Terrible, unreasonable review for 1 night stay by guests new to AirBnB with poor support from AirBnB

[Mary1369]

Hi Everyone,

We had this sad experience lately, where we had 4 chineese guests, who didn't speak any english, stay at our penthouse in Phuket for a single night. Communication was through the airbnb communicator (so everything is recorded). I just wanted to add that they refused our airport pick up service and decided to take a municipal taxi. Our airBnB offer of the penthouse is highly described with plenty of photos portraying the place. 

They arrived late, with hassle, due to the fact that the taxi driver didn't know the area and couldn't find the place (chineese guests can't use google maps on their smartphones), they were dropped of at the main street (which is outrageous) and had to walk uphill to the building (again this is not our fault).

Our building manager was there who takes care of the place waiting for them (we weren't there ourselves in person which is described in the listing). After their arrival they ceased all communication and failed to respond to our check up questions via the airbnb communicator. 

Just yesterday we received a terrible review - 1 star and a review stating that:

1. Our place is in a different town than the one they wanted to go to (which is clearly stated in the listing).

2. That we had Buddha paintings by Thai artists on the walls (which is clearly portrayed in the photos).

3. That we and the manager only speak english (actually we speak a lot of languages and our manager is Thai, but neither of us speak chineese - and this is clearly stated in the listing)

4. It's an 1,5h drive from the airport (beacuse it's the south of the island, where the airport is in the north - and this is clearly stated in the listing)

5. That in the building and around town are only "Foreigners" -  I cannot understand this argument (am I supposed to describe that tourists visit the island in high season???)

6. That there was a stain on the pillow - but this wasn't communicated to the reception nor the manager (if there indeed was a stain and our guest would ask for a pillow change we would do it immediately).

So taken all this into account, are we wrong to recognize these arguments as completely irrational and besides our hosting capabilities (apart from point 6 narually).

Because the guest joined AirBnB directly before booking our place, we asked  AirBnB for support in removing this review. Our reviews are all very good and we've maintained superhost status for a couple of years now, but this last review just seems ridiculous and I don't see why I should accept nor tolerate such irrational and hurting guest opinions.

Unfortunately AirBnB support agent just copy-pasted a typical reply, in short "sorry, against airbnb policy, we feel for you". Given, he was in such a ruch, he even copy-pasted the name of the previous host instead of addressing it to me.

So dear AirBnB Community, is there anything else you can think of that could clear this sad, unfair stain from our review plate? Can we protect ourselves against such irresponsible and damaging reviews?

All comments highly appreciated,

Thank you all!

All the Best,

Maria

[Ben551]

I think folks have given some great advice on this one - as usual, go team!

Earlier this month we had 4 guests that got lost and arrived tired, hungry and... kinda angry.

They were from Europe and only 1 of their party spoke English but not a lot. They had been using a version of Google for their own language and said it had let them down completely. The regular Google finds our place easily, so my wife (doing the check in) was taken aback by raised voices and accusing tones... 

They were also driving themselves, which is a hard thing to do because we drive on the left in NZ, whereas they were used to driving on the right. Difficult and scary for them to suddenly arrive, pick up a rental car and swap sides of the road! The driver had been overwhelmed and missed several turns.

Thankfully my wife had Googled some basic words in their language (including how to apologise) before they arrived. She likes to do that. When she made a token effort, they calmed down a lot and even smiled at her (she says) badly pronounced effort. This became a running point of amusement for them during their stay, as she learned new words and tried new things (often reading from notes at their door) to deliver new towels and milk etc.... gradually a rapport was built, the whole thing turned around and we did receive a 5 star review.

What started as a scary confrontation ended superbly. I wouldn’t put it down to luck either, I think it was thanks to my wife working on it. I suppose that’s one of the benefits of being close by.

[Mary1369]

Hi @Ben551,

Wow! You and your wife really turned it around then. Congrats 🙂

Unfortunately, in my case they only stayed one night and didn't communicate their troubles to my manager. 

But your way is the usuall way to go 🙂 I always begin difficult topics with my husband once he's rested and fed after work 😉

take care

[Sudsrung0]

We get lots of Chinese visitors who dont speak English the best thing to use is We Chat all Chinese use that we dont have a problem and you can then share location.

Regarding your negative review maybe learn how to turn a Negative into a Positive, with your reply.

Most take our offer of a local taxi or minivan service I say they know exactly where our villa is located after your long journey and you dont speak Thai so let us help you. 

Dont worry to much about one bad review people will read all the other good reviews

[Mary1369]

Hi @Sudsrung0,

Thank you. Yes I will try more next time to make a bad review turn into something good. We Chat is a fantastic idea! Thank you 🙂 

I told these guests that our transport service is safe, quick and will bring them directly to the doorstep, but they chose not to use it.

[Sudsrung0]

Im afraid Airbnb will not remove reviews unless its racist or deformation,

We had a dispute last year with a guest which we won the case in our favour but that guest was still allowed to leave a review and believe me it was not good.

When I contacted Airbnb about it they said they will leave it there but my reply was very good and that was over a year ago nobody has ever mentioned it, we've been full all year and till next May

[Mary1369]

@Sudsrung0 yes, they won't take down the bad review. I just hope that hosts will have more protection against frustrated guests. It's not my fault that it rains all day, or that Maya Bay is closed now - these are the things we cannot help with and we should not be reviewed based on things we don't have power over 🙂

Thanks for the advice and commenting.