Review

[Geraldine60]

I have received a review today from a guest who booked my apartment to stay yesterday via an instant booking.He didn’t speak English or French so communication was extremely difficult between us. Upon his arrival he got lost and was unable to find my apartment.  In the end he gave up trying to find the location of my apartment due to his lack of English and French. consequently, I heard no more from him.  I came home after giving up on him and phoned Airbnb to see if they could track him down.  They also gave up trying as the guest would not respond.  So the guest never stayed in my apartment which was an instant book for one night.

Today I have received a warning from Airbnb that this guest left a review for my apartment and gave me a scoring of one on the cleanliness. I am furious to put it mildly.  How can a guest leave a review like this when he never even stayed at my apartment?  Comments would be greatly appreciated.  I have been with Airbnb for four years now with 179 good reviews.  What are Airbnb playing at in sending threatening e-mails like this to their dedicated hosts!

[Matthew285]

@Geraldine60 it can be difficult to remove a review. I see some chance for you, though, because the guest reviewed you for cleanliness without seeing the listing. AirBnB's content policy says, among other things, that reviews violate the content policy if:

• Reviews that do not represent the author’s personal experience or that of their travel companions

https://www.airbnb.com/help/article/546/what-is-airbnb-s-content-policy

Be aware, though, that I have heard from some hosts on this board that they believe that the even when a review is removed, the affect of the Star-ratings stays.

Contact AirBnB host support to request help with the problematic review.

[Geraldine60 · Accepted solution]

Thank you Matthew for your reply.  I appreciate your advice.  I will contact Airbnb as you suggested to see if they can get the review removed.  I know in my heart of hearts this will be highly unlightly.  It’s just so unfair that some guest who hasn’t even stayed in my apartment can do such a thing and Airbnb allow this. It’s absolutely crazy. I am always booked throughout the year and have been with Airbnb for four years.  I am a pensioner and rely heavily on this income from my apartment.  If my bookings go down from a scoring of one for not been clean from a  guest who didn’t even stay at the apartmet.  Airbnb will also lose out as their cut in getting me the bookings over the years  will also be lost.  It’s just crazy.  It just doesn’t masse sense.

Thank you again Michael.

[Donna240]

Be sure to respond to the review with this information, so other people can see what the problem was. Most guests notice when a bad review shows up and when it is followed by more good reviews, they ignore it, so don't worry about losing bookings. Now I'm wondering what language the reviewer's computer showed when he responded to the review request.

[Geraldine60]

Thank you Donna for your reply.  Yes, I was very quick and did respond to this guests review by stating that he never even stayed at the apartment.  Thank you again.

[Tatyana17]

Athough rare, but sometimes there is a guest with some personal problems, that takes it on the host, and/or the place. I think, we, as hosts, have to require from the Airbnb some kind of protection from unfair reviews. Now, close to the nest CEO meeting for answering questions, is the time to do it. Good luck to all!

[Geraldine60]

Yes, I totally agree. Recently I had guests who complained that my bed linen and towels could have been cleaner.  All my bed linen and towels are spotless.  This is just shocking that guests can get away with this by leaving a very damaging reviews.