Retaliatory reviews are allowed. Interesting.

Jennie131
Level 10
Rapid City, SD

Retaliatory reviews are allowed. Interesting.

Why are guests allowed to write a review when the host asks them to pay for damages they have caused? Of course they are going to write a retaliatory review! When they do, Customer Service will not remove the review. Is this policy meant to discourage hosts from using the resolution center for collecting money from guests for damages caused by the guest? Not only did the guest refuse to pay the entire amount, only choosing to pay a portion, but then left an inaccurate review. Seems like guests are allowed to do whatever they want, and hosts are punished. Why doesn't Airbnb stand up for their hosts?

34 Replies 34

Still no action. When should I expect someone to reach out to me?

Jennie131
Level 10
Rapid City, SD

So Airbnb "support" finally got back to me. "Hugo" who speaks very poor English, and in one line tells me they are not removing the review, and the next says, "I'm sorry for removing the review" tells me that there is absolutely nothing wrong with the review. 
Hosts: Guests are allowed to cause hundreds of dollars in damages and are not required to fully pay for them. Then they are allowed to further damage the business by leaving a clearly biased and untruthful negative review. They are allowed to remain on the platform to continue this behavior with zero consequence. It will not be long before people will be too afraid of having guests like this, and very few people will host their property on this platform. I am blocking my calendar for the rest of the month. I have already taken a financial loss with this guest, and cannot afford to have another guest in such short time who causes me another great loss.

@Jennie131  Look for anything in the review not relevant to their stay, or *provably* inaccurate about your place.  It cannot be subjective, must be definitive.  If so, they might remove it on this basis.  I had a couple revenge reviews removed like this, but it will take more time and escalation to a friendly case manager willing to listen to you. 

Also going forward you may want to contact airbnb CS to alert them the guest caused damage, and you will be requesting damages and believe the guest will leave a revenge review.  Do this BEFORE you ever contact the guest to ask them for money.  Can't hurt and might help.

That's exactly what I did. No dice.

Just got off the phone with a rep. The entire review could be full of lies, and they will not remove it, because "we can't prove or disprove it."
The review was not removed because "It was not severe enough." I asked how severe a review has to be, and he said he was not allowed to tell me this information. What a great way to discourage hosts from trying to get a review removed! The guy literally told me not to worry about star ratings, because they "don't mean anything." Ok, then why should I bother trying to get super host?

By the way, this destructive guest is still allowed to go forth and destroy another place!