Untruthful review of Host. What to do?

[Grace60]

Hello,

I received an untruthful review from a guest recently. Anyone has similar experience and good suggestions? Thank you in advance.

The guest complained about "mildew odor", "people living in the house", "Not walking distance to metro or any other  store/restaurants" etc. It's exactly 15 minutes walk to the metro, which is what I stated in the profile. Seven-Eleven, and a few other restaurants, are right accross the street.

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  Gretchen Seay

  Description was not very accurate. It is one bedroom out of 3 and other people are living there. There was a strong mildew odor in the room and the downstairs room was set on 76 degrees so the bedroom to stay in on the 3rd floor was very warm.

  

  Response from Grace:
  - To clarify, no one lives there when we rent the house to the guest. She had the entire house for her own. Not sure why she's saying there is other people living there. - The temperature was set up by the prior guest. Anyone can adjust the temperature by him/herself. Hot/cold is all relative and each guest has his/her preference. - Mildew?! It's a sunny bedroom facing south and we open the window everyday. It's the first time I heard someone said she smells mildew.

  What Gretchen thought you could improve about the experience:
  Fix the mildew smell. Set the thermostat on cooler temp. Not close to metro. Be more clear in the description of the place.

  Accuracy feedback:
  Not luxury. It is a one bedroom in an apartment with other people living there. Note said "entire home".

  Cleanliness feedback:
  There was a bad odor of mildew. Had to open windows. Temperature was set on 76 degrees in downstairs room. Upstairs bedroom was hot and smelly.

  Location feedback:
  Not walking distance to metro or any other store/restaurants.

  September 2016

[Sandra126]

Unfortunate. Since reviews are the experience of the guest, Airbnb won't change/delete them unless they mention personal details, bad language etc. At least you had the possibility of writing a response, no longer an option for many hosts.

[Kelly87]

Your response is fine, I would probably have been shorter is all. In future just state your facts, don't argue. 

But there is nothing to do, Airbnb will not remove a review like this, as it is basically her opinion. I guess you could argue she was wrong about the other people living there.... but that could be a misinterpretation. 

My response would have been: "There must be a misuderstanding, there were no other guest or other persons there during her stay. As stated in the listing, the metro is 15 minutes away. I can assure guests there is no mildew or smell, please see our other reviews. Thanks!"

[Helen3]

I appreciate how frustrating it is when a guest misreprents your property.

Perhaps it's worth asking a friend/s to read through your listing to see how it comes across, particularly so guests are clear as to the set up. So if they are renting a room in a house that is normally lived in by others, but they have the place to themselves then say that.

When you/your cleaner prepares your home for your guests do make sure going forward the temperature is set to take into account the weather at the time.

. Next time draft your review and wait a day or so before posting it to give yourself time to think it through. Perhaps a less defensive review might have been something like...

" We want all our guests to have a lovely time in our home. I did mention when I showed you around (or however you introduce guests to your place) to let me know of any issues and would have been happy to help with any concerns.

Our guests always have the place to themselves thoughout their stay, as happened when you stayed.

The room we make available to our guests is a sunny well aired room and having checked it before you came and after you left we couldn't find any signs of mildew.

The Metro is within a 15 minute walk".

By the way I notice this is the second guest to flag issues with high temperatures in the room, so when you/your cleaner prepares the room do double check on the temperature and turn it down if a previous guest has turned it up. Also make sure it's clearly highlighted in the guide book you leave for your guests about how they can alter it.

[Fabian6]

I had a guest leave me a NASTY review after I charged her security deposit for breaking a shower door pannel (I lost over 1k counting blocked dates, labor, material removal and so on) and just charged her around $250 (just the materials). Her rating was so bad that she lowered my rating from 4.85 to 4.71 making airbnb show 4.5 instead of 5 stars on my property, and jeopardizing my Superhost status.

Her review was false in many ways and even with proof Airbnb wouldn't remove it (which is kind of annoying since now I won't be able to collect security deposits anymore since the loss of revenue from a poor rating exceeds the $300 I would normally collect.

Dissapointed by how Airbnb handles this things, they should be able to take exceptional circumstances under account.

[AandM56]

I had a super nasty review after I refused to refund the total amount of a guest's stay. He did not stayed at my place and he did not canceled. He just asked the money back. I obviously refused to do so and he left a very mean review, mentioning untruthful things like: 

-the flat was dirty

-there is no parking

-there is not wardrobe

-I have pictures of naked women in my bedroom (!!) - (for reference those are paining posters, like Picasso, Les Mademoiselles d'Avignon, and some Egon Schiele's postcards from MoMa and Leopold museum.

Airbnb refused to remove the review, so essentially guests can lie! Even if you prove they are not, there is no way to sort this out! Is this real? I am a woman and find the content of this review quite discriminatory, too, but I cannot have it removed!

[Helen350]

@AandM56 Try again to get it removed on the grounds that the new review policy says reviews must be relevant - your guest did not stay, so not relevant.

[AandM56]

Oh Helen, I tried three times, believe me! There is no way. And I can’t even reply to this guest as it’s currently  technically blocked. They said it’s a bug... and it’s really inconvenient.