Revenge Reviews

[Yolanda8]

-it is very important that AirBnb revisit the "transparancy" of the review process ; Reviews should be "weighted" not equal because the impact is NOT equal 

-a poor Guest review by Host has very little impact as many Hosts do not check "Guest Reviews" when accepting bookings & a Guest can always find another accommodation.....

-the Host's business can be ruined, at the very least "SuperHost" status removed & less bookings due to an untruthful "Revenge Review"

-extortion is becoming a very large problem within the global AirBnb community; which AirBnb seems not to be addressing 

-Guests are offering to "edit the review" in order to gain discounts, waive fees, & not report bad Guest behavior to AirBnb; this should NOT be tolerated !

-Host sets the "House Rules" for sharing an accommodation; when these Rules are blatently broken & Guest provdes a "Revenge Review" AirBnb should NOT Post !

-having said all this; my suggestion to Hosts is; call AirBnb repeatedly when U receive a "Revenge Review" based on falsehoods.....-don't give up ...-when Ur told "the review cannot be removed because it doesn't contravene our policy because the review does not use profanity..." -this is only the first hurdle U must overcome; ask for the issue to be escalated, call again, call daily..... ask for a customer service manager, ask for a different case manager.... provide proof of the broken House Rules.... -stay strong & FIGHT against the extortion until AirBnb relents & becomes FAIR to the Host as well as the good Guests

[Robin4]

@Yolanda8

I can't agree with you more Yolanda, everything you say makes good common sense.

The problem is Yolanda, we all know the system is wrong, it is weighted towards the guest.

Why any organisation who's business is 'customer relations' would want to talk down and solicit a negative response about that section of their customer base that is the very reason they are in business, is absolutely beyond me!

But Yolanda, that is the reality of the situation. You can shout from the rooftops that you want change, as many of us have done for years......we are not going to get it! If Airbnb had seen any merit in making the review system fairer, they would have done something about it years ago. Sadly, the fact is...... guests make Airbnb money and hosts cost them money, and up until this point the growth chart has all been one way, up, so they feel justified in keeping a 'steady as she goes' approach.

My hope is that there will be at some point a 'dip' in the graph and business will start to slip. Enough hosts will depart for other platforms where a 3 means a 3....and a 4 means a 4 and so on. Not some bullsh*t where a guest is told a 4 is better than expected while the host for that same stay is told a 4 is worse that expected!!

When that happens there will be a scurrying of little feet in the halls of power and maybe, just maybe they will do something to protect those that feed them.

You can have all the guests in the world....if you don't have a host to accommodate them, you don't have a business!

Airbnb would do well to remember that! 

Sorry that you are stired up to the point where you need to vent over it.....lots of us are!

Just remember, time is the great leveller, and that is why I do everything to keep MY ship upright. I don't make waves and I just keep on hosting guests without complaint, the money keeps on coming into my bank account.....'and the wheels on the bus go round and round'!!

Cheers......Rob

[Yolanda8]

thnx for Ur comments Rob; I'm not so "stirred up" as I'm wanting to give hope to other Hosts that U can prevail against Revenge Reviews.... -I've managed to get 4 such reviews removed by Guests who try to sneak in a "partner" into my "One Adult per Room; NO Visitors" .... some of these "partners" are, in fact, under-age femails...... I've learned to charge an "emergency 2nd person in room fee" at a very high rate which these young men using the "Tinder" app cannot afford & which ultimately AirBnb must pay.... -I've also learned to warn AirBnb during every "remove revenge review" negotiation that I don't want to involve the authorities regarding AirBnb sanctioned sexual exploitation......-this seems to weigh heavily & miraculously the revenge review disappears !!!

[James-And-Tanya0]

Hi Yolanda, and just for your information if you should ever have damage to your property, The trust and safety department is disgraceful.  They only communicate through email, and so it is a very one sided  style of communication.  They are currently threatening to close my case if I don't agree to a minimal settlement.   Be aware if you ever have damage. 

[Yolanda8]

I understand; I've been waiting 16 days on a very dangerous situation .... -involving police now because the safety department hasn't actually had time to assign a "case officer" ......yet.....  -crazy !!

[Mandi-S-Just-Business-Ro0]

Air of late has come full circle. They are allowing the most disgusting, vindictive guests to say and stay on platform.

My guest demanded in May 19 a 2 hour early check in, and further demanded that this host personally check his car to see that it was legally parked, etc. ... And to the horror of the co host, refused to flush. 

Case Management caught him lying about finding parking. And yet they allowed his review of WORST PLACE EVER, along with a one star review, to stand because it did not violate TOS.

This means that a guest can behave like an animal, be proven lying by Case Management, and stay on platform. 

Meanwhile, this 2 year SH with over 100 trips and pushing 5/5 is now down to 4.6, and facing delisting. Yes. That is me. 

There are many more like me with guests who harass, treat with violence, or damage goods who leave revenge reviews and are forced to leave because of their review. Yet the guest stays on platform.

AIR has doubled down on authentic guest experiences. Tell me. If Ozzy back in the day trashed a Marriott, would they still say it's a reflection of his experience, and print it?

[Manny5]

Hello! Thank you for posting this. I just had a horible experience with a guest and airbb is giving me a canned review. Im very sad, i've reached out daily and even after escalation they are not addressessing my concerns. The cusomter service and fairness has declined substantially the case managers are reading scripts and doing nothing but dehumanizing the community.

[Dave197]

I have been hosting about one and a half years. I now have 191 reviews. 2 time I have made supper host. As my hostel has grow thanks to the airbnb platform, occasionally I get very bad reviews. Orginally, I felt bad. Reaching out to AIRBNB was useless. The rating system was pitted against the host. My early guest reviews where always positive. Always, gave 5 star. What supprized me was guest who I thought were having a good experience gave bad reviews. Over the course of time I have learned to read body language. Sencing there is sometime ariye with a particular guest I no longer wait to see if they give a bad review and then comment afterward. This is silly because it's not punitive on their rating. I just give bad guest bad reviews. What has happen because of this action is guest are now more cautious to give me a bad reviews because I now have established myself to give inkind reviews

[Yolanda8]

-clearly my issue is not unhappy guests, it is; Guests who blatently disregard the House Rules... -like sneaking in extra ppl & then are upset when I ask the Rules to be followed..... -my post is about the method other Hosts can use to gain AirBnb's compliance in removing Revenge Reviews, when AirBnb usually only wants to help Guests, not Hosts......

[Victoria567]

@Yolanda8

What would really help other hosts, is the halt of the vague review of poor guests, written by fellow hosts.

I mean would you have hosted such a guest if a previous review , honestly stated that they sneaked in extra guests

These poor reviews are sparse on facts, just the bland ‘ best suited to a hotel’...Er Hello?

Fellow host......I’ve just had the guest I would NOT want to host again and they got a 5* star, review so WHAT THE HECK, is going on?

Other host.......Oh it couldn’t be that bad, just chalk it down to experience as it WILL make YOU a better host. I suggest that you don’t cane this guest, just write “best suited to a hotel” as EVERYONE surely knows, what this guest did in your family home.

Fellow host.......but that’s so vague, how’s that going to STOP this guest bouncing around air bnb from unsuspecting host to host?

Other host.........it’s ONLY a review, for goodness sake! It soon gets buried anyway, but most  important of all, I DONT want to risk my STATS!

Er....Hello?

[Ian-And-Anne-Marie0]

@Yolanda8 

my issue is not unhappy guests, it is; Guests who blatently disregard the House Rules... -like sneaking in extra ppl & then are upset when I ask the Rules to be followed.....

I agree entirely. Extra people, Sleeping on sofas, Smoking, Pets, Glass outside, 18 people in accomodation for 6...

@James and Tanya

just for your information if you should ever have damage to your property, The trust and safety department is disgraceful.

All the more reason to be stating cause and consequence on house rules and t&c's, possibly signed on check-in and for sake of clarity. The online booking procedure leaves a lot of risk un-managed.

@Victoria567 

Agree. Factual and truthful.

[Yolanda8]

I've learned that U must have video & audio proof of everything & then U must fight w AirBnb to demand negative reviews removed .... -lying is rife in this home-sharing world now !

[Brittani7]

Yes!  There is a way to be polite but still be up front if a guest wasn't a great guest.  I've had it happen before too where a young couple had two five star reviews.  The couple was genuinely nice but they were very young and when I went to clean my rental, it was a mess.  They were not a guest worthy of five stars.  

[Manny5]

You are correct revenge reviews are totally used against us and the platform doens't help hosts.

[Thuy28]

I have hosted since 2 months and actually got only 5 stars reviews. One day a "king" guest came and he rated me 4 stars because I don't have things which he needed such as iron or international converter although they don't belong to my listing on Airbnb. And he paid not morethan a quarter to a hotel price in Berlin im comparasion.

During his stay he broke the houserule by exploiting and outwitting my offered services while I wasn't home.

And he lied about my locate that guest won't find food at night because no food is available nearby but there is a restaurant at the corner of my street and a supermarkt about 500 meter. He complained that my place is too far from the city center but actually it's just far away from where he wanted to go (locates another side of Berlin) and my place is absolutely not too far from the city center. Anyone who has been in Berlin must know that Berlin city center is very big. 

Furthermore he complained that I'm not local people so don't expect too much tipps and German cultures at my place. The truth is I helped him a lot and gave him as much information as he needed. And I don't know what's the matter when I'm not local people while guests come to my place for accommodation but not for attending traditional programm.

Some guests just think they are the king and the universe turns around them. 

I was about to accept the truth that I lost my 5 stars overall reviews which I don't deserve and today at a Airbnb event I was told to contact Airbnb supporter if such things happen.  So I decided to write Airbnb supporter, told them about the whole story and asked them to remove the review.

You know what they did? They said Charles (guest who left me bad review) review doesn't violate Airbnb's content policy but they can remove both review so that neither is visible. Yeah, by the way I helped Charles to remove my review which I wrote to him that he broke the house rules and outwitting my offered service. But it's okay. Charles review removed. Goal reached.

What I found weird is the answer of Airbnb supporter: "His review doesn't violate Airbnb's content policy" but what's about the lie? Is it fine to tell the lies in review just because their expectation of a luxus palace hasn't been satisfied?  I can't simply accept a review which based on unknowledgeable and personal thing. Sorry I offer my home  I don't offer a 5-star hotel. 

So this was my story today. If you really feel it's not fair to get a bad review. Feel free to contact Airbnb supporter, they CAN always remove reviews.