Retaliatory Reviews

[Aideen1]

I have been hosting longer term stays on AirBnb for several years, and have generally had great experiences. Since most of my guest stay for several weeks to a few months, it takes me along time to accumulate reviews, so they are really important to me.

I recently stayed in an AirBnb as a guest, and had my first negative experience, and I had to contact AirBnb support for help. AirBnb support agreed that the situation was unacceptable and arranged a refund, but I was shocked to find that they did nothing to prevent my disgruntled host from leaving a negative review that contained misleading and false information in retaliation for being found at fault. I'm currently still trying to get the review removed, because I do think it violates AirBnb's very vague review policy, but it made me realize that as both a host and guest, I have to choose between reaching out to AirBnb to help if a problem arises at the risk of getting a retalitory review, and staying silent. I think that AirBnb needs to update its policy to specifically prevent people from leaving retalitory reviews if they have been found breaking the rules.

I made a post about this on Host Voice, and I'd really appreciate it if anyone who agrees would give it a thumbs up: https://community.withairbnb.com/t5/Host-Voice/Prevent-guests-hosts-who-were-found-at-fault-in-an-Ai...

Also, I would love to hear from anyone who might have had similar experiences, either as a guest or a host. Were you able to get the review removed? Do you feel like writing a "review response" actually helped the situtation? 

[Alexandra316]

@Aideen1 I have not been in your position. It sounds like it's a really unfortunate situation, and the stay that led to the review sounds like a bad experience.

I do have some thoughts to hopefully cheer you up about the situation:

Your reviews as a guest have no bearing on your reviews as a host. A bad review won't affect your ablility to get Superhost, for example, or affect the score of your property.

Most of your guests will never see this review. You're lucky if your guests even read your listing, let alone take the time to click through to your profile to learn anything about you. They would have to scroll down all the way to the bottom, and chances are they're never going to get there: they'll read all the nice things your guests have said about you and leave it at that, at most.

I think that even if a guest or a host clicks through to you profile, the review is unlikely to put people off. Your response explains why there was a problem and the reason for the negative review. The potential guest can't even see what star rating you were given.

I know it's always upsetting when someone leaves a bad review, but hopefully, it won't impact your host or guest experiences with Airbnb. I still hope you're able to get it removed.

[Aideen1]

Hi Alexandra,

Thanks for your reply. I'm the type of person who always clicks through to look at a host's profile, and would notice the reviews that they got as a guest (and before I had this experience, I'm not sure I would even have been reassured by a reply), so it is nice to know that not everyone is like me. 

The main reason I made this posting, and posted in Host Voice, is because this feels like a weird loophole in the AirBnb system that should be closed. As a Host, I am a little freaked out to know that if I have a guest who disregards the rules, I can't reach out to AirBnb for help without worrying that they will just post a dishonest review in retaliation. I love hosting on AirBnb, so I am really hoping that this loophole can be closed. I'd really appreciate it if anyone who feels the same would thumbs up my post on Host Voice so that AirBnb might reconsider their policy. 

Happy hosting to all, and I hope none of us ever run into a situation like this again!

[Carla423]

Unfortunately I was in a similar situation but in the other way, I was the host. I asked for the review to be deleted but I only get a negative response alleging that I can write a review response. I did and I can't really know if it do any help. I lost my Superhost batch because I am new to this hosting thing and one bad review had a lot of weight. I support your Host Voice post.

[Aideen1]

Thanks so much for your support Carla. I'm sorry that you had a similar experience, but glad to see that your lovely listing managed to accumulate lots of positive reviews since the incident. 

The posting I put on Host Voice currently has 5 thumbs up. To be taken into consideration by AirBnb it needs to get another 15 by Thursday or Friday, at which point it would be categorized as "popular", otherwise it will be ignored. So if anyone else sees this posting and thinks this request sounds reasonable, I would really appreciate your support on Host Voice.

[Fed1]

Hi,

I had a semi unpleasant experience. The accommodations were ok but our host was less than accommodating and quite arrogant in his communications. I am faced to stay silent by fear of hhim leaving me retaliatory feedback. This is clear especially after reading some reviews where he lambasts anybody who dares leave any remotely negative reviews. 

Would it be best to not leave a review? Stay neutral?

Cheers,

[Coldo0]

@Aideen1 that just happened to me ,guest was charged because he was lying about his guest number ,and there's the retaliatory review in ALL his glory !

Wecome to Airbnb rewarding the bad on the platform.

[Anthony608]

"I did not pay close attention to the house rules and I feel like I should not have to".  What an entitled jerk.  This is exactly the type of guest we all dread getting and I am very sorry you had to experience this.