Untrue bad reviews

[Delia90]

Hey guys!

i recently received a bad review after staying at a retreat for 1 night in the Yarra valley & im so disappointed & frustrated about it. AIRBNB will not remove it & the host will not answer the private messages I’ve sent her asking her to explain. The review is completely dishonest & she’s calling me dishonest & that she wouldnt recommend me to any host. I’m so shocked that someone can just up a lie or a fake story about you & for there to not be able to have it taken down. Isn’t it discrimination to lie about someone in public? The review is complete untrue & im not even sure what she is talking about. I paid for 4 guests to stay 1 night but she wrote that I had snuck someone else in over night... it is absolutely not true & if it was I would cop it on the chin. But she has left a terrible review about me & I don’t understand how that can be fair. Does anyone know how I can have it taken down. I’ve asked her to tell me when I was supposed to of snuck someone in. She saw all 4 of us at checkout & spoke to us all for about 5 minutes before we left. I’m not sure if she was she seeing something that I was missing because there was only 4 of us there EVER! It’s just very strange.. do people go out of their way to write bad reviews or is this as weird as I think it is.

if you have any ideas of what I can do please help because AIR BNB won’t. 

Thank you 

[Tami247]

I tried to get the guidelines changed to allow the support VA’s (offshore Airbnb Staff in support team) more freedom to address untrue reviews by guests.

I think this was a simple request 

IF A GUEST DOESNT RAISE AN ISSUE DURING THEIR STAY THAT THEY SHOULD NOT BE ABLE TO RAISE THE ISSUE PUBLICLY IN A REVIEW”

this particular guest lied about everything that is important to future guests.  I always ask, during their stay, if there are any issues and nothing was reported- I had no opportunity to assist - obviously because they were lies!!

anyway after 2 weeks of investigation and even the defamation team (all VS’s) rejected my request to remove the review 

I asked to have middle management contact details- hopefully someone from USA head office- but was rejected- they are not allowed to provide any more information to me

how frustrating 

Also the point system is flawed!

My rank went down by 0.3 points because this review must have given just 1 star across all categories 

the next guest gave a gleaming review & 5 stars across each category (A perfect review) and my rating only rose by 0.01

This is so unfair 

it will take me 29 perfect reviews to get my rating back to before this liar reviewed me

I don’t want to give up on my idea

I think it’s fair!  Why should the guest be able to degrade a property when they deny the host the chance to fix any issues during their stay but instead make it public AFTER they leave?  My guideline request will clear out all the lies but I can’t even propose it to the team who can make a change!

who else wants to rally this with me?

[Huma0]

@Tami247 

Sorry this happened to you. I have had similar experiences, e.g. a guest who didn't complain about anything during their stay (in this case a month long) but waited until the review/ratings. I'll be losing my Superhost status as a consequence. 

I am not sure if you're going to get very far with your suggestion though. Hosts have been very vocal about the unfairness of the review/rating system for years. There are hundreds of threads and thousands of posts about it here on the CC. Instead of making it fairer to hosts, Airbnb made it harder by changing the review policy to state that they will not mediate in terms of the accuracy of a review. If it doesn't violate the content policy (which your guest's review does not), they will not remove it.

On a positive note, your response to the review is excellent and the exact issues that the guest claims (AC not working, lack of cleanliness) are countered by the very next guest who stayed. No doubt that will be the case with following guests and this review will soon be buried under them.

Of course, it's really upsetting that your ratings have tanked due to this one guest and it will take a long time to get them back up, but try not to stress about it too much. Guests will book based on the quality, price, location and overall positive reviews, not necessarily on your score or Superhost status. Most people are sensible enough to spot one bad review amongst many glowing ones as an outlier. 

[Tami247]

Thanks you made very valid points but the system is still very bias. Guests are favoured over Hosts. I just have to accept there are nasty people out there and live with it!

[Tami247]

If I get enough support I am sure Airbnb may pay attention 

please email me if you want to make a change

**

I have it in mind to post a petition to USA head office address

**[E-mail address & phone number hidden due to safety reasons - Community Center Guidelines]