How to respond to hateful and untrue reviews from guests?

[Hl0]

Hi all! We had recently fallen victim to a hateful and slandrous review that contains a lot of untrue incidents, and would hope to seek all of your help on our situation. 

We had the unfortunate event of hosting an extremely disrespectful, demanding and difficult guest who had a series of selfish and inconsiderate actions during her stay ( multiple times of forgetting to lock the front door, dangerously using the grill that almost causes some serious burning, despite us repeatedly telling her to consult our help before using kitchen equipment, and CONTINUSOUSLY running the washing machine nonstop during her stay, as she only washes a few pieces of clothing at a time. No one else in the house were able to do any washing at all during her stay.) Out of safety for everyone in the house we had to politely ask her to follow the house rules a few times, where she does not respond well to our polite request and mistook our words, and requested to cancel.

She left 2 personal items at our place when she left, where she threatened to 'call the police' when we didnt respond immediately to her message ( it was 3p.m when we are at work, where she immediately accused us of 'ignoring her messages' when we didnt respond within a 20 minute timeframe. Besides, it was her who left it at our place in the first place.) When we followed up with her to arrange the delivery of her items back out to her, she had then dissappeared from the face of the earth and we are still waiting for her to get back to us on how to arrange her belongings.

And of course, out of retaliation, she wrote us a highly hateful comment full of untrue incidents - on going through her review she had twisted every single incident, and had made up a series of untrue events that had never happened. ( going through the review seems like describing someone completely different to what all our other guests had described!)

Here is her review: 

She made tsk and dissatisfaction sounds when I used any public equipment. She warned me and accused me when I use the washing machine for two consecutive days (I know that this behavior is not considerate, but her expression really makes me feel myself is an unwelcome person), she said I am the most selfish person she ever met and stated that this is her house many times. Her boyfriend yelled that f*** ridiculously etc. insulting words. I was afraid and overwhelmed. I asked to move out of the house. She agreed but they asked me to leave at 7 am the next morning. I had no way to move with 2 big luggage and I had a meeting at 9 am, so I asked to allow me to store my luggage till the next evening. They refused. I moved out in desperation and panic at 1 am in the morning. What a horrible experience! I left my property in her house because of the rush to move out in the middle of the night. I sent messages to her and tried to make an appointment to pick up the items but she kept ignoring my messages until I told her I will ask the police to ask my property back. I am still waiting for Airbnb's processing results.

None of the above is true, except that we did politely ask her to follow the house rules, and had to remind her continuously to remember to lock the front door and to consult us before using kitchen equipment as her actions poses huge risks to everyone in the house. What she has described above is all fictional, especially the part about her 'being afraid and overwhelmed' - she was actually the one who requested to cancel with an extremely demeaning attitude after we had almost begged her to remember to lock the doors and consult us before using the kitchen equipment .

And of course, she did file a 'claim' against us on airbnb but the case was thankfully dropped. 

Wondering what can we do to defend the name of our house against the slanderous, and highly fictional comment?

[Katie]

Thanks for the tag @Yadira22 

@Aigul5 I'm sorry to hear you've been having issues with this guest. I'll drop you a DM shortly, but just a quick reminder to please refrain from posting personal messages here on the CC, as we have to remove them given that they breach the guidelines. 

[Aigul5]

Thank you all, @Katie thank you for reaching out. I just want to clarify that I have two unpaid reservations one after another. On first one on July 15, I agreed to charge for actual stay only and not penalize for canceled nights, and as a result Airbnb instead refunded everything and left me with negative balance of $-20.57, so total i am now seeking is the agreed by me rate of 129 total for all 4 guests for the actual hosting which took place on July 15 plus the negative charged to me -20.57, that means total I should get is approx $150?

And the second one is this longer stay réservation of 11 days from July 16-37, 11 nights , again guest showed with additional guest and stayed not able to modify the number of guests after the reservation started but promised to pay and I saw those payments approved in the upcoming payments, but they have not cleared to this day. All the communication between guest and I are in the message thread. Coincidentally both guests made untrue comments: first guest about no walls and windows (5 windows in this apartment) please see photos of walls or send someone to inspect) and the second guest claimed I didn’t provide toilet paper and paper towels. I have provided 12 rolls of both for 11 nights, in addition to 6 sets of linens which include: 6 blankets 6 sets of bed sheets 8 pillows 2 robes 6 sets of bath towels 10 kitchen towels. And guest asked for other items not normally provided by Airbnb hosts but I never declined her requests as saw that she was in between the rentals and was having a hard time. So it hurts to read her accusations of not being supportive as a fellow female and one of thé minority races. It’s just too much. I am a single woman with 2 grown kids in college. And I work hard to maintain good home. Thank you for assisting me in these payouts. 

[Aigul5]

Apologize for misspelling, so hard to type on the phone. This section in prior email should read « ...And the second reservation was this longer stay of 11 days from July 16-27: 11 nights , again guest showed with additional 2 guests and stated... »

[Aigul5]

@Katie , typed this email above in DM to you but it gives me this error

 

[Katie]

Hey @Aigul5 

I've just responded to the message you sent me via DM. I'm really sorry to hear that you were having trouble sending the message initially, I think it might be to do with how you were formatting the message (hence the HTML message). 

[Huma0]

@Mark116 

I agree in theory, but often times when a guest leaves an Airbnb property early, they say it's because the Airbnb was a problem (dirty, unsafe, whatever). It's not always possible to tell what the situation is. You have to ask questions to try to suss it out but it's not easy. Some people will be telling the truth and some people are just good liars.

I had a guest leave an Airbnb early and come and stay with me instead and there was nothing suspect about it at all. As a young, solo female, she did not feel comfortable in that area and it was a long, lonely walk from the underground station. The toilet there did not work properly so the whole place stunk of excrement. She came and stayed with me for a few weeks and was a perfect guest with zero complaints.

I had another guest who was an experienced Airbnber but never left reviews. I asked him why and he said because he was always disappointed with the places he stayed. Red flag alert!!!! Anyway, he left me a glowing review, all 5 stars.

I am not sure @Aigul5 could have definitely known beforehand that this guest was going to be problematic, but I would have acted when the problems started. How is turning up with two extra adults and then expecting the host to feed you or give you cash for food okay? Now those are REAL red flags. You just know this person is going to be trouble because that's not an appropriate way to behave.

[Kira32]

Please do not respond on your guests review, you will only highlight her review. Instead write one of your own on her profile. You are a superhost so if someone writes something like that a lot of guest won't even bother to read all her complaints. 

Keep your review short and stay calm and collected otherwise you will sound like a headless chicken.

Get in contact with airbnb and ask them to remove the review especially compared to your previous reviews this one must go!

[Aigul5]

Thank you @Kira32 , I am still waiting for Airbnb resolution. 

[Trevor243]

Reviews do not make the world go round. Most people rent out their properties for money (although some do it more for the social thing). If you're doing it for money, think of it as a business. List on multiple OTAs, don't let the grumpy people get to you, just carry on.