Guest leaving inaccurate review

[Asury-and-Adam0]

I recently had a guest leave me a 1 star for listing accuracy because the TV didn't have cable and logging into Netflix account was a hassle because she couldn't remember her password! I was furious because my listing specifies that there is no cable and that TV was a Smart TV. She even called me shortly after checking in to ask how to work the TV. I gave her instructions and she sounded disappointed. I reminded her that this information was on the listing and sent her the screenshot of where she could find this info. She clearly didn't read prior to checking in or booking so now I get a bad rating because guest failed to read? I reached out AirBnB to see if review could be removed, but because it did not violate any policies it couldn't be. They recommended that I just respond. I did. I just hate that guests don't read before booking!!

[Huma0]

@Victoria567

I didn't include her whole message here. Believe me it was more than entitled! She told me she was trying to enjoy her holiday so not to bother her with this any further. 

Well, that's nice for her. It's me who now has a review basically accusing me of deliberately withholding important information when that is not the case at all.

The guest may have genuinely made a mistake, i.e. assumed something was not mentioned rather than deliberately lied. However, after I pointed out that the information was provided to her five times, she still felt that she had the right to write whatever she liked, even if it was blantantly untrure, regardless of the consequence to me.

[Victoria567]

@Huma0

I do believe you, as the sentence you posted from her response to you ,says far more about her,than it does about you.

You have beautiful accommodation and great reviews.

This guest review is obviously skewed and anyone with 2 brain cells to rub together, can read your other great reviews and book your accommodation with confidence.

Thats what matters

[Huma0]

@Victoria567

Thank you! Yes, we have to learn to take a deep breath and accept that we will get these stupid reviews from time to time. No matter how accurate the listing is and no matter how often you remind guests to read it, some are simply not going to. It would be nice if they could double check the listing if they felt that something wasn't mentioned before making claims about accuracy, but if they couldn't be bothered to read it in the first place, that's not likely.

Now that I have nearly 200 reviews under my belt, it doesn't make much difference to me. Once a few more 5 star reviews come in, the unduly critical ones are soon forgotten. However, for a host who is starting out and only has a handful of reviews, they can really sting!

[Nancy687]

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@Huma0 wrote:

@Asury-and-Adam0

It's should be shocking that Airbnb wouldn't remove such a stupid rating, but it dosesn't surprise me that much.

I had a negative review with low star ratings removed a few months ago. The Airbnb rep compared the complaints in the review to the information stated on the listing and also looked the communication and decided that the review was both inaccurate and retalitory (the guests caused damage in my property and then freaked out when I politely asked them to be more careful).

However, I do feel that something has changed. Now the standard response when a host reports a clearly inaccurate or retalitory review is simply "It's the guest's experience and it doesn't violate our content policy. You can always reply to it if you want." Even if they do agree to remove the review, they won't remove the ratings. They say it's not technically possible, which is not true, because in the example I gave above, the rep had no problem removing BOTH the review AND the ratings.

Sorry, this is simply not good enough. Why publish a post on these forums about how seriously they are taking this issue and protecting hosts from unjust reviews when their actions prove the exact opposite? It's just marketing, but it's insulting to any host with two brain cells. It makes my blood boil!

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[Victoria567]

Onion would have to have been really well boiled!

[Pete28]

Switching from 80% 5* to 4.8avg is going to slowly destroy the moral of the Airbnb host community. The bar for 1* review would be that the rental doesn't exist, or was dangerous. 

[Grace28]

I feel that if anything under 3-star for whatever reason the Host should have the ability to respond prior to it being posted.  If a #BoycottAirbnb happens because the #AirbnbHosts feel they aren't being heard would be an awful scenario. We live in our home we have listing in. We share our space with our guests. We love the experience(s), with exception to a few of the most recent. I don't feel we deserve to lost our SuperHost status due to circumstances beyond our control. The 3 reviews that come to mind was during a flood in our region which the Airbnb app stopped working on our mobile devices & we missed an "Instant Booking" & was unable to communicate with someone one the same day they were due to arrive; the last two due to not having TV when it wasn't listed in the Amenities and the other guests missed their check-in (for an overnight), arrived the following day & we accommodated them in another room (Accuracy rating was 1-star/5).

[Grace28]

I am crestfallen. Our last two bookings of the travel season here in Saint John, New Brunswick, Canada were very poor. This resulted in losing my #SuperHost status. One of them missed their 1 NIGHT check-in date & we accommodated them by providing a different room (which resulted in another guest voluntarily giving up his room & staying in another much smaller w/ a single bed so they could have a place to stay @ a cost/discount provided) which they gave us a 1-Star/5 for accuracy. We went out of our way to accommodate them. The last booking of the season was also an overnighter & our amenities list does not list a TV & she rated it based on "no TV".  The RATING SYSTEM IS FLAWED #AIRBNB. I should not have lost my SuperHost rating based on items that I feel should not be rated on (considering the individual circumstances). 

I feel that if anything under 3-star for whatever reason the Host should have the ability to respond prior to it being posted.  If a #BoycottAirbnb happens because the #AirbnbHosts feel they aren't being heard would be an awful scenario. We live in our home we have listing in. We share our space with our guests. We love the experience(s), with exception to a few of the most recent. I don't feel we deserve to lose our SuperHost status due to circumstances beyond our control. The 3 reviews that come to mind was during a flood in our region which the Airbnb app stopped working on our mobile devices & we missed an "Instant Booking" & was unable to communicate with someone one the same day they were due to arrive. She was still able to leave a review (as if she had actually stayed with us but she had not). She cancelled her booking & we gladly reported to Airbnb to give her a full refund of her monies; the last two due to not having TV when it wasn't listed in the Amenities and the other guests missed their check-in (for an overnight), arrived the following day & we accommodated them in another room (Accuracy rating was 1-star/5).

We should be able to counter the reviews based on the listings that were booked! I hope Airbnb is reading these.  We went out of our way this tourism season (added mini-fridges in the rooms, snacks, beverages, free-drives/pick-ups, drop-offs)! We are really reconsidering our #Airbnb involvement!

Regards,

[Daniel1992]

Publically respond to the review with an explanation that cable is not listed as an amenity, that you tried your best to stay in contact with the guest concerning this, and that you shared a screen shot with her of the directions on how to use the TV. 

[Asury-and-Adam0]

@Daniel0 I did publically respond. It is just frustrating that it brings your overall rating down. I had another situation where guest said communication was a 1 star although we have 100% respond rate. I have only been successful in having AirBnB remove one guest review where the guest bashed us and the home because we charged him extra cleaning for his dog leaving a mess. Another recent guest left us 4 star for cleaning because fee was too high considering they only stayed one night! The guests can see the fees prior to booking! Gotta love people!

[Emilia42]

@Asury & Adam, I agree that is totally stupid and the rating system is flawed. However, accuracy does not affect your overall rating which is the one thing that really matters. Did they give you a 1 star overall? You are the only one who can see the individual guest ratings. So as a random person looking at your listing I see you have an overall 5 stars for accuracy and a good review from this guest. They one review will certainly not affect bookings. I would have no idea of this bad rating if it wasn't for your public response. Best to just message the guest privately instead of drawing attention.

[Ned-And-Laura0]

With the TV, we don't have cable either, we have the Amazon Fire stick.  I was worried some guests would be expecting proper cable TV so aside from putting it in the listing description, I put a photo of the TV with the fire stick icon on the screen while it was turning on, becasue we all know that while they may not read the description they always look at the photos.  So far not one single person has complained with over 100 guests and 83 reviews.  

[Sohna0]

Say it louder for the cheap seats. These folks are a trip. So no one reads anymore? I am trying to decide whether or not to decline a request now because it seems the person didn't read a thing but said he did. Like why these questions then?

[Susan612]

Hello 

I would like to start a separate thread of hosts and guests that have reviews that are factually inaccurate based by referencing on the message feed or listing as was @ Asury and Adam. 

I plan to take my situation to arbitration. 

Asury and Adam I can’t sent this message direct @ you because the feature on the app is not working right now. 

Please let me know you received this and I will share more. Especially the part about the reviewers “experience” which is repeatedly misused by case managers 

[Carolyn7]

I was a super host until... two almost back-to-back guest remarks. One couple, from Germany believed I should serve them all meals like the B&B they stayed in before. I explained I am not a B&B. They didn't understand.  They complained I did not serve all meals.

Soon after I hosted a man who tried to sneak in a lady... they paid for one person, drank three bottles of wine and he complained he slipped on the shower. I offered to call 911... but he left quickly. Airbnb wanted me to ask for the additional $ for an extra person... finally Airbnb credited me with $25 for the extra person... but between these two, I lost my quarterly Super Host status. Since these two events, I am all five stars again! Unfair to loose Super Host status because of guests like this.