Have you been accused of being racist in a review, what do you do

Krystal16
Level 10
Toronto, Canada

Have you been accused of being racist in a review, what do you do

So my last guest left me a review on my Upper United suite indicating that I kicked her family out once I realized they were black, she also claimed that I called the police which I did not do at all.

Actually what happened was they broke a number of house rules and after a message from my lower unit tenants at 330 am about cannabis being smoked in the home and loud music playing I went over at 6am to find they left the front door had been left wide open for the past 30 minutes and a gentleman passed out on the sofa and the other 7 guests (reservation was for 2) asleep in various rooms.  

Why do guests feel the right to lie and slander a host just because they refused to follow the house rules?  What would you do in this scenario?  How would this make you feel?  Many many of my guests are fabulous, I love sharing my home with them and take pride when they walk through the door and are happy with the accommodations, but guests like this one take all the fun and pride out of being a host.  With this pandemic are these the guests we have to look forward to now?  😞

16 Replies 16
Marcelo681
Level 2
Natal, Brazil

Hi @Krystal16 !  Did you by any chance try to have Airbnb remove the review?   It happened last month with me, same scenario and Airbnb will not even consider removing a very defamatory review…

Tamsyn2
Level 2
Cape Town, South Africa

I'm in a similar situation, although my guest hasn't written a review yet. My husband and I arranged to go past the house a week into their month-long stay to collect something, and we found the group had broken our very expensive automated pool cover and left trash all over the back garden, among other things. One of the guests apologised and told me her child had jumped onto the pool cover from an adjoining wall. I left, and messaged the main tenant, saying i would need to claim expenses for that, and she responded with a manipulative lie, saying "sorry to hear your husband broke the pool cover". She then reported me for racism, on the basis that i had asked a black member of her group where she was from, and had offered to show her how to work our quite complicated coffee machine. I do get that in some contexts it's offensive to ask someone where they are from, but I find it hard to understand why it would be offensive in the context of tourism.  I suggested we have a  conversation to help me understand how asking a traveler where she is from could be offensive, but neither the main guest nor the person I allegedly offended took me up on that. From then on I reported any problems that came up directly to Airbnb as i couldn't deal with the main tenant's manipulations and refusal to take responsibility for anything (also the  phone number she provided was inactive.) Eventually, on the basis of them continually leaving the house in the care of an 8 year old on his own for hours on end, and  breaking house rules by having party, Airbnb canceled the booking, 2 days before it was due to end (although the tenant refused to leave). I'm trying not to care about the review, but the experience of tenants not caring for my space, and then being accuses of racism, has been incredibly traumatic and upsetting.