Party reported to Airbnb and they let them leave me a review.

Samantha816
Level 2
Ohio, United States

Party reported to Airbnb and they let them leave me a review.

I received a message from the neighbor saying that there was a party in the home, lots of people, music so loud that it was rattling the neighbors windows, pot use so bad the neighbors couldn't open their windows etc. I immediately reported it to AirBNB and asked the guest to leave. The guest said they would turn down the music and I asked them to leave. AirBNB gave me a case manager and I relayed what the neighbor told me. A few days later they closed my case. I assumed they banned the guest as that's their policy on parties. The day before the 2 week mark the guest left a review, as you can imagine it wasn't great. I put on her review that there was a party in the home and I wouldn't host her again. What I don't understand is why Airbnb would allow the guest to write a review. It's going to be bad because they got caught. 

6 Replies 6
Fred13
Level 10
Placencia, Belize

One would have to conclude that the 'rationale' behind allowing someone kicked out to leave a review is to make sure to get their 'valuable' opinion. However I wear one of these to help me understand their way of thinking..

helmet.jpg

Elaine701
Level 10
Balearic Islands, Spain

With "bad" Guests, I try to write a review immediately, so they quickly write one too, because they want to see what I wrote.

 

They don't know what you wrote, so they'll tend to be more honest in their review, and if they know they were "bad", they tend to write nicer things to avoid receiving bad marks themselves (which actually, doesn't work, but they don't necessarily know that). 

 

Then, as soon as they've written their review, report them to Airbnb, if appropriate, and time permitting. 

 

Ok, not that "reporting" them to Airbnb necessarily has any useful consequences, but it avoids them giving you a bad review just because you "reported" them or demanded compensation. 

 

The system is flawed, yes. But IMO, this is the best way to get around this particular flaw. 

Kelly149
Level 10
Austin, TX

for a "bad" review, that isn't really bad... did you get paid for this guest's stay?

@Samantha816  All stays are eligible for reviews unless they were canceled before the check-in date.  The policy does not offer exceptions for stuff like broken rules or damage claims. 

 

It's at Airbnb's discretion whether it deems a user's transgression worthy of getting banned from the platform, but you should at least be able to block them from booking your own listings again (not sure if this feature still works).

Dale711
Level 10
Paris, France

@Samantha816 

I do understand how frustrated you are, the guest violated Airbnb policy and till able to write a review.

Of course, the guest will left a negative, untrue or a revenge review for the host.

 

I’ve over a dozen of revenge and unfair review, it’s out of my hand! 

 

Letting you know that Reviews are the backbone of Airbnb's community and in order to maintain that structure. Airbnb have guidelines in place that ensure all reviews are fair, honest and relevant to the  travel and experience. Airbnb's default position is not to delete, censor, or edit reviews.

 

With that being said, in rare cases Airbnb may remove a review only if it violates our Review guidelines.

 

You may click the link below for more information:
https://www.airbnb.com/help/article/13

 

Airbnb Review Policy 
https://www.airbnb.com/help/article/2673

 

Airbnb Review Content 
https://www.airbnb.com/help/article/546

 

I hope HAB members will look into the Airbnb review system and works on it.

Happy Hosting 

 

 

Brian1613
Level 10
West Palm Beach, FL

Hi Samantha!

Yes, it’s always hard to deal with people who violate rules, especially the noise rules. A couple of suggestions come to mind to help you, and keep peace with the neighbors.

During the last Superbowl, Airbnb made available, to hosts in our area, the ability to buy a Minut noise detection system. ( https://www.minut.com/ ) It doesn’t record voices. It monitors ambient noise. And now, it also looks for a lot of devices logging into your wifi network.  If the noise goes up, you get a text and/or email notification that you have a problem, hopefully before it gets loud enough to bother your neighbors.  It also gives you documentation of your guests noise issues.

In your property description,  for the booking area, DO include that you have a Noise/Noise Cancellation policy, a written No Party policy, and that you use a Minut detector to document. State that you reserve the right to cancel a booking for cause if the guests trip off the meter (x) times. All of that policy and documentation provides Airbnb  with some ammunition if they have to speak to the guest, on your behalf, about noise/party issues.

Airbnb’s review system is well intentioned, but it does leave you vulnerable to getting bad reviews for giving them. Putting stuff out there that makes you look difficult, or disagreeable, doesn’t really help you with bookings.  The only people reading reviews are other hosts. We all know the drill. What you say that we can read between the lines.

“Joe and Kim were incredibly kind guests. They made sure that everything was clean and tidy. Kim even helped us by bagging up the colored sheets separate from the whites.  I’d happily welcome her back, any time!”

“Joe and Kim took full advantage of all that we have to offer. We hope that they, and their friends visiting, enjoyed their stay.”

As a host, reading that, the “friends” coding tells me what I want to know.  You didn’t dive into something negative, and the rest of us are given enough heads-up.

I agree with Andrew that using the “NO” on the “Would you host them again?” prompt, in the reviews, is your best bet not to see them back. 

When someone books, we’ve found it’s always good to kind of see what their public social media presence looks like. Do they have a positive, or negative voice in their media posts?   Photos of the kids? Photos of heavy partying?  It’s not that any of that is 100% certain of how they’ll be at your property, but, if you see someone who is a flame-throwing troll, or who is at some airbnb partying, you at least have some fair warning.  

One other thing to think about: Space, and price and fees. If you have a big space to party, and the cost to rent is low, that’s going to look like a win-win to people who want to use the space. I noticed that when we built up our reputation, and were able to increase our prices, especially at peak break/holidays, it slowed down people who want to party in the space.

Hope that helps!

 

Brian Ross