Reviews and Disputes escalated to the Resolution center

[Henriette-and-Hippolyte0]

Hello,

I have this serious concern. I think the reviews and disputes resolutions system for Airbnb is skewed against the host. Its totally onesided. I now strongly believe Airbnb doesnt care about the host.

When I have an issue with the guest, I try to resolve it without going to Airbnb resolutions, if that doesnt work, i get Airbnb involves.

I recently had a bad experience, where the dispute was escalated Airbnb. The guest follows immediately by giving me a 1 star review and asking other users not to book my apartment, advising clients against booking my apartment. As a result, Airbnb suspended  my account for 5 days. meanwhile the issue is still being resolve. The client was clearly wrong.  given the double punishment and the potential long term effect of such a review, Can Airbnb not suspend reviews in such a case until the matter was resolved? How can we guard against angry guests. Can host unionize to protect themselves against this charade?

 What punishment does Airbnb give guest who trash your apartment? theny can create multiple accounts and still rent but host cannot do that? We are suspended and consequently huge long term loss of income due to bad reviews.

[Ian-And-Anne-Marie0]

@Henriette-and-Hippolyte0 

Sadly you're right.

Where in the past Airbnb might have relied on the goodwill of their hosts to provide excellent hosting, today they feel entitled to punish those same hosts through a silly punitive award scheme. Coercive control some hosts will say.

What they have not yet realised is that hosts are not stupid so they tighten up their hosting to fit the model being enforced. This will only lead to a worse guest experience, rather than a good one.  Awarding disruptive or disrespectful guest only encourages them more.

The only unionisation of hosts you will find is their migration to other platforms.

[Henriette-and-Hippolyte0]

Reason for Suspension as per Airbnb. " Due to a recent review...your account has been suspended." If this continues, Airbnb wont be my prefered platform. Watching.

[Anonymous]

@Henriette-and-Hippolyte0  I don't know if Airbnb's listing suspensions are generated by an algorithm or personally reviewed by a staff member. Many hosts have gotten a retaliatory review as a result of a dispute without having their listings suspended.

However, it looks like in your case the suspension wasn't just the result of a single review. Of the six reviews you've received this year, only two of them were positive, and in addition to that there's an unexplained host cancellation. Maybe you've just had unusually bad luck. But it would probably be a good idea to use this time to adjust your listing to make sure it sets accurate expectations, and work out a way to verify that your property is a good fit for the guests' needs before accepting bookings.

[Henriette-and-Hippolyte0]

OK  but considering the number of disputes i have had in the past year, then of the 6 reviews, this is actually a positive. 

If i had 8 disputes in the last year and  assuming that every disputes equate to a 1 star rating, then, i should be out of business by now as per Airbnb.

I still say and insist that Airbnb should review its disputes and review policy. A guest cannot trash your apartment, not only will you bear the cost of repairs that you are not sure of recuperating, you have to do the repairs immediately because the next guest is coming,  you put in a dispute, the guest follows up with a angry one star review,  to add salt to injury, you receive a mail from Airbnb stating clearly that, and I quote " Due to a recent review.... your listing has been suspended"

That is the whole picture. Tell me if that is not true. If i have 6 disputes, it means i should have 6 one star review. The host should feel free to launch a disputes. It cost alot of money to equip your apartment with quality furniture. One person can get in and  wipe out your savings for several years.