So I got stuck with a home that stunk of smoke, enquired additional expenses due to a guest defying my house rules, and got a poor review that taught me nothing. It was been over a month since the guest checked out and my messages sit in limbo as someone reads over them, however I hope they remove this review as it is no reflection of me what so ever. This is my third message sent to Airbnb as the other two representatives stated that the review was appropriate and did not go against any of their policies. However, I remain hopeful as the last representative seemed very genuine and kind and like she was going to do something however, I'm yet to hear back. I'm beginning to I guess just accept it and say it is what it is... but the point is that it should not be like that.

I feel in my current situation, the guest not only got away with smoking in my home both tobacco and an illegal substance  and all the fees related to their actions, but they also were able to leave a 1 star review knowing that it would damage my overall reputation, therefore an action of sabotage and or retaliation for simply enforcing my rules and policies I have set for my listing. So thus far I have learned that security deposits collected by Airbnb are a complete waste, and this sort of behavior is ok and or appropriate on the Airbnb platform, therefore putting the host out to dry when I did nothing but, enforce my policies that I have for my listing. I was taught to be a rules follower, but from what I see here rules are simply a recommendation as when they are defied nothing happens to the guest and he will continue to do the same time and time again because hosts don't want to be like me, not only stuck with an additional cleaning fee, but also a poor review that sabotages their numbers and or overall rating. As from my situation above, and the events that took place.... if another guest smokes in the future in my home I probably wouldn't even report it and or attempt to enforce my rules, as I know the end result of enforcing rules, you get zero compensation from the guest, Airbnb or the pointless security deposit, so you are forced to simply eat the added expenses and you will most likely get a poor review from the guest, that damages ones reputation. Therefore, the guest will continue to act and defy the rules other hosts have in place time and time again as they use the platform. Therefore, I feel that a policy needs to be developed for retaliation like reviews and also the security deposit policy needs to be looked at. As in its current form, hosts are in no way collecting a security deposit as they think that they are, so this is very misleading. I think how VRBO does it is fair, as the deposit is collected and after the host inspects the home, the deposit is released and refunded to the guest. That is in fact what a security deposit is, and how it should be managed and if you don't like to pay a security deposit that's totally fine just pick another listing that does not have one in place. I would love to hear others experiences. I have enjoyed reading the comments in this forum and have definitely committed some of the information to memory on what tactics can be used next time, however neither the guest or the host should have to use tactics to enforce policies and or rules that are put in place that a guest must in fact agree to before booking. 

[Anonymous]

@Kyle476 The only emoji that appears in that guest's review is the male gender symbol. I won't even try to understand what the guest meant by it, but if you want to try getting it removed by Airbnb you might be able to challenge it on the grounds of relevancy. Obviously the review has no content that would be useful to anyone considering your listing.

I hope you're able to do this, and also have your response removed. You've got to keep in mind, the audience for a review response is only your prospective guests. They can't see the ratings attached to a review, and when you write a huge statement in response to an emoji it's just confusing. So try not to sabotage your own listing by making a totally unnecessary rant. 

[Allie179]

I've collected on the host guarantee a dozen times. I've NEVER heard that it was required to be an "accident." I would call and email AirBnB again and escalate. 

As Andrew0 said, you can 100% get the "emoji review" removed because of relevance. In your complaint to support, you should literally quote their policy. I took that advice from Till-and-Jutta0

(from the top of this thread). In my second complaint about the revenge review I quoted https://www.airbnb.com/help/article/2673/airbnbs-review-policy

To keep reviews relevant, we recommend avoiding the following:

• […]
• Profanity, name-calling, and assumptions about a person’s character or personality

After my second complaint where I quoted their rules, they took the review down!

Best of luck!

Allison

[Kyle476]

@Allie179  thanks so much for your info. Also I appreciate @Anonymous  for his insight and help as well. I just wanted to provide an update.

 After going back and forth for 2 months now, AirBNB had provided no assistance what so ever, such as with any compensation for additional cleaning, and they state the review is relevant in their eyes. I’m not sure what they see relevant about the review seen above, also they refuse to call me and that I find truly upsetting, as I am requesting the call just so they can explain their side and or reasoning. However, they refuse and tell me they don’t have to call and or provide me with any explanation…

I feel this is pretty sad as we all strive as hosts to provide exceptional service to our guests, in return adding to the profits and success of the company. However, as noted from my experience when we as hosts have an issue this is the service we can expect to have, that is very upsetting if you ask me. Airbnb, truly need to support hosts and super hosts with a better caliber of appreciation as without us they don’t exist…

This is the policy I found on relevance listed on the AirBNB site…

Moderating for relevance:

Reviews provide community members with information and insights that help them make better booking decisions. Reviews are most helpful when reviewers accurately recount their experience and provide their honest opinions.

Where a review contains information that is unrelated to an experience as a host or guest, or is focused on something beyond the control of the person being reviewed, our moderation team will weigh the relevance of the review by assessing:

Does the review recount the reviewer's experience and provide their personal perspective?

Is the review helpful to other members of the Airbnb community? Does it provide essential information about a host or guest, listing, or experience that would help others make more informed booking decisions?

If Airbnb determines that the review contains no relevant information about a host or guest, listing, or experience, the review may be removed. Reviews that contain mostly irrelevant information are also subject to removal, but only where the otherwise relevant information would not be expected to meaningfully inform the booking decisions of other community members.

I maybe missing it, but I am not seeing how the above review is in anyway relevant after reading the policy… 

I Thank you all for your support on this as it means a lot. At-least someone, supports me and my thoughts regarding the issue at hand here. It’s my wish that AirBNB offered the same support for hosts and those of us who strive to provide guests with a exceptional experience. I feel we deserve to be protected a lot better in these situations, and or offered much better customer service when we need it.

I honestly have had an overall positive experience on the platform up till this experience, however I am fearful for the day when I have a catastrophic experience where things go wrong as I feel no one will be there to help, as my expectations are now exceptionally low with AirBNB support and I’m sure they will not provide any support similar to ad they did here, as they simply just pass the buck as seen with my situation experienced here… 

In fact they informed me that they never even got in contact with the guest, yet they still are allowing him to book and use the platform… I also find this a bit upsetting too as If they guest refuses to call back when being investigated to provide their side of the story this is just another red flag that shows guilt. 

Thanks again, and if you ever hear of airbnb working on a policy for reviews left in sabotage like nature, I would be more that happy to provide first hand insight  and experience on how they should not be counted and or moderated.

The review in my opinion if left after a resolution claim is made in the resolution center and it’s seen to be sabotage in nature, the review should  be removed immediately, as it can be assumed the guest was upset for the host reaching out for additional compensation,  as if the guest truly had a bad stay or experience at a listing they would immediately state this in a review soon after checkout, and not wait as the guest did in this situation, as soon as a claim was made by myself the host they quickly rushed to submit an unsatisfactory and untrue review that is 100 percent irrelevant in every way of my listing. 

[Kyle476]

 

I tried to attach this 1 star review to my response but it didn’t seem to attach but, again it’s hard for me to see the relevance here that the customer service agents feel it provides. In fact, as time passes I almost find it a bit comical thinking that they actually feel the review as it exists on my listing, provides future guests any insight on my listing and or explanation of the guests feelings or reasoning for his review. As a result, I truly wonder what kind of training these customer service agents have in moderating, as in my opinion the training must be truly subpar. 

[Anonymous]

@Kyle476 Sorry to hear you had no luck with customer service - it really does come down to luck, unfortunately. But while it's at their discretion whether someone else's content is removed, you always have the right to remove any content that is authored by you. For example, you can insist that they take down your public response to that review. There's no good reason for all of that to be there on your listing - it's not the kind of thing people want to read when they're looking for a relaxing place to spend a holiday. 

[Branka-and-Silvia0]

@Kyle476  This is a "male" symbol. Do you know how I read it in the context of damage refund retaliation?  Like  "Well, f**k you" . I think this is a good reason to be removed.

Unfortunately, even if they remove the review, the rating will still remain.

Regarding damage claims, I always file it if the damage is higher than 20$ .

I am not afraid of retaliatory reviews bc I can always reply.

I am not afraid of a low rating, as you see it is out of our control, sooner or later we all get some bad guests. I lost my super host status bc I couldn't host for a year and didn't have enough reservations to meet SH criteria. So bad reviews are not the only reason for losing it.