Dear hosts around the world,
Three weeks ago I had a guest who fully confirmed to book at my place. This guest acknowledged all the necessary details, cancellation policies and house rules just like every other guest does before staying. Keep in mind that airbnb has a strict 24-48 hour cancellation policy and I also CLEARLY stated it in my house rules and on the listing website. This was also a very busy summer weekend, so I take this policy very seriously. Just after only an HOUR he responded with the following:
"Hi , I am sorry I will need to cancel this as I realized my daughters passport has expired"
"So won’t be able to cross the border"
So he wanted to cancel the booking, which violates Airbnb's strict cancellation policy, as it was well within 24 hours.
At that time I didn't know what to do because I've never had been in this situation, but my first reaction is to do nothing and just follow airbnb's clear terms. So I did not respond to this guest. However after a few minutes he requested a complete FULL REFUND. Now, I understand things can happen for guests. But if he asked for partial refund or just simply understood that he was making it difficult for me and apologized I would have given him the refund. He even knew and verified the cancellation policy before booking with me. However I felt that his statement was just an excuse.
Then one of the airbnb case managers immediately gave me a phone call. I assume that this guest was appealing to airbnb about this case. They tried to negotiate with me about the refund and said if I could just be empathetic and give him the full refund as his situation was an "accident" and do this guest a favor. Then I said this was a very simple case to deal with.
First - He completely violated my cancellation policy, and on a fully booked summer, with no seems of him doing anything wrong.
Second - I have the ability to either accept or deny his request, as the case violated the policies.
So the case manager investigated and agreed with me, and no amount was refunded to this guest. Case closed.
Nope. A few days later this guest posted a 1 star review on my listing, and commented on my unethical behavior in my business, as revenge for not getting his refund. How immature! His behavior of leaving the review without even staying at my place violated airbnb's terms and policies. So I contacted airbnb customer service again about this review. Once again, after finding evidence of violating review policies, which is "all reviews must be fair, honest, and relevant to your travel and experiences." They removed his 1 star review from my listing. Case closed.
Nope. A week later a new case manager contacted me about this situation once again. I assume this guest just kept appealing to airbnb to keep his 1 star review on my listing. The case manager said everything my previous colleagues made was incorrect and the review should be posted. WHAT? To put it to perspective, here is the case manager's unbelievable exact words/response:
"You have been great at hosting as per my complete review of your account. One of the best hosts Airbnb have and can rely on. A small act of kindness and generosity towards your guest will be appreciated by Airbnb and the guest. I'm not forcing you to provide the refund but just a request. If you decide not to provide the refund to the guest I assure you that we will respect your cancellation policy. Airbnb always go beyond and provide great experience and service to our users and the hosts are the one who do make a difference by going an extra mile for their guests. Trust me a small act of kindness from you will help you a lot in the future. This is just a request we as Airbnb are making and would really appreciate if you can accept it."
So this case manager basically wanted me to give the refund to this guest as an act of kindness, to resolve the problem. What kind of BS is this? This is the guest's problem, not mine. His refund problem should NOT be affiliated with my listing reviews. What this case manager responded with is unprofessional and rude; it seems like they'd rather not help me. I tried contacting airbnb again after this; some phone calls exceed 2 hours. Even though I present these absolute clear facts and evidence they seem to be ignoring me, to the point where the customer service won't even mention their own names to stay anonymous. Recently when I tried getting the customer service's attention they give me the same line:
"Thanks for reaching out to us regarding this issue. I've forwarded your inquiry to a member of my team who can better assist you. They'll be getting in touch with you soon."
So I am stuck at this point where posting a community conversation might help. This 1 star review removed me from the "superhost status," and seems to be having a negative impact on my listing. If you have any tips to handle this please help me! I am seeking a more ethical and truthful solution to this.
Furthermore. to the airbnb customer service team, please read what you wrote to me, again:
"Reviews are the backbone of Airbnb’s community. In order to maintain this structure, we have guidelines in place that ensure that all reviews are fair, honest, and relevant to your travel and experiences."
The customer service team is literally contradicting themselves with this statement.
The review was not fair and honest. This guest did not even followed the policies that were CLEARLY set up by airbnb and he is still allowed to post random malicious reviews?
Why are hosts and guests expected to give reviews when it has no integrity and not based on actual experiences or the truth, which contradicts your team's statements?
