What to do when guests lie on reviews

[Jordan241]

I just had this issue with a guest that left a 1 star review and it was Airbnb who called me to book the reservation! The guests as they had a previous issue with the last location, right there I should have already known something was afoot. Apparently it doesn't matter how much time, money and effort you spend to keep Superhost status and it is all worthless. Needless to say my Superhost status is gone after just 1 bad guest review.

The guest came and was very disrespectful to the space; she had extra guests, broke several items including my washing machine, smoked in the house and I clearly have a no smoking policy, etc. Because we are friendly and accommodating they requested to extend the stay off Airbnbs books and after I denied her was when they turned up the heat. And to put the cherry on top this guest on multiple occasions threatens to extort me into paypal her 'damages' outside of Airbnb!

Thinking Airbnb would handle it I opened a case with Airbnb but Airbnb refused to acknowledge the guests lies(with verifiable proof), violations, and blackmail toward me. Yet when every rep I spoke to understood and acknowledged but nothing was ever done because it is policy not to remove reviews unless its extortion, blackmail, or threats to review. And these must be written they cannot be verbal.

In Real Estate industry guests like these people are referred to as 'professional tenants' they know the rules and loopholes and exploit them to their gain. Airbnb is not wise to this nor do they care to investigate, they put the burden on the community and unsuspecting hosts to get slammed as they make 'notes' and they will reassure you that "they won't get far."

[Prabhu2]

I can totally sympathise with you, but in my case it is far worse as my guests were Airbnb employees. There were 15  guests and all had a very high handed attitude, they flouted every house rule, refused to show ID’s or sign the register, they ignored my no smoking policy especially in bedrooms. They used dinnerware and coffee cups as ashtrays, refused to use drinks coasters on polished surfaces and made a deep scratch in my dining table. Five of them turn up at the door hours late and demanded to be fed straight away (like my house is a 24 hr restaurant), and when I asked about the other guests and when they were arriving they completely ignored me. At dinner some of the airbnb guest employees suddenly had specific dietary requirement they had not divulged at the time of booking, and after dinner they told me that other guests were arriving late, this turned out to be very late in the evening. The whole experience was bad from the start because I knew full well that no matter what I did to make them comfortable they were going to hold me to ransom which they did  by saying I was rude to them and even saying I made disparaging remarks to other Aribnb guest employees. No sooner did they say this, alarm bells started ringing because I knew they were after a freebee by way of blackmail and although there was no mention of me losing my rating, they slashed it from a superhost down nothing and refused to pay the full amount. To say I was angry would have been an understatement because I could not/cannot make a complaint against them and I have been left feeling voiceless. This whole business has made me think about whether or not to carry on with hosting because guests are one thing and and Airbnb employees are altogether something else in the obnoxious rude and nasty category.

[Sarah977]

@Prabhu2  I've been thinking and saying here on the forum from time to time that the reason Airbnb doesn't do anything about terrible guests is because the people who are working for Airbnb are exactly the same kind of people.

I'm so sickened to read what happened to you. This company needs to fire half their employees and start hiring actual adults with some life experience and understanding of what consitutes normal, sane human interaction and respect.

[Prabhu2]

Of course their behaviour is nothing new, I had been and still do take my own bookings and bookings from other companies, we all have a few bad apples in the basket, it’s part and parcel of the hospitality industry. But not since the advent of Tripadvisor and now Airbnb did I anyone try to blackmail me because they didn’t want to pay. The whole experience with Airbnb has become a nightmare in that if you don’t go along with them and accept their bookings, they will hold you to ransom regardless of what it says in their community standards/policy. 

I have a large house and I have had to accept large airbnb bookings comprising mostly men with the odd few women, and at first I was quite naive about this, but when I started getting groups of 15 men requesting five female friends would be visiting them during their stay, it hit me like a wind blown coconut...they were using my house as a brothel. This begs the question of why Airbnb would do this because they must know what’s going on, and I can’t help but think of them as an international online pimping service. And the problem is no one can be held accountable because it fall on deaf ears. Perhaps it wouldn’t matter so much if my house was a  purpose built motel, but it is my family home and I doubt very much that my late parents would appreciate Airbnb/other online booking agents using their house and beds to service prostitutes. The Idea that ‘hosts’ are in control is simply not true, Airbnb is controlling it with a “if you don’t go along with us, we won’t give you a good rating”.

[Giedre-and-Andre0]

Hi,

in general I would agree with eveythink here...

But my understanding ends here:

(as of your own words)

- very disrespectful to the space

- false accuses of bed bugs/scabies

- previous issue with the last location

- had extra guests

- broke several items

- broke my washing machine

- smoked in the house (no smoking policy)

- requested to extend the stay off Airbnbs books

- on multiple occasions threats

- proof of violations, and blackmailing

- In Real Estate industry guests like these people are referred to as 'professional tenants' they know the rules and loopholes and exploit them to their gain. 

YOU decided to continue hosting this guests because you

"...assumed Airbnb was going to handle it..."

And why did you NOT leave a review for this guests and would allow this guests to book

my place and put me in the same situation???

Who to blame than? Airbnb or you?

[Jordan241]

Well thanks for your support...understandably it does sound like I was not responsible in this situation but let's be reasonable and please not take this out of context.

I alerted Airbnb about the initial violations which they said they would address but did nothing about.

The guest stayed 9 out of the 16 days that was reserved before being relocated.

I was told not to leave a review by a case manager as the case was open and still pending their removal.

Please forgive my presumptuousness when I was told directly from an Airbnb associate that "do not worry, we will take care of it. A case manager will reach out to you shortly."

From your level 2 status and your lack of thoughtfulness in your response it seems as though you are not very versed within the Airbnb arena as very many other level 10 hosts have reflected my same sentiments. I wish I could give more merit to your response but unfortunately I cannot as you have nothing thoughtfully or helpful to say. Please, as I hope your mother would have told you,  keep those negative comments to yourself. 

[Darcy38]

I find it also very frustrating that some guests will make use of the loopholes and threaten us. Lying in a review also is very frustrating. I had a guest who also did the same but lucky for me I was in town and immediately went to the apartment to take pictures and videos where the guest is still there and had proof that the house I provided is the same. The guest left in the end, and threatened to give a bad review but airbnb stood by me and did not issue them a refund.

[Krista96]

I had a guest lie about the state of the house - for no reason at all!! They said the bathroom was moldy - it’s newly renovated!! They said garbage was left in the bins - absolute lie!! Complained there was food in the fridge? Condiments on the door only, nothing rotting or old, duh, it’s my home! Clothes in the hangers? Please. It was her first stay clearly doesn’t get it. Then I had a guest complain because the mattresses need replacing? HELL NO! My beds are super comfy! No handrails in the bathroom for seniors? True, but they didn’t ask or say they needed that. What do I do? Airbnb has suspended my listing. My house is clean comfortable, not cluttered, tastefully decorated, fully equipped!!! Why does AirBnb allow inexperienced guests cut us up and impact our listing? 

[Donna662]

Krista this is so heartbreaking. It seems like these "trollers" are just getting better and better at it. They need an "airbnb" scout...to go to these listings and then verify if these are lies or are truth. And if they are lies, then the one who stated it should be banned permanently. Just like my experience, it would be IMPOSSIBLE for one set of guests to stay, check out  and give star reviews then for these troller guests to come in and stay and be totally liars and unreasonable. This is our homes these people are talking about and we'd definitely fix it if it was wrong...but it should be from the mouth of more than one person. And like my bathtub this troll was saying was "dirty"...well, my routine is you spray out the tub anyhow before you get into it. And I know it was not dirty since I comet every sink, tub and toilet in my place. I do as I would like to have done to me, I want to stay in a clean sanitary place so believe you me I clean it so well you could eat off of it. I have a background in medical and it is a very serious issue to not sanitize after every guest. And it usually takes me 2 hours or more to clean after this troll it took me 3 1/2 hours! Good luck Krista, hope your back up and running soon.

[Linnea-Or-David0]

Having 'Airbnb scouts' is a great idea! I hope they see this. 

They have so many agents available to deal with issues by phone that don't get to actually see what's being complained about that I'm sure they could replace some of those with actual field agents of some type.  At least they could truly convey that they care about the hosts as much as the guests when it comes to these types of conflicts.

[Donna662]

After hosting five seperate stays with all five stars and raving reviews this lying person booked my property with her three dogs which one was a pit bull and I communicated with her several times regarding NO pitbulls. Well she did not read the rules, nor the listing or anything else regarding this place and just made it up in her own head as she went along. She had the refrigerated air on full blast with the kitchen window (a great big one) open all of the way. I happened to mention to her that it would be cooler if she'd close the window and she said oh we are enjoying the cool breeze didnt realize the cooler was even on....One of her three dogs was a pit...which is fine but I have 3 mid sized dogs of my own...but she was letting it run around at large with no leash...my place reeked of dog piss and dog hair everywhere, things were missing and she kept lying to me saying only one person and her three dogs...well I pinned her down on it and she said finally her, her husband and her 2 year old...which I have a policy of NO CHILDREN...my place is not childproof...trust me I love kids...I cannot believe the lying adaucity of some of these guests. Which if my living quarters were not in such proximity...I am sure that a lot more lying and deceit would be going on. Well I slammed her first since I was so mad about the condition I left the place she retaliated by saying stuid stuff about my place like my 81 year old bathtub was dirty...hello, it is "patina" was being iron and 81 years old...LOL, I scrub hard with comet but nothing is taking that off except refinishing...which when I make some profit off of this maybe I could afford to do. So sorry for your experience...thinking about dumping this booking company and doing business elsewhere...good things arent cheap and cheap things arent good....:(

[Mike-And-Helen0]

Guests who are re housed by airbnb see the new host as part of airbnb and so responsible for "making it up to them".

Our worst guests were booked by airbnb as the original place cancelled. 

[Rosmawaty0]

I just have a guest who is not read the listings and booked my Airbnb and once check in she found out there is only 1 bed and 2 futon, instead asking nicely, she exaggerate that she is scare lives in the house, not feel safe because there were lots of police and screaming people in the area. I found out in my camera the son was arguing with her "why don't you read, it say has 1 bed!" Now I am worry she will trash my Airbnb and put lie about the house safety. She also requested fully refund. although my policy not give 100% refund.  out of the goodwill I only charges her the night she stayed with cleaning fees. I lost 1 week income because of her recklessness

I hope she is not going to put bad reviews on my listing after I think I am very generous for her to not complete her RSVP

[Cindy1125]

"Professional tenants" they are.  I've had 3 reservations now that all during their stay said the place "was great", house is great, everything works fine, etc.  Soon as they check out and I leave them a decent review they start complaining about things that didn't work and were inconvenient, as if they are setting up to get a refund.  Fortunately I photograph and inspect and professionally have regular testing and maintenance of all heating, air conditioning, plumbing and even the electrical system just before a guest checks in.  I have to block out a significant amount of time to do this which is frustrating.  Since I have before and after test results I know when a guest purposely tampers with something to make a claim.  I've had electrical outlets opened and wires removed (which tested good by an electrician before their stay) and I've had people turn off the water heater and then after their stay claim there was no hot water for example.  This is pretty bad.  Airbnb support, despite the fact I have documentation will not help.  Then the guest writes a poor review of course.  Hosts beware -- I would suggest doing a "house inspection" checklist and making your guests aware everything was verified to be functional before their stay.