Guest Had Airbnb Delete Negative Review

Stephanie636
Level 10
McKinleyville, CA

Guest Had Airbnb Delete Negative Review

I had a difficult guest who broke the house rules, showed up with more guests than she paid for, and left a mess. I left a review accordingly, specifically stating that I did NOT recommend her to future hosts. She called Airbnb claiming my honest, objective review was “unwanted contact” so they removed it citing harassment (?!). I’m utterly stunned. So much for integrity, Airbnb! If hosts can’t forewarn other hosts about bad guests, what’s the point of reviews?! Feeling abused and unspportd as a host, I’m compelled to delete my listing altogether. This is shameful.

207 Replies 207
Victoria567
Level 10
Scotland, United Kingdom

My review about this recent guest from Salt Lake City Utah, has been removed 

 

Hi Julie
Thanks for reaching out and declining to pay for the use of my washing machine and electric tumble drier


I love feedback whether it is positive or negative. I especially like feedback like this so others can see the “entitled” guests I sometimes have to deal with.


There is a large element of trust in being an air bnb host and I feel that trust has been eroded by a guest who does not care about honouring the £10 fee clearly stated in my air bnb listing for use of my laundry facilities in my family home.

 

Yes.....it’s my home, not some hotel or large corporation such as Hilton or Google who can forgo the odd Ten Bucks.
In fact it is the home of a retired senior, a woman in her sixth decade.


Particularly galling, as this gullible senior, also waived her Strict cancellation policy and let you change your booking from 2 nights stay to a 1 nights stay ( at your request, a couple of days prior to your arrival) FREE OF CHARGE and this senior also lost £62.50 in payment into the bargain!

 

I appreciate any guest who chooses to spend their money in my family home until they act like like this and tries to make it up to me by promising to write me a nice review.

You can pen whatever review you wish and I won’t lose a second of sleep over it.


The only thing I have lost this season, is trust in the “ entitled” guests that seem to be increasingly using the air bnb platform for a cheap deal, rather than being genuinely part of the sharing economy.

 

I shared my beautiful modern home with you, I also gave you fresh grown organic fruits of apples and plums to eat on your onward journey ( as part of my warm hospitality) but Im afraid I do not wish to be part of any deal!....whether bartering down a price for my accommodation or getting your money’s worth or even getting a good review as quite frankly I’m quite appalled by your attitude.


Enjoy the rest of your holiday in Scotland.

 

@Victoria567  Instead of leaving this as a review, I would have sent it as private feedback, as it is very personal towards the guest, and left a thumbs down review with simple code lines to warn other hosts " Many accomodations outside the norm made for this guest, who showed no appreciation for the efforts made on her behalf.  Would not host this guest again." 

This gives other hosts a heads up not to accept her, and it won't be removed.

Remember- the reviews we write are for other hosts to base their guest acceptance on, not for us to ream out the guest publicly. Because they're NOT worth it.

Victoria567
Level 10
Scotland, United Kingdom

It seems that my review for a guest called Julie from Salt Lake City in Utah has not been published.

 

 

Hi Julie
Thanks for reaching out and declining to pay for the use of my washing machine and electric tumble drier


I love feedback whether it is positive or negative. I especially like feedback like this so others can see the “entitled” guests I sometimes have to deal with.


There is a large element of trust in being an air bnb host and I feel that trust has been eroded by a guest who does not care about honouring the £10 fee clearly stated in my air bnb listing for use of my laundry facilities in my family home.

 

Yes.....it’s my home, not some hotel or large corporation such as Hilton or Google who can forgo the odd Ten Bucks.
In fact it is the home of a retired senior, a woman in her sixth decade.


Particularly galling, as this gullible senior, also waived her Strict cancellation policy and let you change your booking from 2 nights stay to a 1 nights stay ( at your request, a couple of days prior to your arrival) FREE OF CHARGE and this senior also lost £62.50 in payment into the bargain!

 

I appreciate any guest who chooses to spend their money in my family home until they act like like this and tries to make it up to me by promising to write me a nice review.

You can pen whatever review you wish and I won’t lose a second of sleep over it.


The only thing I have lost this season, is trust in the “ entitled” guests that seem to be increasingly using the air bnb platform for a cheap deal, rather than being genuinely part of the sharing economy.

 

I shared my beautiful modern home with you, I also gave you fresh grown organic fruits of apples and plums to eat on your onward journey ( as part of my warm hospitality) but Im afraid I do not wish to be part of any deal!....whether bartering down a price for my accommodation or getting your money’s worth or even getting a good review as quite frankly I’m quite appalled by your attitude.


Enjoy the rest of your holiday in Scotland.

 

 

 

I too have experienced this entitlement!! It’s a **bleep** shame that people don’t get it. Airbnb has lost its sweet spot. It’s too big now. All the stupid people who don’t understand the point are flowing in like rats. Like every other good idea…  it’s too mainstream to uphold its original integrity. It’s unfortunate. 

Mary996
Level 10
Swansea, United Kingdom

Hi Amy

But lets not be complacent about it... rather join together to request improvements...!! As has happened here. The point has been taken and we won!! Yay!  So lets keep providing feedback and requests for ongoing improvement.

Lizzie
Former Community Manager
Former Community Manager
London, United Kingdom

Hello @Stephanie636,

 

It's great to see you update here and your kind words, thank you for sharing. 🙂

 

Thanks,

Lizzie


--------------------


Thank you for the last 7 years, find out more in my Personal Update.


Looking to contact our Support Team, for details...take a look at the Community Help Guides.

Mary996
Level 10
Swansea, United Kingdom

@Stephanie270

Fantastic news! Thanks for sharing. Faith restored xxx

 

Sarah977
Level 10
Sayulita, Mexico

@Stephanie636  Thanks for getting back to us to let us know it worked out favorably for you. These kind of posts give us all some hope.

I'm just not sure why Airbnb can't address an issue in a timely fashion when they are first contacted about it, instead of taking 2 weeks to get back to a host with an acceptable solution. If it's a matter of responding appropriately just because of not wanting the bad press, that's really not okay. In the meantime, they've caused the host a lot of upset and frustration.

@Stephanie636  This is a reasonable outcome. Its about TRUST.........practicing their company ethics. I'm glad they looked after your case. Thanks, this is important. We as hosts need respectable guests and vice versa. 

I guess everyone can learn from all these experiences. I myself have been a host for Airbnb for three years. Every year worse and worse. I have had my super host status stripped due to bird crap falling on the cars of my guests. Literally!!  After new carpet and finer tuned stays due to my experience I was rewarded with nothing. I have reclaimed my beautiful space as my own and couldn’t be happier for it! Good luck fellow hosts! I bid you farewell:)

Mary996
Level 10
Swansea, United Kingdom

Oh dear... sorry to see you go Amy. Lots of luck for the future x

Ken60
Level 2
Greenville, NC

I just hosted a guest who had five stars and great reviews — until an unreasonable, sour host destroyed her rating over “dirty dishes”. The guest was shocked by this accusation and realized it was an excuse to keep the cleaning deposit. Her response to the host was polite and non-accusatory. She was afraid I would not accept her reservation because of the bad review. In fact, she was one of the best guests I’ve ever had.

Victoria567
Level 10
Scotland, United Kingdom

Hi @Ken0

Glad it worked out for you.

Perhaps it’s a perception of shared values?

What is acceptable to one host is unacceptable to another.

 

I recently hosted 2 guests from Salt Lake City, Utah with 9 glowing reviews.

Unfortunately this pair did not glow particularly brightly during their stay with me.

 

This pair of entitled chancers thought it smart and acceptable to not honour payment for use of my laundry services despite my listing clearly stating a fee was to be paid.

 

One hosts bundle of joy can morph into another hosts sour grape, but at least I would appreciate if air bnb allowed hosts reviews to be published, so at least hosts may make their own minds up as whether to host certain guests.

 

Maria969
Level 2
Rogers, AR

I had a horrible guest, advantageous and cheater.    How can Airbnb side with a guest if is flagrantly abusive and diminished?

does someone has a good story when Airbnb sided with the host and put the guest is it’s place?

@Maria969  I had a few times where they have sided with me on issues. One was regarding theft, damage and late stay. I got paid for all the theft and damage of $339. I only got $50 for the late stay though and my cleaning cost was double cost and time. Recently had a guest book a group booking that finally timed out after 6 days only to have her rebook it as a group pay again later that night. After 2 more days of her still not paying I involved AirBnB they got her to pay it. Then she wouldn't sign the rental agreement and AirBnB stepped in again. She ended up canceling the next day. She wanted to rent a boxing match on pay per view and realized we lived on property and her party was over when she read the rental agreement. I have had 2 cancellations that guests wanted refunds and they held up my strict policy in both cases. They have explained to one guest that my infant's must be paid for rule was valid when the guest kept insisting it was against AirBnB's rules for me to charge for them and that they needed to pay for the 2 infants. There are a few other times also, but twice they gave me a hard time about canceling a reservation penalty free until I directed them to their own policy and then they finally did it. I think if you document everything in the AirBnB messaging system and are polite and reasonable to the customer service rep you can get good results, but you must also know all of AirBnB's Term of Service and all their Policies to fight back and win. That's one of the benefits of all these hosts on the forums, they know a lot of the Terms of Service and Policies you can use in your favor, so you can get help to argue your case, usually rather quickly.