Guest threathens fake bad review to blackmail host to get a refund

[Claudio-and-Moo--ส-บย-คล0]

I recently had a guest who had a change of plan, showed up 3 days later than his normal arrival date and left after 2 days. The guest is threatening me to write a horrible review unless I give him a refund. A horrible review would lower my average perfect 5 stars reviews and maybe drop me out of Super host status which could severely hurt my rentals potential and income. I work so hard to have that perfect 5 stars from every guests, it would devastating to lose it because of a dishonest guest. 

Airbnb has to find a way to protect hosts from such guests.

I often accept unreasonable requests from guest because I fear a bad or less than perfect review but that is part of the process I guess. But a completely fake review to black mail a host is a whole different story. 

If more guests start doing that it could seriously Jeopardize Airbnb and the whole community.

Please help

PS: Is there any way to talk to customer service about issues like this. Can't find a phone number anywhere and is there a way to request a review to be deleted if my guest proceeds with his threat.

[Clare0]

Yes! Airbnb hates people who threaten a bad review in order to get refunds, etc.  Read this: 

www.airbnb.com/help/article/548/extortion-policy?topic=253

Hopefully the guest communicated his review extortion in a message thread on your account.  That way ABB has evidenc of it.  Airbnb will remove any review that is the result of a threat or extortion. 

If not, I would send him a message telling him what you intend to do regarding his refund request and that you don't appreciate his threats to leave a bad review in exchange for a refund.  At least your side of the story will be documented  

On a go forward basis, with future guests, all significant correspondance should be on your messages so people can't pull this type of thing on you.  

Hope this helps!

[Lindsay1]

Well, at least your review is there for other potential hosts to see! 

[Sally671]

You would hope so. I had a guest threaten me with a bad review for failing to refund him when he want to leave a day early because he felt it was too far to travel to his university. The day he wanted to cancel was a Sunday anyway and he tried to cancel it in the early hours of the morning on the Friday night/Saturday. He threatened me and I took him up about it. He denied saying that even though it was in writing and said he would just leave no review. He then surprisingly left an honest positive review but I also left an honest review that stated exactly what had happened and what he had threatened me about. He then messages me back with more threats about reporting me ecr if I don't remove the bad review. I tell him. I tell the truth and his attitude is the problem and I won't be threatened. He reported me and Airbnb take down my review saying it does not have enough information to let host make a decision. I had written that the man was a nasty manipulative bully. I have never written like this before but its all true and he was a supposed new guest but his behaviour suggested he was not. When I told him I would not accept a change of booking request because I would lose money and he need to to make a cancellation claim so I could attempt to re-fill the room. He knew procedure very well. He later insisted he was NOT new and I was just being difficult not giving him what he asked for and he claimed to know everything. I conclude he was an old problem guest with a new listing trying to still be a problem. How the hell are we supposed to we careful when facts are being removed? If the total full facts are insufficient to let others know the problem what do they need? I rearley host new guests without reviews and have put up my prices to get rid of problems that seem to come with guests who are too cheap. I am now not going to take any new guests at all as I cannot trust Airbnb. Their standards are a mess and they just cave to guests constantly. Time to look for another platform. 

[Luis-and-Tati0]

Hi @Claudio-and-Moo--ส-บย-คล0

Yep... the review is there... You hadled it nice!

At this point you already can see your ratings if they dropped or not...
Try to argue with Airbnb CS if your rattings dropped bellow the 80% mark... You have 50% - 50% chance of they removing the review...

I have the same problem when I hold security deposits... I know the review will be bad...

[Claudio-and-Moo--ส-บย-คล0]

Thank you for your reply to my thread. Yes my ratings dropped. I sent a message to airbnb and got no answers whatsoever. As you mentioned in your answer, getting a bad rating because you claimed the security deposit after guests did damages is also an unfair an innacurate review because it had nothing to do with the quality of the accommodation. Airbnb has to fix this issue that has the potential to destroy the credibility of the comunity and their site.

[Angelina7]

Hi, Claudio~

I had the same experience two days ago -- well, almost.

She said nothing to my face -- ate my food, visited with me, gushed over my house, snapped photos without my permission, trashed my living room and bedroom areas, leaving my hand-stitched quilt in a clump on the floor and other blankets simply strewn about in the living room area. I said nothing about this when I reviewed her -- just bit my tongue.  She seemed so pleasant, but told me she was experiencing extreme hot flashes when she first arrived  and she wanted to turn down the air. I agreed to put on a sweater to accommodate her. THEN she wrote this over-the-top false review! I was stunned! I've always thought some Craigslist people can be a little strange . . . . but this one from AirBNB was FAR OUT. The one nice thing about her fabricated review:  She lodged SOOOO many complaints that I think most people reading it will see that it's bogus. She would have better served her fabricated, bogus review if she had limited the number of complaints. It was also easy to catch her in a couple of lies and I was sure to mention this during the 500 maximum words review. But I wish I could have had room to have said more. For example, she said that she has never had to write a negative review before in all of her AirBNB stays. IT TURNS OUT:  She only stayed at one other place!  I am still stunned at the amount of lies she told. Do you think the purpose was to get a refund? I reported her and told AirBNB that I will NOT agree to a refund that is based upon bogus lies.

[Evita2]

hi guys sorry to hear all this. we agreed once to refund the guests on airbnb suggestion becvause  - the consultant told us, otherwise we just have unhappy guests in the house and they write a bad review. i don't think that was right. the guests clai9med we have no hot water and we sent airbnb emails where we say "official check in is at 3. We allowed you to come to the house at 6 a.m. and went out of our way to prepare it earlier for you but we have to get someone to the house to change gas bottle. Unless you want to change it yourself - the spare bottle is there, you would need to wait till midday to have hot water as noone can come to the house earlier as it is sunday" Still the guests said they will not fiddle with gas bottles and demand hot water when they get to the property or they cancel. They complained to Airbnb and they refunded the guests fully on the day of their check in even though we have strct policy

now we have two guests who moved out because they changed their mind about air conditioning. They want a refund. I wporry that if we don't give it to them they will just give us a bad rating. can we ask airbnb to stop any rating unless it's 4-5 star as we always get because the guests themselves they were happy with everything else and appreciate effort we made to find toys etc for their child. Is there a way to block the review from thye guests who move out and demand refund? or do i need to wait for a bad review and then request a removal and if so how do I do it?

It's pretty colear we will get bad review because they now told us they moved out but did not return the key and said they will return it "when we agree to the refund"

[Sally671]

They legally cannot hold your keys. I would not only report them to Airbnb I would remove their illegally left things letting know they can collect them outside in the drive/garage etc and I would change the locks and charge them the total cost of the new locks and keys. Sorry this happened to you. Airbnb are getting real sloppy about how they deal with problems. They just want their cut and often seem to be forcing you into taking problems. I don't worry to much about getting perfect 5 stars. I am full just about all the time without them but one nasty review can cause Airbnb to also threaten to remove your listing for five days. In the end we just have to look after ourselves and not be bullied by the troublemakers. Write a very honest review of the which is short and to the point. It will help frighten off the future bullies and reasonable people will not be put off. We all know trouble when we see it.

[Evita2]

hi guys sorry to hear all this. we agreed once to refund the guests on airbnb suggestion becvause  - the consultant told us, otherwise we just have unhappy guests in the house and they write a bad review. i don't think that was right. the guests clai9med we have no hot water and we sent airbnb emails where we say "official check in is at 3. We allowed you to come to the house at 6 a.m. and went out of our way to prepare it earlier for you but we have to get someone to the house to change gas bottle. Unless you want to change it yourself - the spare bottle is there, you would need to wait till midday to have hot water as noone can come to the house earlier as it is sunday" Still the guests said they will not fiddle with gas bottles and demand hot water when they get to the property or they cancel. They complained to Airbnb and they refunded the guests fully on the day of their check in even though we have strct policy

now we have two guests who moved out because they changed their mind about air conditioning. They want a refund. I wporry that if we don't give it to them they will just give us a bad rating. can we ask airbnb to stop any rating unless it's 4-5 star as we always get because the guests themselves they were happy with everything else and appreciate effort we made to find toys etc for their child. Is there a way to block the review from thye guests who move out and demand refund? or do i need to wait for a bad review and then request a removal and if so how do I do it?

It's pretty colear we will get bad review because they now told us they moved out but did not return the key and said they will return it "when we agree to the refund"

[Ed-and-Hugh0]

Blackmail is a crime (at least in the US). Report to the police. Also report to Airbnb. It is against their policy.

[Sally671]

You are correct but unfortunately Airbnb do not always apply their own rules. I have had this problem and they still removed my honest review of the blackmailer.

[Chong1]

Hi Claudio, I can't seem to find the bad review you mentioned. Interested to know what actions Airbnb took and if they removed it.

[Marieme-Line0]

Belli everyone
I accept to receive a guest for tomorow but my guest realized that is girlfriend leaves in Queen and he ask me to refund is money . So when I explain that for the refund it's not possible cause I choose strict cancellation meaning that for 50% refund he need to advise 7days before his arrival and cancellation 2 days before arrival it's not possible. He ask me that if he arrived to give him back the money so I said to him rules are rules. Then the girlfriend start calling asking to negotiate ,then she said to me negotiate cause I don't think that you want your guest partying every days cause they don't want to stay . I said to her young girl thank god I'm working for someone in the emigration so don't try what you doing with . Well guest what she ask her mother to call me. And they still harassing me on the phone. So I send a message to the mother saying that I will not negotiate anything and I just ask her to tell me at what time my guest will arrive tomorrow . Am I wrong ?? I don't understand also one thing guest see the price but they always want us to have discount . In that case what the best answer. Please helppppp

[Clare0]

@Marieme-Line0 Stop answering phone calls from this guest or his girlfriend.  Insist that if they want to communicate with you they have to do it officially on Airbnb's messaging system.  That way there will be a record of their wanting to cancel, discounts, extortion, ect. Also, Airbnb will have a record of your responses.  If there is an issue with this guest, your messages back and forth will be very useful as Airbnb will be able to read them. 

I wouldn't give this person a refund at all!