Superhost

[Anna-And-Dean0]

Is it just us or are you also  being ignored by Airbnb Ambassadors?

It’s been 4 weeks of follow up calls and no one calls us back!!  

We filed a complaint to have a Review removed (which contains a bunch of lies that doesn’t accurately describe their experience at all ) and we are being ignored.

 We had a guest who cancelled her reservation after a one night stay coming up with a bunch of nonsense excuses just to get her refund since we had a strict cancellation policy.  

This crazy guest (new to Airbnb) even threatened us to write a bad revenue if “ we didn’t resolve this”.   Thing is she left before we had a chance to “resolve”  but  in reality there was nothing to resolve!    

All her complaints are lies,  twisted truths, even went out of her way to say we had a misty/mould smell in our home and water damage ??  Unfortunately we won’t allow to be manipulated by lies and a refund was not granted.

We are superhost, and we work extremely hard for our 50+ guest reviews consistently show this. 

Airbnb tells we are valued as superhost every time we call, anybody else finds this rhetoric?

We are sooo frustrated, any suggestions?    Wondering if we should turn to social media?  

[Fred13]

The company line appears to be to stand by the guest no matter what, including to do include guest reviews even when they make no sense.

However, it has been my experience that the value system of Airbnb the company and the individuals that work there oftentimes are quite different.  Many that work there oftentimes have taken a more fair mentality in the great majority of cases we have had to deal with Airbnb.

If you are referring to Danielle's review I wouldn't give it much importance since it is way too long for starters and sandwiched between very favorable ones. It can also be taken as being overly critical.

[Anna-And-Dean0]

Thank you @Fred13.  Yes, it is Danielle's review we are referring to. 

We did make the mistake of leaving a candle melt, similar to a scented candle without the flame.  This was supposed to be a welcome and relaxing feature which our past guests all enjoyed.  

While we would have been happy to refund her a one night stay, she made a dramatic exit with lies and over exaggerations.    We have reasons to believe this guest had no intention to stay the 5 nights she booked,  hence grasping for false claims to win her refund.  

The most frustrating part is Danielle threatened us to leave a bad review if she didn't get her refund.  This is in breach of the Airbnb policy review, but Ambassadors are neglecting to recognize this! 

[Fred13]

Airbnb on many occasions has a tough time holding guests responsible for their actions as if they are automatically the 'victim' in every confrontation with a host and merit being given the benefit of the doubt.  It really gets old and to me shows a certain immaturity.

[Sarah977]

@Anna-And-Dean0  I assume you are talking about Danielle's review. I wouldn't waste another moment of my time trying to get it removed. She comes across  as a total nutcase and will to future guests as well. Potential guests are not even going to bother reading through her half page rant.

Is she totally lying about there being diffusers, though? Because if you do have them, you should not. Airbnbs should be as scentless as possible. No air fresheners, no diffusers, no scented candles, no spraying of any scents. What smells good to one person may smell terrible to someone else- there are almost no universally enjoyed smells.

[Anna-And-Dean0]

Thank you @Sarah977.   Yes, we are referring to Danielle's review. 

We did make the mistake of leaving a candle melt, similar to a scented candle without the flame.   A scented candle will continuously emit scent, where in a melt, the scent wears out the longer you burn it.   This was supposed to be a welcome and relaxing feature which our past guests all enjoyed - in the 2+ years of using it, no one ever complained nor made any comments about it, and truly wish someone would have gently pointed it out to us.   Agree, we were naive and somewhat stupid.   However, according to Airbnb agent Robert, we didn't do anything wrong and he even said a refund was not reasonable in this situation.  

We apologized to the guest immediately and tried to make her stay better with some suggestions.  We probably would have offered a one night refund for the inconvenience if she had stayed.    We learned the hard way how some people may have extreme sensitivities, this can be even more challenging with individuals with mental instability.   We also know that this type of scent will leave once the diffuser is removed and after airing out the home, and clothes will not smell the following day, especially after the diffuser was off and removed!   She complained about cleanliness only after she left nor did she seek alternative placement with Airbnb.   

We refused a refund on the basis of her dramatic exit with exaggerated claims, lies  about mould and cleanliness.   This is our home, we live upstairs and we never had water damage nor a mould issue, nor do we own camping gear?!!   Our past and previous guests would have commented if this statement were to be true.    Our ceiling are to building standards, and in addition to having professional cleaners we triple check and we are thorough, from  hair in the bathroom to the crumbs in the cutlery drawer and toaster!

We have reasons to believe this guest had no intention to stay the 5 nights she booked,  hence grasping for false claims to win her refund.   You are correct, she is a nutcase and this was apparent from the moment we greeted her, hence we got Airbnb involved immediately.

Danielle left and advised us 8 hours later giving herself time to think of a bunch of nonsense.   In that same message she threatened to leave us a bad review if she didn't get her refund.  This is in breach of the Airbnb policy review, but Ambassadors are neglecting to recognize this - That's the most frustrating part!   Are Superhosts truly valued?    We understand how Airbnb needs to be impartial and allow the guest to speak of their experience however should the guest be allowed to use the review system as a revenge tool and lie about their true experience?   Based on balance of probabilities who's telling the truth?  we have 50+ reviews, she had none prior to ours.  

We want this review removed simply because we feel we are being bullied by this nutcase!

[Sarah977]

@Anna-And-Dean0  Oh yeah, it's obvious from her excruciatingly long rant that she's a real piece of work, sorry you have had to deal with this.

I wasn't at all insinuating that she had legitimate complaints, her account is far too dramatic.

Refund scammers always seem to leave either reviews like that, or one liners that say things like "Worst place ever, host is crazy".

I just know a lot of hosts feel they're doing something nice for guests by scenting the space in some way, and I'm sure there are some guests who appreciate it. But I've read posts where the host says they use a lavender spray on the linens, as if that's something everyone would love. But I cringe because I happen to hate the smell of lavender, and I was chatting with a guest one day who stayed for 2 weeks in my private room listing, so we chatted a lot, and somehow we got onto scents, and she said she hated lavender, too. It reminded us both of old ladies, so our grandmas must have used lavender sachets in their drawers, or something.

[Sean95]

Have a look at the Airbnb Content Policy here: https://www.airbnb.ca/help/article/2673/airbnbs-review-policy

Lies are allowed. There is no mechanism for you to dispute a review on the grounds of false information, even if you can prove that the information is false. 

If the review is long and detailed, AirBnB isn't interested in whether it's true or not, they will uphold it. The only way you might win sometimes is if the review doesn't even speak about your place specifically or if the guest never checked in (but is writing you a punitive review anyway for not granting a refund). In my experience, if you tell AirBnB that the guest never checked in, they will contact that guest to ask if they checked in and generally they don't realize why the question is being asked so they will answer honestly.

I have disputed 15-20 reviews in my life and been successful only 3 times.

Once the guest never actually showed up. Well they did, but they arrived a day before their booking, while the place was booked by other people and they broke several house rules so I reported them to AirBnB and had their booking cancelled. They left a bad review and I got it removed.

Another time where someone left a review that simply said "don't book private rooms, only book entire places".

And another where the entire review was focused on complaining about the absence of amenities that are already shown as not included on the listing.

[Sarah977 · Accepted solution]

@Anna-And-Dean0  Please don't take this the wrong way, but I would strongly suggest you change the way you respond to some guest reviews. Responses appear on your review page, not the guests' and are simply used to either thank a nice guest, so you appear to be a gracious host, or correct misleading, incorrect information, or to let future guests know you have addressed a legitimate complaint. 

Responses should be quite brief- a short sentence or three, and impersonal- they aren't the venue to attack or criticize a guest, and quite honestly, some of your lengthy responses come across as rants. You should never mention things in a response that a guest told you during their stay, or in private feedback, and  certainly never berate them for the star rating they left- it comes across as defensively aggressive and will put future guests off. Your responses are much more detrimental to you than Danielle's review. 

The same goes for the review you left for Danielle. Do not go into all the gory details of what happened in a review- it comes across as soap opera and other hosts aren't interested in all that drama when checking out a guest's reviews. Just stick to facts in a concise and general way. We want to know whether a guest communicated well, left the place clean, followed house rules, or if they appeared to be creating a drama of complaimts in order to scam a refund. We don't care if she put the diffuser outside or that it didn't actually smell in there, or any of that. 

The place to describe everything that went down, or let off steam about a bad situation or review is here on the forum, so other hosts who are trying to be helpful get the whole picture.

[Mike-And-Jane0]

@Anna-And-Dean0 the only advice I can give is to stop fixating on reviews that are lower than 5 stars. @Anonymous would put it far better than I can but this fixation is exactly what Airbnb want in order to exert mind control over their hosts. 

The simple truth is you are not getting a response from Airbnb because the review does not violate any of their rules. Beating your head against a brick wall will be unlikely to change their minds.

[Brian1613]

You are an Ambassador, and you’re being ignored? Or are you seeking your assigned Ambassador, and being ignored.

As regards your other problem. Several things:

First, at booking, always ask your guest if they have any allergies, or sensitivities, as part of your welcome greeting. If they’re not big on scents, or have a peanut allergy, you can handle it appropriately. If they don’t mention anything, THEN complain about a scent issue, etc., you have a bit more to work with, with Airbnb Support.

Second, most hosts don’t spell out things especially well. Your description, in your listing, so prior to booking, should be very clear about what you do, and do not do. What you expect, and what is allowed.

Third, always good to have a Pest Policy. State what you do about pests, for routine maintenance. Give your guest the procedures to report pests (ON AIRBNB CHAT, NOTHING ELSE) so you have a clear log, for Airbnb CS.  The reason that Customer Service can’t help so many hosts is because they don’t help themselves first, by being clear about the rules/requirements, and keeping physical evidentiary logs of what’s going on. It’s much harder for someone to scam you if you communicate about things in ways that make it easy for Airbnb to get beyond the “you said/they said” thing. 

[Quincy]

Hi there @Anna-And-Dean0, I have passed this on to the team for you! 

[Bob1240]

It’s not just you.

I have had contact but have had people who are working to a script, don’t listen and are incapable of making sensible decisions. They are also patronising: 

“Thank you for reaching out to us”

”We value what you are doing as a Superhost “

”Have a wonderful day”

All bollocks rather than focussing on the issues raised.

[Cherie71]

Bob1240 - don't forget the "I'll be going on vacation/weekend for 2 or 3 days and will get back to you when I return." (This after not responding to anything so far.) or after a week or so of receiving no information getting the message..."I'll have to bump your question to another member of the team. I am closing this ticket now."

[Gisele158]

I'm curious to see if the negative review has been removed because I can't find it. I had a similar situation and went around in circles wanting to bang my head against the wall where Airbnb backed the guest despite documented conversations and photographic evidence that he was lying. @Anna-And-Dean0