Asked to leave a review for a quest who canceled

[Chris232]

I had a guest booked in for yesterday 26th June '17. Received a message in the morning stating due to illness unable to travel and at mid-day received a message from AirBnB that a full refund had been issued 4hrs before check in, even though moderation policy but understandable due to illness.

Now, just received a request from AirBnB to give a review

"Rate your experience with *****

You can leave a review for your guest even though the trip was cancelled. We won’t share your review until after Heidi leaves feedback for you"

How can I write a review about someone whom I never met? and more to the point how can they write a review about a place they have not seen or about me whom they have never met

This is crazy, especially if they leave a poor star rating

As I side note in the messages I did express my sympathy that she was unwell and that as a good will gesture will give a discount on her next booking if she chose to visit home town

Confused Chris

[Lawrene0]

Wow! It said "...even though the trip was cancelled"? Old rules were that we could review only guests who had actually stayed, and guests could review only places at which they had actually showed up. Okay, so communication is possible to rate, but cleanliness? Observance of house rules? Were you asked to give star ratings for those, or were the categories customised?

This is disconcerting, @Chris232, and I'm really glad you wrote here with the news. I have had far more guests cancel this year, thanks to the new refund-of-airbnb-fees policy. They seem to book to hold the place just in case they can come, and then cancel the week, or even the day (flexible policy - it is a must here) before. I am not looking forward to being reviewed by all these commitment-phobes. And if they don't review because they did not stay, which would only be right, will our percentages suffer? Was this something hosts asked for? Hope not. Sorry for all the rhetorical questions. I'm with you on the "confused". 

[Chris232]

@Lawrene0

When I click on leave review, I am sent to the normal page with options to leave Review, and the following;

Describe Your Experience (required)

and
Private Guest Feedback,

But no where to leave comments to AirBnB.

The options are available to rate upto 5 stars;

Cleanliness
Did the guest leave your space clean?

Communication
How clearly did the guest communicate their plans, questions, and concerns?

Observance of House Rules
Did the guest observe the house rules you provided?

And

Would you recommend this guest?
Your answer will not be posted on your profile or your guest’s profile.
No Yes!

So yes can leave star rating, So guests whom are compelled to leave a review and star rating will either leave no stars or 3 stars being average, highly unlikely they will leave 5 stars as they have not stayed nor met the host

Well done AirBnB, another well thought out plan

[Lawrene0]

Good grief! Thanks, @Chris232. Hoping this is one of those experiments that turns out to be short lived! 

[Kate157]

While your guest may have been legitimately ill, @Chris232, it has also become pretty well-known that if guests claim this they can get refunded by Airbnb no matter the host's cancellation policy. They can say they are ill. A child or parent is ill, grandma is in the hospital, etc. so,e of the guests do have legit reasons, but for others, it is a super easy way to get out of their booking commitment. As hosts, we have no say over any of this. I'm not sure what the solution is, but asking hosts to write a review for guests that never stayed is bizarre!

[Chris232]

Hi @Kate157 my concern is not with the refund, I feel sorry for the guest taken ill that they were unable to travel and have offered a discount when they next book.

My concern is they are able to leave a full review and to judge us in all aspects without staying or meeting the host,

and that I have been asked to leave a full review without even meeting them or staying in my home

[Kate157]

I think you are a very kind host @Chris232! I am more skeptical about people always telling the truth. In any case, I would just ignore the review prompt.

[Andrea9]

@Chris232

Thanks for posting this latest Airbnb flare-out. I can't believe they seriously think this is going to help anybody!!!

And then even without being able to leave a comment for Airbnb as in "Guest didn't even stay!"

To repeat @Lawrene0's comment - Wow...

Craziness abounds.

I'd message them on FB or Tweeter about this nonsensical new brain fart.

[Branka-and-Silvia0]

@Chris232 @Andrea9

the same thing happen to us the day before yesterday we had a no show, I informed Airbnb on twitter about it but despite that we got prompt to review yesterday.

[Lawrene0]

I find @Chris232's situation more worrying than the no-show prompt, @Branka-and-Silvia0. In his case it was a cancellation - a refunded cancellation - and he is being prompted with "even though the trip was cancelled". It is not an oversight. It looks like some new roll-out. <Shudder>

[Iren2]

I am being asked also to review a guest, that Airbnb canceled on my behalf, and never happened. This can't be good.

[Marit-Anne0]

If guests have a tendency or a pattern of cancelling their reservations, it could be handy for us hosts to know ?

[Fred13]

 Then what is there to give an opinion on? I can imagine such a review:   "By the guest's communication, (as far as we got), my opinion is that other hosts should accept (not accept) this guest". Consider how hard is to fairly judge the validity why someone really did cancelled, especially when it is for real medical reasons (or irrational fears)...

 Example, I had one guess cancel because they were afraid of the Ebola virus which they MAY be exposed to by staying in an ~isolated~ island  and this MAY affect his wife getting pregnant, since they MAY decide to have children someday. My real opinion? They should not only not step out of their home, to be on the safe side, but perhaps also not entertain propagating in the first place.

[Marit-Anne0]

@Fred13

You could simply write that the guest cancelled for personal reasons ? No-one sees the star ratings in any case, so could be given at random I suppose ?

[Fred13]

Airbnb should write that, not the host, just as they do when we cancel a guest.