Email Backlash After Leaving a Critical Review

Dan132
Level 3
Oakland, CA

Email Backlash After Leaving a Critical Review

Wow, the review process here seems increasingly complex and jaded. I recently received a highly distored review from a guest that is currently under "review" by a "case manager" for accuracy. I didn't like it one bit and replied to the review but didn't not contact the guest directly. 

 

The guest before him was someone I left my first critical review for and he replied with a long-winded and threatening email on the Airbnb email platform. I reported it and now wonder if anything will come to it. I really hate "internet debating" because it so often seems to lead people down rabbit holes instead of into understandings. But in this day and age of Internet reviews, debates, etc. it seems to be more and more of the norm. 

 

What I'm now very curious about is if Airbnb will sign-off on a guest's disgruntled email. (This particular email I regard as harassment.) So how far does one have to receive attacking emails from someone before Airbnb will actually do something about it?

 

Honestly, if I don't like how a guest treated me and my space and I left them a critical review I would like to be able to shut off all personal communication with them! Otherwise they can go on a rampage and we are not able to turn the thing off?

2 Replies 2
Farah1
Level 10
Seattle, WA

@Dan132 this happened to me before. A guest broke 3 house rules. It was 1am in the morning and we needed to go to work the next day. This guest was being very loud that it woke us up. I went out from my bedroom and found him with a girl (not a guest) in my kitchen with ALL of my cabinets opened. Being half awake and half asleep, I reminded him that quite hours started at 10pm... thinking about it now, I should contact ABB right away and did not let him stay. Anyway, lesson learned not to do that again. I left an honest review stating what rules he did not follow. I received multiple messages from him calling me names. B word and F word all over the message. I reported him to ABB and I was really hoping that ABB will not let him to be a user again, but of course that was not what happened. He still has a profile on ABB and can use the site. The craziest thing was when I found out that ABB removed my review from his profile! I called ABB right away and asked them to put the review back because my honest review did not violate any of ABB rules. They stated it back and the review stays (till last time I checked).

Wonders never cease. I'd like to think that by replying to the negative review I recently got from the last guest to Airbnb that it was the most professional approach. I can easily document his lies and I've chosen to go the route of waiting and hearing a wide range of perspectives from Airbnb customer service. I still don't know what's going on with this "case' but it's ongoing. I really didn't think that emailing the guest directly was appropriate. 

 

So then I get a reply from the one and only negative review I gave and he is livid and emails me an attacking email. I now have to wonder how Airbnb will deal, or not deal, with this situation. Does Airbnb allow former guests to keep using their platform to send emails? Do they allow hosts and guests to go on long-winded rants against each other like so many other Internet platforms?

 

Seems to me that once you've left a review and a reply to review that should be the end of it between the parties involved. Anything else should be mediated by Airbnb. There should be a Firewall! And of course if someone engaged in discrimination or violates the terms then there should be an intelligent authority that deals with that. There are a number of national news discrimination cases involving Airbnb....it happens...but for lesser crimes such as differences of interpretation I think we should have some protections against people who are pissed off that we left them critical reviews. 

 

What does Airbnb do about these situations?