inaccurate guest reveiws

[Alastair-and-Glen0]

Hi Guys

we recently had a guest stay that had more people staying than what she had booked.

We sent a very polite sms to the guest to bring this to her attention as we were in the house next door and noticed when we were putting rubbish out when they were all in the driveway. she accepted the charges, however she said she was very uncumfortable for us approaching her in this way.

however now we are dealing with a revenge review.

All prior correspondence featured love hearts and a very happy response,  until she was caught out.

I have contacted the ABNB support to have this review removed and can send them all supporting evidence, however until that happens its on public review.

Does anyone know, if i make a reply to her review calling her out on this, can she reply to that?

very frustrated that all the hard work that goes into it, and a dishonest guest get the chance to make false accusations. 

Thanks

Alastair

[Sandra856]

Hi @Alastair-and-Glen0 🙂

Your guest cannot respond to a response you leave. The guest will never know you left a response as the guest won't get a notification that you wrote a response. Only upcoming /potential guests will read it. That makes it very important to sound like a great host. Please read this thread and you can read the reply the author to the question ended up leaving on here profile. 

https://community.withairbnb.com/t5/Help/Revenge-Review/m-p/1117654

Hope that helped a bit. 

Best, Sandra 

[Alastair-and-Glen0]

Thanks for your message and link, Sandra.  Very much appreciated and good advice.

Have a great day.

Regards

Alastair

[Kelly149]

@Alastair-and-Glen0 I'd not respond to this guest since you haven't responded to any others.

compared to your place and your other reviews her review already stands out as odd... the hosts communicated with us and knew that people came to the house... um, ok

If you do respond, I'd keep it SUPER short. "This review is retaliation for being called out on breaking important House Rules. Honest guests will always enjoy a visit to our home."

In the end her mentioning that you have the ability to know who comes and goes at your home may to your advantage at deterring future cheaters.

Personal SMS messages early in mornings with information to check-in and check-out. Hosts alerted once technology pin code entry is activated. Hosts watching via cameras to confirm number of guests in the home.

[Sandra856]

@Alastair-and-Glen0, I agree with@Kelly149. I didn't read your reviews so my advice was a general advice :-).

[Helen3]

Surprised to see on your review that you said you would welcome back a guest who lied to you and brought an additional three people into your property that she had not booked and paid for. And then reacted badly when you politely asked her to pay for three extra people she had tried to sneak in @Alastair-and-Glen0 

[Alastair-and-Glen0]

Thanks Helen!

We were giving her the benefit of doubt, not being too confronting by pointing the finger and calling her a liar!

We all know the bookings are present to one guest, she changed it to two but claimed she didn’t know she had to change it. 

I think there are enough holes in her story, particularly because of her slanderous comment about us watching her on a camera, to have the comment removed. 

As for welcoming her back again, she did look after the house, and we lived in hope for her not to get spiteful! 

Karma will take care of her!

[Ann72]

@Alastair-and-Glen0  I like her review because it will ward off potential cheaters, as @Kelly149 surmised.  To the uninitiated it just sounds as if she's outlining how things work at your place.  I'd just shrug and move on.  She's what our unfortunate president would call a loser.

[Sarah977]

@Alastair-and-Glen0  When you say you sent an sms to the guest regarding the extra person, you mean you sent it as a text message, right? It's really not a good idea to do this with anything that could possibly prove contentious. Stick to the Airbnb messaging, so there is a record of the exchange should you need to bring it to Airbnb's attention.

[Alastair-and-Glen0]

---

thanks Sarah
I found that guests do not read their airbnb messages, as it snot their every day routine.  Many occasions you have to resend a message multiple times to ensure they have received it.  Moving the communication to text message was a solution to get their immediate attention.

However, that said - as you say the messenger is a record, and we will go back to this system as a future safe guard.

thanks for you feedback.

regards

Alastair

[Alastair-and-Glen0]

I sent a message to support outlining the situation and requesting the review be removed because if its slanderous accusation and they don't feel its in breech of their policy, which is very disappointing.

I would assume when someone makes an accusation like this that is unproven, and a lie that it is deemed acceptable.

I have asked for this to be escalated but got a this is the final decision response.  So no request to see any previous correspondence. just a no.

How does one escalate this further.

TIA

alastair