What technically do I do to correct a host's misrepresentation in their response?

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Gary19
Level 3
Oneonta, NY

What technically do I do to correct a host's misrepresentation in their response?

We host an airbnb, but I stayed in one for the first time. I wrote a private message with specific issues they could address, then wrote a fair and accurate review, which began and ended positively, but listed a few concerns that I thought future guests would appreciate knowing (like lack of hooks or closets, hot water heater for whole house in rm.) The hosts' response misrepresented the facts, and made it look as if  I lied and twisted facts. Airbnb listed the reservation under my husband's name, though I stayed there with a friend who also took a nearby workshop with me. I explained this to the hosts in the 2 phone calls I made to them. My friend and I were excellent guests, cleaning up after ourselves, respecting every rule made known to us, always turning out lights, polite, etc.    1. How do I find out if our hosts gave me a bad rating?   2. How do I respond to any bad ratings the hosts might have given us?   3.How (technically) do I respond to their misinformation on their review site?

1 Best Answer
21 Replies 21
Emiel1
Level 10
Leeuwarden, The Netherlands

hello @Gary19 ,

You made a reservation under your husband account and stayed with a friend ? Then it is a violation of Airbnb terms. Also writing a review under an account with is not yours is not correct. So whatever the questions are, the initial booking situation is wrong (third party booking). The host should not have accepted this reservation at all and the whole review issue would not be there also. Maybe wrong interpreted, but that's the way i see it, when reading your posting.

Best regards, Emiel

 

I made the reservation, Airbnb put it under my husband's name, just like it automatically put "Gary" on this letter. I have no control over that. I pd. the bill, how is it 3rd party? And, if I reserved it for 2 guests, why do the hosts care if the 2cd party is my husband or someone else? Besides, I called them twice, before I made the reservation and a month before, and told them it was not Gary, but a friend.

@Gary19  I believe you are confused, therefore you are confusing us, haha. The account seems to be under Gary's name, who I assume is your husband? Airbnb didn't "automatically put it under his name", that is how you set up the account yourselves. (don't worry, there are many of us who aren't that tech-savvy). It is a 3rd party booking because the account is not also in your name.

 

As to why a host would care if it was a 3rd party booking if none of the guests who arrives at a listing is actually the person who made the booking under their account, there is no security for hosts- airbnb will not support us if this happens and the guests are troublesome or worse. It is also problematic if the person who shows up is not the person who made the booking when it comes to the review process. If guest xxx leaves mess behind them, steals stuff, etc. a host's review of them will go on the account of the person who actually made the booking for them. It is also against Airbnb's Terms of Service.

 

You might want to change your profile so it shows both of you- Gary and (insert name). that's how most couples do it. That way either of you could book a place without a host being concerned about 3rd party booking. As it stands, if Gary books a place for you, because you aren't listed on the account, that would be a 3rd party booking, even though he is your husband. If you and he both are travelling together and he books it under his account which is only in his name, that's not 3rd party, because the account holder would be one of the guests.

Lisa723
Level 10
Quilcene, WA

1/2) If they reviewed you, the profile owner (your husband) would have been notified and the review would appear on his profile. You/he could respond there, but it sounds like they didn't. I don't think as a guest you can see the host's actual star rating of you, just their review. 3) you can't...  You get to review, they get to respond. You could try to make a case to Airbnb customer support to get your review removed, with the host's response. 

 

(You say you are hosts yourselves but if you were an experienced host you would know the answers to these questions, I think.)

Yes, Lisa, we haven't done much hosting. We had one booking, that has come back 3 times, and one that canceled. We are not very computer literate, so not very savvy about figuring airbnb.

 

Thanks for answering my questions.

Letti0
Level 10
Atascosa, TX

@Gary19  Your review in all honesty should be removed as it was a third party booking and against AirBnB's TOS, set up your own account for future bookings. 

First of all, why is it a 3rd party booking???? I made the booking, and airbnb put my husband's name on it, just like they are doing here.  I co-own the house we list on airbnb. As far as I know, I am listed as a co-host. My name is on the credit card, along with my husband's.

 

Secondly, what is a 3rd party booking?

 

Thirdly, how would I know that I should be separate from my husband in terms of booking? Thank you, though for the "head's up" about future bookings.

 

Finally, I told the hosts, in 2 separate phone calls, that I was doing the booking, and they never said anything. However, when they didn't get a perfect rating/review (and I tried, but there were a lot of problems, including never cleaning the rm in 2 weeks, no hooks or places to hang up clothes, etc.) they responded as if I had decieved them.

Thanks, Lisa. I would not have considered myself as a separate person, and certainly had no idea that Airbnb would.

@Gary19 according to Airbnb, you and your husband are two different people.

Sarah977
Level 10
Sayulita, Mexico

I don't see any reviews from hosts on this profile. 

Sarah,

OK, thanks for checking. Annoyed as I am about the way the hosts treated us, I was most concerned about the rating. It's a painful way to learn the lesson.

 

We were very careful and considerate guests; it's too bad they didn't appreciate that.

@Gary19 they may have appreciated that, but not have appreciated the review you left them. If you were a regular host you would know that our listings live or die by guests' ratings and the Airbnb rating system basically treats any star rating less than five as failure. Seems like it's probably water under the bridge now, though.

Ana1136
Level 10
Ohrid, Macedonia (FYROM)

@Gary19 in the end everything comes down to star ratings. You can prase the apartment forever in the comments but if it is anything down than 5* that could ruin the host. And  you say yourself they were minor complaints so why couldn't you adress them privately? Wouldn't you as a host want those thing done that way? And yes, you and your husband are diferent people and Airbnb sees you a such. I would suggest adding your name to the account or making a new one just for you.