bad guests, left a wrongful review

Deb125
Level 10
Lahaina, HI

bad guests, left a wrongful review

I had an awful guest, zero communication, when they left, my housekeepers were shocked at the mess, they sent me photos of all the food on the floor, counters, stove sink, everywhere, trash on the floors, then told me they were charging me extra for the cleaning.  Ok so I don’t write a review for the bad guest.  10 days later, the guests write a review.. then thru Airbnb the guest sends a photo of herself with her hands cupped in a heart shape (?) I don’t respond, just thought weird… next day, Airbnb sends me a message that the guests said they found mice in the house, and Airbnb is going to take action against me for it? We have no rodents, what so-ever in the condo, and I sent Airbnb the photos of the mess she left.  The guest could not support her claim, so I write the guest a review to see what they wrote,  this is what they said: “didn't enjoy. mice in the place , better clean need to be done, old and damage property”  The condo complex is like brand new, and we have quarterly pest control.  Apparently none of that matters,  she can’t support her claim, and Airbnb will not remove her wrongful review, nor print my rebuttal which they prompt you to reply to her review.. What is going on???

9 Replies 9
Pat271
Level 10
Greenville, SC

This is a common ploy - a “preemptive strike review”. There are some unscrupulous guests that know beforehand that they are going to trash your place and not worry about it. They write a bad review about your place, because they know you will write a bad review about them.

 

Another ploy is when an unscrupulous guest specifically looks for hosts just starting out with very few reviews. This guest will book a place, have a good time trashing it, demand a refund, and then show the host the review that they will leave if the host doesn’t comply. Many hosts just starting out will bend to this, because a) they are just starting out and don’t think they can withstand a bad review when there aren’t a lot of other reviews to refute it, and b) they don’t realize that this is extortion and reviews such as this can be removed.

 

It’s a little late in this case, but if this happens again, call Airbnb immediately when a guest trashes your place, present the photos, and warn them that the review the guest may leave may be part of their ploy. Some hosts have had success with this. May not always work, but it’s worth a shot.

 

I’m very sorry this happened to you. The good news is that this type of guest is quite rare. Most guests are decent and ethical.

@Pat271  thank you for your reply, I’m not new to hosting, and have 51 great reviews.  I typically don’t review bad guests because everyone on here says they’ll just change identity. I didn’t send an additional cleaning bill to Airbnb.   She was smart enough to wait until day 10 to give me a review, then send me a photo of herself with her hands cupped in a heart shape, SO ODD, but I am positive that was to throw me off.  The next day she wrote to Airbnb saying the condo had mice.  That’s when they sent me the warning that I could be removed from Airbnb.. SHOCKED.. so I wrote and called Airbnb several times, they were asking for photos from her to validate her claim, which she couldn’t produce, at one point they told me if they got photos they couldn’t release them to me unless she approved the release. So you can be accused of something and not allowed to defend yourself, I thought for sure she’d conjure something up, you can get a photo shop ap on your phone.  They said her review was fine, she didn’t violate any policy and would not remove it (what she didn’t cuss in the review?) Just can’t get over this..

Laura2592
Level 10
Frederick, MD

@Deb125 I would just calmly respond to her strangely worded review as follows:

 

"I am confused by so and so's review as we have never had any mice in our space and have regular pest control. All I can think is that the food left out by this guest and lack of basic cleanliness standards may have contributed to the perception that we generally have pests. Its certainly concerning for any host to hear such feedback. This guest was not a fit for us and did not care for our space or follow our basic house rules. I wish her the best in improving her skills on Airbnb."

@Laura2592  Great response suggestion.

 

@Deb125  Please stop not leaving reviews for bad guests! You are doing a huge disservice to other hosts, who need to be warned about such guests. Never mind what you've "heard" about guests just deleting their profiles and starting a new one if they get a bad review. That doesn't always happen, by any means. There are plenty of guest profiles with bad reviews. 

 

Leave honest reviews for all your guests, the good and the bad and the in-between.

@Sarah977 when a bad guest instant books, you read their review, you cancel because of the review, does airbnb then penalize the host?

@Deb125  I have never used Instant Book. I require guests to send requests so I have a chance to read their reviews first and communicate with them before deciding whether to accept them.

 

You get 3 penalty free IB cancellations a year. And if there are more IB bookings than that you feel you need to cancel based on their reviews or communication or them indicating they are planning to break your rules, you can contact Airbnb and explain why you need to cancel and I have read other IB hosts here saying that will normally be penalty-free as well. 

 

But don't you have requirements checked off for guests to IB? Guests with bad reviews shouldn't be able to IB if you require them to have no negative reviews and  be recommended by other hosts.

@Sarah977  what was odd about this person, is she had one review and it was good, I do not know how that could be? Someone that piggy/disrespectful, doesn't change.  The biggest disappointment was she couldn't prove her claim, and Airbnb punishes me?  Something is wrong with this picture.  I appreciate the info, mahalo for chiming in!  Deb 

@Deb125  Plenty of hosts get terrible guests who have 5*reviews, sometimes not just one but several. 

 

Either the host wasn't honest or the guest behaved differently elsewhere. Some hosts, especially property managers with lots of listings rate all guests 5*s and leave auto--generated reviews that say "Great guests!" If you see reviews like that, rather than a review that looks like the host put some thought into the review and gave real info, it's a useful thing to cross-reference reviews to see how that host reviewed their other guests. You will often see that "Great guests!" is the review they leave for all their guests. In which case you can discount it- it has no useful info and may not reflect reality.

 

Also newbie hosts may make the mistake of rushing to leave a review before they or their cleaner have had a chance to thoroughly check the place over and then find missing or broken things, or some mess after the fact.

Deb125
Level 10
Lahaina, HI

@Sarah977 I think the latter is true, the way this sicko sent me her photo with the heart was meant to mislead.  That being said, I can not get my response posted, to her fictitious review..   I'm working with Airbnb support whose name is Mutum, who does nothing but tell me this: "Deb, I am running out of time due to the end of shift and I’ll be on my week off for the next 2 days. and to contact Airbnb international}  I'm in Hawaii.. so either this Mutum is a computer response or ineffective at his job