Terrible Review Experience

[Robert613]

We have been hosting various rooms in our home for more than 4 years and have enjoyed an average of 4.99 Star ratings as well as over 600 extremely positive reviews.

We finally experienced the bad review situation. Not just bad but libelous as well. The guest had booked a room with us for 5 nights. He raved about everything during his stay and we had multiple pleasant interactions with him. This was what he posted in his public review:

“Can not trust management. They let police & others in your dwelling 24/7 without warrants. This place will violate all your rights & betray you at all costs illegally.”

Needless to say we were horrified! We have NEVER had the police here for any circumstance and we NEVER go into a guest's room unless they are notified in advance (laundry, etc). To make it stranger, here was his private feedback: “A very thoughtful experience!!! The hosts are genuine good people & the facility is immaculate! Whether having a cocktail out back or simply watching the Golden Girls AM or PM this facility provides peace, coffee & a historic outline of the room your in. Fantastic stay from beginning to end.” Then he gave us 5 stars on everything!

Yes, we posted a reply where I directly quoted his private feedback and pointed out the falsehoods in his statement. I also sent him a message through Airbnb questioning why he wrote that. I immediately called Airbnb to report it and ask that it be taken down due to the libelous statements made within it. Three phone calls later and they are still refusing to remove the review.

My recourse so far has been to block that room from bookings so that the review does not appear. We are lucky that we do not rely on our income from Airbnb to help support us. I take the charge of violating someone's civil rights very seriously since I am gay and I know what it is like to worry about your rights being respected. I have told Airbnb that I can produce proof from the police that they have never been on our premises at all but Airbnb is not interested in it. I requested to speak to a supervisor and instead got a message from one. I called again and made that request more than 12 hours ago and I am waiting for a call back. 

The guest finally responded to my message two days later and said, "Very odd. I will look into it. It will be rectified soon." He then responded again admitting he cut and pasted the wrong review to our listing and that he cannot get it deleted. All of our communication has been through the Airbnb platform so they should be able to see that.

My greatest annoyance is that the last message I had from Airbnb included this phrase: "We do not mediate for fairness or truth in a review." Lies and defamation apparently meet Airbnb's standards. What good does it do to build a reputation as we have through Airbnb for it to be discounted the first time we need them in our corner?

We were fortunate enough to get into Airbnb's IPO and are also shareholders...for now. I will be attending the annual meeting to find out why hosts are treated this way when they are defamed without cause.

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4 Comments

[Till-and-Jutta0]

@Robert613 Keep on insisting to get the obvious wrong review removed by an agent who is able to do so.

Annoying.

[Alexandra316]

@Robert613 Definitely keep at it. Get the current ticket closed (if there is one) then open a new one with a new agent. 

The guest should definitely be able to get it removed just by requesting that it be done.

It really seems like a bizarre situation: how do you accidentally write something like that? 

[Dale711]

Hi @Robert613 

@Till-and-Jutta0 advice is greatly appreciated.

I hope you resolve the issues.

Happy Hosting 😊

[Mike-And-Jane0]

@Robert613 I think the guest has a right, under law, to ask Airbnb to remove a review as he 'owns' it. I would contact the guest and ask nicely  if he could call Airbnb demanding his own review be removed. Other may know the law better than I do. @Anonymous ???

[Anonymous]

@Mike-And-Jane0   Yes, you are correct - as the creator of the content, the guest may insist that the review be removed.  But the request should come from the writer of the review; the recipient does not have any rights in this matter.

@Robert613 What a frustrating situation this must be for you. The only way this review is likely to be taken down is if the guest voluntarily takes time out of his schedule to navigate the byzantine process of reaching a marginally competent customer service operator to do you a solid. That's a big ask, especially considering that it's technically against the Extortion Policy to offer any kind of incentives in return.  But if you guys established enough of a rapport to hang out together watching Golden Girls, maybe he'll feel inclined as a friend, rather than as a customer, to go the extra mile to correct his mistake. 

[Laura2592]

@Robert613 wow, I am so sorry this happened to you. 

I would call the guest and have some actual voice contact. Explain what you just told us here-- that you take that sort of accusation very seriously and are sorry he ever experienced that himself. That you enjoyed him as a guest but are concerned about the impact to your business and reputation. Tell him that you would appreciate his help in getting the review removed. I don't know if he will want to deal with the Kafka-esque nightmare that is ABB customer service, but its worth a shot. Make your best appeal. You already have (presumably) the admission that this is the incorrect review in writing in messages, yes?

I would also do as others have said and just keep opening new tickets until you get someone who will listen. I once had a guest book on blocked dates when we had work being done on our space. It was a calendar glitch. I had to argue with the rep for literally an hour, send screen shots and make a case that Clarence Darrow would have been proud of. Eventually the rep conceded that yes, there was a calendar glitch, those dates were blocked and canceled the guest reservation. Prepare to debate. Keep at it until someone will listen. Best of luck!

Personally if I saw a review like this with a reasoned host response it would not deter me from booking. I would assume the guest had some mental health issues TBH.

[Robin4]

@Robert613 

Robert these dumb mistakes happen, and it is even more frustrating that Airbnb sit on their a*se and say, "well the rules are the rules, it's the guests honest perception" when it patently obviously is a mistake.

CX do have the ability to remove a review if it is slanderous or likely to cause offence! I had a guests review altered a couple of years ago. The guests name was Cooper...Coop for short! When I wrote my review I mention how lovely it was to have Coop stay and how we hope he enjoyed being here. I mentioned him by name a couple of times!

When the review was published spellchecker changed his name from Coop to "Poop" and after having a laugh, CX felt that it may cause offense and they removed it......but that was 3 years ago, CX aint what it used to be!

But on the other side of the coin Robert I don't think I would bother taking it any further. Look at you, you are a Superhost with 620+ great reviews, you mate are truly swimming in the big pond. Not a bloody soul is going to look at that and think it was anything other than a genuine mistake........

other than Airbnb support!

But we have come to expect that, haven't we!

Cheers........Rob

Apologies to @Anonymous @Alexandra316 and @Sarah977  for once again bringing up an old chestnut!

At least Poop makes it's way past the CC sanitizer! 

[Sarah977]

@Robert613  I have read if this happening to hosts as well-that they accidentally posted the wrong review for a guest.

You won't have luck getting the review removed, but the guest should be able to, as it's his review. Good luck.

I would have waited to hear back from the guest before leaving a response. Then your response could have said that you asked the guest why he left this review, as he had given you glowing private feedback and a 5* rating, and he said he had cut and pasted the wrong review- that it was meant for another stay he had.

[Emilia42]

@Robert613 It is odd that your guest made this mistake. When writing a review the private feedback comes first, followed by the public review. So in a matter of seconds, your guest wrote you glowing private feedback, then clicked next, and pasted text from a previous review. ??? It doesn't make much sense to me but I do believe it is a huge error on the guest's part and you are not deserving of such a review. I hope you are able to get this resolved. 

[Flori7]

@Robert613 

"Lies and defamation apparently meet Airbnb's standards. What good does it do to build a reputation as we have through Airbnb for it to be discounted the first time we need them in our corner?"

I feel you so much.

I am so disappointed as well. 

Good luck !

[Helen744]

Hi Robert , I would suggest that the guest is not telling the truth. Point out to airbnb that the guest has agreed to the removal of the review.Lose the whole lot. who knows what their motivation was or is . just get rid of it. it does influence others. Maybe their fiend is a rival airbnb. Maybe they think playing with your livlihood is a joke? Good Luck