Reviews

[David74]

I had a guest book on Friday for Saturday night, they requested a late check in 21:00 with a late check out 16:00, the guest was couple from the US travelling with his Salvadoran brother and his family they requested me 2 rental units for a total of 7 people.

They arrived 2 hrs late at 23:00 I had drive to a main intersection and lead them to my property as they failed to follow simple directions, once at the property the person that booked checked the rooms and was satisfied and explained the rooms layouts to  the brother who never got out of the car but said he did not want to stay at the property no reason was given and they left.

The next morning I sent a message to the guest asking the reason for not staying so if there was a problem I was unaware of it could be rectified. No response to my message but they have written a review.

My question is: as I can't see the review until I write mine of the guest, which is unfair IMO and as they have not responded to my request for the reason they left I imagine it is a negative review by a person who never stayed at my property, how would you hosts with more experience handle this situation bearing in mind the prospective guest was polite and friendly but was following the wishes of his brother.

[Julie218]

I would advise you to put it behind you and not risk unlocking his potentially bad review. It is not worth the stresss.
Did you get paid?

[David74]

Yes Airbnb released the payment as they aren´t aware the guest did not stay and I do not want to jeopardise the payment as they left the property at 21:30 so the night was lost to other potential guests.

[Gerry-And-Rashid0]

His review will be published after 14 days, whether or not you post a review. You may wish to wait to see what is in their review, and then you have the ability to publicly comment on that review. Personally I would wait...as you have no idea what will be said.

[David74]

Can I comment on the review after the 14 day limit? I am under the impression that I will not be able to respond after 14 days.

[Deborah1]

You will not be able to write one on them, but I think you can still respond to a review on you. Still, I would contact airbnb since they did not stay there.

[Deborah1 · Accepted solution]

I would contact airbnb. My understanding is that they can not do a review if they do not stay.

[Deborah1]

Also, when I anticipate a possible bad review, I wait until the last minute to do one on them in order to delay the one they did being public any sooner than it has too. (It becomes visable after 2 weeks even if you don't do one.) By waiting, it also could be buried a bit if you have other guests who stay and do a review. Good luck!

[Andrea9]

@David74

As @Gerry-And-Rashid0 say, I'd wait and see.

Although as @Deborah1 says you could then take a passive road , you do also have the possibility of responding publicly to their review. Keep it short and professional.

You could also contact Airbnb right away and describe that they didn't stay and left right away so that they wouldn't be able to leave a review.

[David74]

This is the option I am leaning towards as I do not want to lose the payment, it also gives them 2 weeks to respond to my message and failure to inform me what I could to rectify their concerns makes them look bad  should things go to resolution.

However I am still open to suggestions, thanks to all who responded.

[David74]

They inspected the property then left, would that not qualify them to do a review?

[David74]

Update, I was finally able to get a response from Airbnb via their "Airbnb action" page on Facebook, they judged the review to be against community guidelines and deleted it.

My advice is to forget the help section on the host site and go straight to the Facebook page, saves a lot of frustration!

[Ira4]

I would go to the Resolution Center of Airbnb and ask for their help. 

[Rosemary36]

I want Airbnb to separate my Host reviews from the reviews I receive when I'm a Guest at Airbnb properties.

I think it causes confusion...they are two different things....

Why would my guests want to see Airbnb host reviews of me, when they simply want to review my property.