Unfair reviews

Jan83
Level 2
Berlin, Germany

Unfair reviews

Hey guys, I would like to know what do you do when you get unfair reviews? I had most of the time good reviews. From time to time I get 4 stars but it is usually just about small things like the guest did not like that my furniture is from IKEA etc. But last 2 reviews make me feel little frustrated. First review was from girl who complaid that I was not reachable, even when I was during whole her staying in next room because I work in home office. And today I got 4 starts from couple who thought they booked whole place. They complained about it only to private reviews but that means that I can´t defence and it gets my rating down 😞 

 

Jan

11 Replies 11
Neff0
Level 1
London, United Kingdom

Hi Jan

Hope you well,just came on here as i was myself quite down today dealing with Airbnb review left from some PIG from Cyprus

Airbnb is turning into budget ,hight street and everything of that low meaning.Sadly used to be really good platform and i adored the concept but its is also not safe any more hosting though th eplatform a i have just today experienced what is behing

airbnb doesnt give a **bleep** about guests or hosts,they all kind and sweet and polite if you manage to get though

 

Beacause of my previous feedback that scam from cyprus left it was going for a while through resolution,once guest leave they dont care any longer about you

Sadly quite large number of people are sick coming through airbnb,very unfair feedback system for the host,some scam who came on a budget and could see and the location and the place before booking.

my place is BACKINGHAM PALACE IN EAST LONDON FOR 99% OF MY GUESTS,than you can idiot as a guest from in the middle of nowhere ,who doesnt like your ikea furniture seen before booking;-) sick

a psyhopat i dealt with was the same ,stupid miserable people

 

the most shocking is how airbnb dealing with issue,or not dealing,my guest been left on the street as managers  are busy  and no person to contact me for 7 days regarding my problem.i spent hours and hours and sleepless night to solve the problem and at the end ill be hosting people for free as they simply left them on rain.and behing the story you cant even imagine how ignorant they are,dont give a dam,appart from a manager Hannah who tried to help today,but she is tied as zillon different departments are dealing with the same request and there is no communication between them at all.its sit and wait policy ...i practicly now hosting for free for 4 days as i didnt want to leave them on the street.Canceled reservation and closing my account as seeing whats happened, i wouldnt want someone to treat me that way and to be in that situation tht airbnb left my guests

i would higly suggest another platform such as HOME AWAY ,any problem sorted in minutes ,A CLASS!

 

they just gone too big to care !

 

and my personal advice as feel with ur frustration as thats how i felt today.those miserable people are idiots and dont get upset with it,but if you ever continue hosting through budget platform filter guests before approving reservation.photo is not saying much ,but says a lot;-) and listen to your gut before accepting.those people will die miserable n hope for them

i had some farmers staying at mine visiting local conference cnter which is 2 parallel streets from me or 3-5 min walk.it was too distant for them.probably not used to walk without a cow or a pig any distancies ,they rather felt strange than being far from the conference center 

head up no BASTARDS TO UPSET U!

 

 As an airbnb host I put in a lot of efforts for my guests to enjoy their stay. I provide welcome snacks, towels, Netflix, functional kitchen and fridge with supplies.  It gets very personal when I get a 4 and worst a 3 like recently. 

A guest left my apartment in an unacceptable state. Leaving used condoms on the dinning table for example. (I live in that apartment from time to time). This was so so heartbreaking. This still saddens me. I sent a private message to the guest to express my dissatisfaction.  She apologized and requested that I do not leave a public  review about that. To my greatest dismay this guest unfairly rated me.

Airbnb needs to work hard on its platform of reviews. After the guests leave unfair reviews hosts are left to suffer. These ratings are important to us. I am quiting hosting because that nasty image is still in my mind.

@Elise87have you considered putting about 6-degrees of separation between you and the $30-a- night market? You should. It is a brutal demographic, it is filled with bargain hunters who insist on 3x more than what they actually paid for. Nothing to loose by trying a different approach.

@Jan83 it is very frustrating to get reviews that are unfair.

There is not much to do about them, since they cannot be removed if they do not violate the AirBnB content policy.

However, as a host (and a business person), you can at least try to gain what you can from the bad reviews.

Any negative review (even one that is unfair) can contain some information the host can use to improve.

 

Using your two examples:

The guest who complained about not being able to reach you even though you were right in the next room: apparently, she was not aware that you were in the room right next door. Regardless of the reason why she did not know this (not observant, wasn't paying attention, just clueless), it does not matter. You have to know that she will not be the only guest to have this problem. This means that, if you want this to happen less, you should take steps to help even the most clueless person know how to reach you. Put up 10 signs with your cell phone on it. Hang a large sign on your door "Host is in here right now". Have a button they can push that rings a doorbell in your room; label the button "Press here to find host".

Yes, you should not have to do things like this. But if it can prevent getting a bad review for the same reason again, is it not worth trying?

 

The guest who thought they booked the whole place: Increase the number of places you mention that this is just a private room, and not a whole place. Does your description mention this once? Make it twice. Do you mention it twice? Make it four times. Put the fact that this is a Private Room in your welcome messages. When they book with you, send them a reminder that this is a Private Room, not a Whole Place.

Yes, you should not have to do this. But the person who suffers when guests don't pay attention is you, so you have to deal with it.

 

None of this is your fault. But that doesn't mean you should do nothing about it.

 

 

What great advice.  I have only been hosting forva short time. Have just had tobdeal with some passive aggressive guests and have a gut feeling they will give me a bad review but instead of getting upset and taking it personal I will treat it as theyre opinion and look at it in a professional manner in my reply. This will dilute their review and remind anyone reading it of the other 99% who adore my flat

S31
Level 3
Boston, MA

Airbnb must do something about the discrimination hosts face by the guests and how they just give reviews to take it on us for faults that is not ours. We must tweet about this and grab their attention. I had a horrible experience the other day on my listing.

 

https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/2244415?preview_for_ml

 

Instead of guest checking out at 10 am, they checked out at 3.30 pm. Did not inform me or contact me. When I contact them at 2.30 pm, she responds 'SLOW DOWN, we left'. Which was a lie. When I went there at 3.30, they were just getting ready to leave. Now I charged her for an extra night but she threatens me to leave a bad review and she did.

 

We hosts struggle to do the best to accomodate and prepare the place and be good hosts, but some guests are absolutely obnoxious. Its impossible to get a 5 star rating no matter what I do. On top of that, these are situations that is clear. She did not read the houserules and she treated me poorly and the elitist took everything for granted and left the place as per her wish. Openly she made it clear, that she will show how her review will look on my listing. I havent reviewed her back and I am hoping airbnb will do something about. Airbnb needs to step up to this.

Fred13
Level 10
Placencia, Belize

  You got scammed, by a scammer. So think of the ways no one stays until 3:30pm when your check out is at 10am. There is always a way.

   I gather you are not physically there to usher them out the door, so get a tough, stone-faced cleaning lady named 'Naily'  that starts cleaning at 10.01 and 'helps' them gather their 'stuff' and gets them out the door. 😄

Dawn171
Level 3
Alva, FL

I agree with you something needs to be done about guests threatening and holding 

hosts practically hostage by threatening to leave a bad review when they broke the rules.

@Dawn171 I think I read about these bad guests in your other posting.

 

If the guests have been communicating with you via AirBnB messaging, you should have evidence of their threats.

AirBnB takes a very, very dim view of extortion. It is one of the very few things that can get a review removed. If they have documented their threat to you by sending it via AirBnB messages, contact AirBnB support and let them know about it now (to get ahead of the issue). Once you have assurance from support that their bad review would be removed due to extortion, you should be able to deal with the guests with a much firmer hand.

Best of luck, Dawn! Show them who is boss.

 

Extra info:

AirBnB says there are only 3 reasons they will remove a review:

  • Reviews that do not represent the author’s personal experience or that of their travel companions
  • Reviews incentivized by a promise for payment, additional services, or a discounted rate
  • Reviews motivated by a threat of extortion (review our Extortion Policy)

You can read more about it here: https://www.airbnb.com/help/article/546/what-is-airbnb-s-content-policy

 

All the above information looks good in words about Airbnb policy. When you are faced with actual problem and you reach out to airbnb, you are looking to spend minimum 9 hours to days filled with stress to get the review removed. Several hold time, and many supervisors reading this same lines posted and analyzing and re-analyzing. This is the truth and unless airbnb is willing to up their game with better customer service, revise review policies, the hosts are in trouble in this current review system.

 

 

 

Fred13
Level 10
Placencia, Belize

@Jan83Keep in mind that the ~public~ response you give to any review is of utmost importance, it doesn't matter what anyone really writes, you can really sell yourself and your place especially when countervailing an unfair review! The showering reviews require no thought, the mean-spirited ones present a challenge and require our best thinking and delicate approach.