I recently experienced having a young woman defame my character, play the victim, flat out lie about my listing and leave me a retaliatory all 1 star review for cancelling her 2nd reservation after I had already told her the room was not available (I am listed on multiple "free" sites). Her first stay she brought a 2nd unregistered male guest into the house after midnight when I had gone to bed. I went through the proper channels to cancel her 2nd stay yet for some reason she was allowed to leave 2 reviews while only staying 1 night. 1 review has been removed but I've maintained a copy.
My SuperHost evalyation was scheduled for 10/15 and I was at a 4.9 rating; it has now been moved out to Jan 2019. My private rating is now dropped to 4.3, my public rating is showing 4.7 - IF you could see it, her first (scathing) review is still posted, but my response has been removed.
To add insult to injury neither of my room postings are currently showing in the search results. I have nearly 50 reviews, (I have a current guest and 3 upcoming checkins which will bring it to 50). In October I made almost $900 in happy guests and enjoyed most of them. I had a couple fast checkins-sleeping only who didn't want to socialize/it's not required but that's what I enjoy most.
This is my 2nd retaliatory review since I started hosting on Air BnB in 2016 and neither one of them have been handled well by Air BnB.
I have very few choices.
Move my hosting to Hostelling International and other sites is one of them.
Contacting a lawyer to sue both Air BnB and the guest for defamation of character and financial loss is another option and the longer my listings are down, the more likely this is becoming; I'm a member of LegalShield. I have been trying to be gracious, but my patience is wavering.
I am the victim here, not the perpetrator - but I'm being treated like I did everything she accused me of.
I have learned - Air BnB values guests over hosts; which is ironic because if people aren't willing to host their entire business model crashes.
Not looking for advice, just throwing my hat in the ring to say - it's not fair. I did everything according to the rules presented to me. I treated my guest fairly and I am honest in both my personal interaction and the listing. I was accused of being racist - which I am absolutely not. A high school friend had this to say (shared the reviews and all of the communications as well as my commentary with friends on FB and to preserve for potential litigation, and which is now hidden).
Kaye about my guest using the race card: "Maybe she shouldn't play cards at all. 🤨 Dev doesn't play those kind of cards and she never has and yes, I understand."
I have dated people of other ethnic backgrounds; I frequentily have people of color in my home and I've nearly adopted a child from another race. I recently moved into a very diverse neighborhood and have made friends for blocks around. (I digress)
There was a valid issue with an odor in the house that I addressed as soon as it was brought to my attention - she of course magnified that - even though I don't think she noticed until it was brought to her attention. If she had fairly docked me on that issue, I would have no argument to present. She was held to the standards governed by Air BnB (about the other guest, refused to cancel her 2nd reservation or approve a 2nd guest change) and she threw a spoiled brat hissy fit which has so far cost me about 2 weeks reservations. There were 2 other guests in the house in the same time frame who both gave me favorable (honest) reviews.
We'll see if Air BnB does the honorable thing and reposts my listings.
Be wary hosts...you put everything at risk.
That is all.