@Michelle1058, in both cases, I would also be extremely upset, as both seem totally unfair to you. It is my understanding that Airbnb is updating the reviews and policies per this link:
https://community.withairbnb.com/t5/Airbnb-Updates/Making-reviews-more-relevant-and-useful-for-our-c...
What’s the difference between extortionary and retaliatory reviews?
It’s considered extortion if a guest attempts to use reviews (or review responses) to force a host to do something they aren’t obligated to do. So, for example, if a guest threatens to leave a bad review if you don’t allow them to bring additional guests, that review would be extortionary and would be removed under the updated policy.
Then there are times when a host may feel that a negative review is made in retaliation. This is when, for example, a host doesn’t allow the guest to bring additional guests, and the guest goes on to leave a review about how inflexible their host was, or even writes a negative review about cleanliness or location. However, without evidence of a threat to leave a negative review, this would not be considered extortionary and would not be removed under the updated policy. If this happens, we encourage hosts to use their public response to politely address the issue.
Why aren’t you removing all retaliatory reviews?
While we understand how frustrating it can be when you receive a review that feels retaliatory, we don’t have a crystal ball to tell us what a person’s true motivations are. So, without a documented threat to leave a negative review or other evidence of a biased review, Airbnb won’t intervene. Here’s why:
- As a marketplace, we often don’t know the truth about what took place, and our review system is a critical feedback mechanism for our hosts and guests. That means we want as many reviews as possible to remain intact—so our community can put them to good use.
- Most guest reviews contain honest feedback about their experience and useful information for hosts and guests.
To reiterate, as outlined in our updated Review Policy, Airbnb can—and will—intervene where there’s evidence of a threat, promise of action that’s dependent on the review, or other conflict of interest and/or competition. Additionally, we will continue to intervene when a guest leaves a review that violates our content policies—including discriminatory content or a violent threat.
It honestly doesn't sound to me that these updated review policies will be of much help and I may be wrong, but it seems in the first case, nothing will change.
When any issue arrises, I take the opportunity to attempt to reevaluate the way I have been doing things. In this case, I might attempt to educate future guests more about the rules, particularly the fire danger. I have stopped using IB and send a pre-approval message with all the detailed policies, including fire danger (Colorado). If they don't respond in an appropriate manner or I do not feel comfortable, I do not approve their request.
Happy hosting in 2020!
