Guest violated Airbnb's policy, still wrote a nasty review

Wil13
Level 2
Zoetermeer, Netherlands

Guest violated Airbnb's policy, still wrote a nasty review

Last week, a women made a reservation at our place, she was from Germany, said she stated she will come with her partner and her two boys (even though she only reserved for one but later changed this to three) as she and her husband have a construction job in my country. Three days before her check in date, she wanted to add more dates, a bit odd to ask this right before the check in date, but we agreed. Now here is where it became even stranger. We require the guests to check in from 11:00 to 14:00 unless we agree on other times because of guests having a far away trip. at 15:00 my husband suddenly got a message, that they would be late. at 17:00 the guests finally showed up.

 

But they were not the guests that made the reservation!! These were 3 Bulgarian construction workers, not the guest who made the reservation. This is a violation of Airbnb's policy, if you do not have Airbnb business, it was also never mentioned someone else would show up. Our rental place is on a vacation park, the park owner already was notified and he did not want them on the property as well, as he had allot of issues with these people already and requested them to leave. When my husband asked for them to leave, they did so, but not before threathening him and even the police eventually had to become involved.

 

The women in part was 'infuriated how we treated her' and was threathening with a bad review and her lawyer. I called Airbnb and they completely agree with me and the reservation was cancelled and her money was completely refunded. (Even though we lost money on this, our rental space is on the other side of the country, we wasted gas money getting there and of course the reservation money.) I was checking on local websites where you can find rentals, and she is well known for this, she has done this to more people who rent out in the region.

 

She now has left her promised bad review, stating we 'dont know how to treat foreigners', this made my 4 star rating plummet to a 2.5 as we just started on Airbnb. What can i do about this? Someone who violated Airbnb's policy and is reported on her profile as well, should not still be able to place a review! Should i call Airbnb to see if they can help me out and remove the review?

9 Replies 9

@Wil13 yes, it makes a lot of sense to contact Airbnb support to ask for help with this bad review!

Do your best to help the customer support person understand what happened. Hopefully you will find someone with sympathy for your situation. Please be patient with the customer support person, as it will probably take some time to full explain the story to them, and for them to understand what you need.

 

@Matthew

 

Give me a break Matthew, understanding for Airbnb staff, you're making my blood boil, It's Wil that has been wronged, 

 

WHAT PART OF THIRD PARTY BOOKING DOES AirBnb NOT UNDERSTAND, it’s one of their rules, thats is honoured more in the breach then the observants.

 

 

Wil13
Level 2
Zoetermeer, Netherlands

I have contacted customer support after reading your advice to do so. It was early so the department that handles the deletion of comments was closed so the operator made a ticket for me and when its my turn pretty much, i will be contacted. I find it strange how someone who had their reservation cancelled still can make a review even if they were never there!

Cormac0
Level 10
Kraków, Poland

@Wil

 

Wil, this was an obvious attempt to mislead you, "her partner and two boys", In the southern states of America "Boy" was a pejorative term to describe a male slave, what kind of person describe their employee's as boys, Kalinka is the sort of person that would.

 

If you really want your stomach to churn read the Airbnb's terms a conditions that clearly state that Hosts are self-contained business's, I bet with the fee completely reimbursed to the Kalinka! by Airbnb staff it sure does not feel like it now.

 

from Kalinka you received the following 

1. No Fee

2. A bad review

3. aggravation and lies

4. loss of opportunity

4. NO SUPPORT FROM AIRBNB 

 

Wil, welcome to the 80% of hosts that are Airbnb connon fodder.

Hi @Wil13

 

We feel bad for you & are sure Airbnb will see reason. This person probably realised you were new (& took advantage) to letting your space, which is lovely by the way, so homely & cosy. Wishing you good luck for future rentals.

This was such an unfortunate experience for you but please don't let it put you off too much, there are wonderful people out there who will turn out to be perfect guests.

Linda108
Level 10
La Quinta, CA

@Wil13  I do not see a negative review on your profile so perhaps Air BNB removed it under the Content Policy.  I do not subscribe to the idea that Air BNB is out to make host lives miserable. I have not been treated badly by customer service but have found a great deal of support.  I do understand that I have to provide as much information as possible in the Air BNB messaging system so Air BNB can see what is going on.  I think it is a good idea to summarize other types of communication such as texting and phone calls in the Air BNB message system.   

 

Keep up the good work and you will have a successful business.  As others have posted, don't get discouraged but do be aware that guests don't always operate with the same sense of fairness that you do.

Wil13
Level 2
Zoetermeer, Netherlands

It seems Airbnb has indeed removed the review. Our score still is a 2.5 but maybe that will level out after we get our next guests on the 4th. And customer service has been great to us, companies here in the Netherlands can be far worse, i even had fully heated arguments with some companies customer service because of their rude employees.

Fred13
Level 10
Placencia, Belize

@Wil13 Did she have prior reviews mentioning this type of scam? 

Wil13
Level 2
Zoetermeer, Netherlands

She had one review stating communication was alright, but maybe they tolerated the way they were treated.