REVIEWS GUEST

Barry158
Level 3
Baltimore, MD

REVIEWS GUEST

I am very frustrated with airbnb. A guest showed up stayed for 3 hours and then called me to say apartment is not clean. She was all angry so I offered her a full refund or someone to come clean whatever she claimed was dirty. She took the refund and left. saw her smoking on outdoor camera which is not allowed...ect. The apartment was totally clean and I have only had good reviews for past 2 years. It was her first time staying in a airbnb. She left me a 1 star review a totally screwed up my listing.....Airbnb ignores the whole issue and sides with the guest. Should I quit hosting on airbnb???? I am very upset. worked really hard to have positive reviews and impress my guest......

33 Replies 33

To the moderator-- Can airbnb add controls to the review process to cut down on "revenge reviews" ? They hurt the integrity of the review process.  For example, if a guest violates house rules or does damage (with backup provided by the host), can the review be removed.  It won't cost a guest anything to have their revenge review removed, but it helps future guests get an accurate idea of a listing.

It's always been my suggestion that when a stay involves a disputed claim or a rule violation, the star ratings should be blocked but the text reviews allowed to stand  However, I'm biased against the entire concept of star ratings in general, and the Nosedive episode of "Black Mirror" says everything I have to say about that. 

It would be very nice if ABB limited reviews that were from new (0,1,2-feedback) accounts.   

Moderators?  Is that what we have?   Whatever they are,  can someone tag them?

Airbnb guests are not vetted probably. One option you have is to not take a guest that doesn't already have reviews. But now I'm seeing hosts talk about having friends stay to build their rating and giving their money back. Which means that host can give their friends bogus reviews too.

I'm so sad about how easy these scams are to spot and how little is being done about it.

I've hosted three people with zero reviews and they've all been lovely. We all start somewhere. But the key with people who only have a single review or no reviews is to strike up a conversation by message - Ask the name of all guests who will be saying, ask why they're coming to town, etc. Sometimes you can ferret out the problem guests that way.

But for what it's worth, I've had 100 guest stays and have had a few problems, but not enough to make me cynical given the fun guests I've hosted.

I've had friends who are hosts offer to exchange reviews to build ratings ... lack of integrity.

Fred13
Level 10
Placencia, Belize

Most of my guests over the years are new to Airbnb. Isn't there some setting that doesn't allow reviews below 3 under some condition? 

Helen3
Level 10
Bristol, United Kingdom

Yes there is @Fred13 

Huma0
Level 10
London, United Kingdom

@Fred13 @Helen3 

 

Can you explain in more detail?

Helen3
Level 10
Bristol, United Kingdom

It's the setting that you tick to say you only accept guests with previous reviews, when using IB. @Huma0 

 

Recommendation from other hosts: You can limit bookings to guests who’ve travelled on Airbnb and received only positive reviews from other hosts. i.e. guests who have received ratings of 3 stars +

Huma0
Level 10
London, United Kingdom

@Helen3 

 

Ah, okay. Yep, I use that. Sorry I misread @Fred13's post and thought he meant there was a setting that tried to block hosts from leaving less than 3 star reviews.

I well remember such a setting, but I think it was that the guest had previous reviews AND that they were 3 and above. Or is my mind finally failing me?

I was contacted after midnight from a guest who checked in at 2 pm the previous day. (The booking was for 2 people ). The call was to say there was a spider in the room. They killed it but they could not stay. ( I do have a contract with a pest control Co. & haven’t had problems with rouge spiders before )

I got the message later that morning. When I went to the property, three queen size beds had been used. 7 towels were damp from use. In the shower/ bathroom area. The kitchen was used and garbage was in the bin. They were suppose to stay for 3 nights. Air bnb want to give them a full refund. I have to clean & sanitize again do laundry ...I think they should at least pay for 1 night....I’m just waiting to see what air bnb do.....the person from air bnb said they will ask the guest if more than 2 guests were at the property ( I have a small fee after 2 guests) it was blatantly obvious there were more guests than booked....I guess I will be cancelling my honor system!.....what are your thoughts? 

 

@S93  My thoughts are that these guests were total scammers- they had no intention of staying all 3 nights and made up the spider story to get Airbnb to refund them. 

What do you mean "cancelling my honor system"? What honor system? You don't have any exterior cameras in an entire home listing to monitor who is going in and out? You don't tell guests that if they have more people than are on the reservation, that their booking will be cancelled and they will have to leave?

I am so sorry to hear about your experience.  I have also recently experienced two very bad guests.  They gave me a shocking, and totally untrue review with a scoring of 1.  I have been with Airbnb for a long time, and I think it plays both ways.  With a low scoring which I have just received from these bad guests.  This could have a detrimental affect on my bookings.  I will suffer the loss of income.  However, so will Airbnb.  My little apartment has always been extremely popular.   I am thinking of calling it a day now.  Nobody needs this stress money or no money,

 

they WERE total scammers!!! i had a experience on guests who cancelled reservation after i sent them access code, and 2 hrs later they checked in by code, i sent them message to ask if they checked in then 1 hr later they run away, i reported to Airbnb but they did nothing, the guests slept on one of the bed and smoke drugs in the house, i am just feeling bad guests are getting more and more. they ask refund by making up stories, writing 1 star review by "cleaning"--because this is the most easy way to blackmail hosts. sometime they can say they see spiders, ants, ,,,, wowo, ,,,wish they were living in 5 stars house!!! this rating system makes guests getting worse and worse!