Guest never entered my home and left substandard review

[Scott259]

Bottom line up front: Why is it that a guest can leave a review of my home when the reservation was canceled before they even arrived?

Now the rest of the story: Guest did not have much experience on Airbnb. Instant booked my home for five nights in order to attend son's wedding. A week before arrival, she asked several questions about best routes to and from airport, other places to visit and stay (for other wedding guests), etc. All of these I answered cheerfully within one hour of being asked.

Then, two days before check-in, the firestorm in the North Bay began. I received a frantic note from the guest saying the wedding was in limbo. Venue was in the evacutation zone, but they were still hoping to pull it off. I reassured her with a note - don't worry, you can cancel the reservation if you need to, and I will see that you receive a full refund.

I prepared the house - spotless from top to bottom - bought wine, a vase of flowers and a congratulatory note themed to the wedding. 

Then, 2 hours before check in - another text message via Airbnb. The wedding has been moved. My guest asked to take me up on my offer to cancel, and I did so promptly. Support staff at Airbnb was very helpful, refunding their money and my cleaning fees.

Problem came later when I received a 4-star review from the customer. Their note is full of praise and gratitude, but the rating dinged me down from 5-star status, and since I only have one other review, my rating has dropped to 4.5 when everyone else near me is higher. I think this guest may not even be aware of the rating system, since she's new to Airbnb. (So am I, by the way). 

Now, I know this may sound petty, especially in light of all the suffering around here - thousands have lost their homes, and I'm carping about a 4.5 rating on Airbnb. I'm ashamed to post this, but I really went out of my way to show empathy to these guests who were clearly stressed.

And I don't think this is right. A guest shouldn't be able to rate their "stay" when they never set foot in the house.

I have asked Airbnb to remove the rating. Do they ever do this?

Thanks,

[Cynthia-and-Chris1]

@Scott259 You have a good case to have the review removed. Only guests who actually stay can leave reviews. 

[Lawrene0]

The guest cannot review in this case. The ability to review after a cancellation was put in place for people who arrive, find the listing is substandard, and leave. It used to be that those sorts of places had no reviews. Also those guests who arrived, acted up, were kicked out, and cancelled had no reviews. But when a guest does not arrive at all, she cannot review, and you cannot review her. The review is not of her experience - she cannot know how clean it is, nor can she rate her check-in, etc. You have a valid case, @Scott259. (The system allows the review because it cannot know who arrived and who didn't, but you will have proof in your message thread of the non-arrival, and so can call and get it sorted.)

All the best. 

[Jennifer--And-My-Brother0]

I wish you were right.  I fully expected that we would not be able to review each other when a guest cancelled a ten dollar stay.  Instead I got the message leave him a review which to me meant I had to leave him a review so I went into defense mode and wrote a review that was honest and reflected the worst possible review he might write to me.  I gave him 3 stars and he didnt leave me a review at all.   I would have preferred to not have been given the opportunity at all.  If a host wants to remove a guest review that the guest wants me to remove as well, I wish airbnb would let me do that. 

[Marzena4]

@Scott259 Did you apply for extenuating circumstances cancellation because of the storm? Or did I screw sth up reading?

[Scott259]

Yes. Extenuating circumstances due to fires in Sonoma County.

[Ben205]

@Scott259

Call Airbnb and fight your corner! I don't think anybody on here would disagree that this review should not be allowed. Phone numbers are on many threads on this forum.

Good luck and let us know how you get on.

[Scott259]

I wrote and also called. Ticket was escalated with ABB support.

Nevertheless, ABB will not remove the rating.

So, in case you were wondering, it IS possible for a guest who never checked in, never walked through your door and never visited your town to leave any rating they want.

I don't intend to fight this any further. Life is too short.

Just know of this possibility.

Thank you all!

[Lawrene0]

Good grief, @Scott259. Very sorry about this. My experience with a review removed because the guest did not arrive happened in July, and that is what administration told me. The policy is either not being applied consistently, or this is a new and unwelcome roll-out. Thanks so much for updating. 

[Kat17]

@Scott259 Very sorry to hear that this happened to you. Since you are new to hosting, I’m going to strongly urge you to not accept  this 4.5 star rating. It will drag you down in the future. 

Instead, Get back on the phone with AIRBNB and tell them you want the guest to revise their review. Contact the guest and ask them to upgrade it to five stars and give them the reasons. They probably don’t realize what damage they have done. Just make sure that you do not write a public response to their review. Once you do that your options are over

[Ange2]

@Scott259    Crazy.  I know you do not want to pursue this but I would suggest trying twitter or some have suggested Facebook,  it's quick, doesn't waste time and seems to get better results. I have had a "no way" changed to an "okay, mea culpa, we will do it".

[Susan89]

Hi Scott,

How odd that the guest who didn't stay there was able to leave a review. I think the review was a positive one, and the guest spoke of returning in the future. Your response was very gracious. You were extremely generous to refund everything without any compensation from Airbnb, especially after spending the hours and expense preparing for these guests. The star ratings will eventually be all five stars. The home is beautiful and it's obvious you are a wonderful host. It's best not to worry about star ratings; some people will not give five stars no matter how fantatsic the place is.

The bottom line is that the guest shouldn't have been able to leave a review if they didn't stay there, and ultimately it won't matter anyway. You may want get back on the horse and call again (and talk to someone else) if it continues to bother you.

[David126]

Can I leave a review for my host if they canceled my reservation?

Yes, if the trip is canceled on or after the day of check-in. If it's canceled before then, you can’t leave a review.

If a host cancels before the day of check-in, an automatic review will be added to their listing to indicate that they canceled the reservation. These reviews are one of the penalties for host cancellations and can’t be removed.

You can also send feedback to your host using your Airbnb message thread.

[Ange2]

@David   Should be a penalty for guests too.  I added a host voice about it.

[Kathy202]

Hi Scott,

I really sympathise with you about your dilemma. They shouldn't be able to leave a review if they were never there. My problem is that I was not prepared when I first started with AIRBNB and got a few bad reviews with one star. No matter how many five stars I've gotten since then, those early reviews bring my rating down to 4.2 stars. I keep getting messages from AIRBNB threatening to cancel my listing. I now have a professional cleaner and have got into a rhythm of washing the sheets and towels etc every day. It's most frustrating that those early reviews are still doing damage to my overall rating. I've met some wonderful people over the last two months and reeally enjoy opening up my home to them. All any of us can do is our best! Chin up and fight your corner! You have every right to feel agrieved by this this situation and they should delete it. I do think that AIRBNB should put some information up on their website about the importance of their star rating system and how they average it out over all the reviews.

Take care,

Kathy