false review and false information of my listing

Answered!
Jeetender0
Level 2
Goa, India

false review and false information of my listing

Hi All 

 

I have been a host with Air B N B for more than two years and have had a number of stays . Off late I see that the so called Customer Care team is there just for the guests . I have a horrible experience of a guest who has blatantly lied about my listing and has put that on the review .

 

Despite giving all supporting documents and proving my claim that the guest has lied the people out there are adamant to remove the false and fraudulent review 

 

What should I do now as it is affecting my business during the peak season time 

 

Any inputs would be appreciated 

 

Warm Regards

 

Jeetender 

Goa , India 

 

 

1 Best Answer
Sarah977
Level 10
Sayulita, Mexico

@Jeetender0  Just write a brief, professional response to the review. Something like "This guest apparently didn't bother to read the listing description, didn't follow the 800 meter, 2 minute travel-time map to town and also appears to have a strange idea of what to expect at an Airbnb. If he wants to have "attendants", I'd suggest he book a 5 star hotel next time he travels."

View Best Answer in original post

16 Replies 16
Helen3
Level 10
Bristol, United Kingdom

Hello @Jeetender0 

 

Sorry you have had such a bad experience. Yes sometimes it does sound like Airbnb sides with guests who blatantly lie in their review.

 

If you can say what happened with this guest we can try and advise you.

 

Edit

What did the guest lie about in the review? do you have evidence that disproves what they have lied about? I have looked at your previous reviews and all for them look great apart from one with fairly minor complaints, which you can address by responding to the review. Which review are you referring to?

Jeetender0
Level 2
Goa, India

Yes Helen I have all the supporting documents to prove that the guest is a liar Screenshot_20191002-210752.jpg

 

Screenshot_20191002-163707.jpg

The guest says 5 kilometres where as the nearest one is just 800 meters 

Sarah977
Level 10
Sayulita, Mexico

@Jeetender0  Just write a brief, professional response to the review. Something like "This guest apparently didn't bother to read the listing description, didn't follow the 800 meter, 2 minute travel-time map to town and also appears to have a strange idea of what to expect at an Airbnb. If he wants to have "attendants", I'd suggest he book a 5 star hotel next time he travels."

@Jeetender0  The appropriate thing to do when the information in a review is incorrect or misleading? Write a Host Response, with your future guests in mind as the audience. Try not to accuse the reviewer of lying; you only need to correct the details that are wrong.

 

And remember, it makes you look really bad when you abuse the Host Response and lash out at your previous guests with harsh invective. One recent guest's review simply said "quite a decent place to stay," and your response was:

"How horrible of you to give a review a like this . Please learn how to give a review."

 

Jeetender, this is exactly what not to do!! People considering booking your listing can see this - and they might change their minds because it makes you sound like a mean and crazy person.

Jeetender0
Level 2
Goa, India

Hey Andrew . Thanks for pointing out the negatives . Please do look at the positives too . There would have been my reasons to do so for sure . 

@Jeetender0 Your reasons would not be evident to any potential guest reading your review: all they're going to see is what we see. They have no context for your comments either, and I agree with @Anonymous: your reply doesn't help you.

 

Likewise with your response to the review you're talking about in your post. You don't comment on what the guest says at all: you just say the guest was bad. You could have used your response to say something refuting it, such as, "As stated in our listing, the pool located is in our complex, X meters from our villa and our guests are welcome to access it at any time. Our corner shops are 800 meters  from the door of the villa - less than a kilometer away, or about a 15-minute walk. Airbnb clearly and accurately lays out where our villa is located, but I'm sorry that you didn't review this information prior to booking. We would encourage all guests to thoroughly review our listing to make sure that our peaceful and private location matches their needs so they can fully enjoy their stay with us. Good luck on your future travels!"

 

The biggest question I have after reading the review and your response is is there a pool or is there not? You say there is one: the guest says their isn't. I would have definitely responded to that. You lead with a picture of the pool, so it's obviously a big selling feature.

Jeetender0
Level 2
Goa, India

Anyways will take your advice and choose my words carefully next time . Thanks for your inputs . However I am really sad at Air b n b customer care for giving two hoots to a host 

I had a similar situation in one of my listings recently with a guest who demanded to be picked up for free from the port. 

Of course I can offer pickup services through external companies but they come at extra charge as it is reasonable.

the guest of course came and threatened to leave a bad review which was including nonsense like this one and was 1*.

i provided Airbnb all the chat logs with the guest who was using racist comments about my family and really hateful speech.

of course Airbnb did not remove the review and this listing of mine is doomed. Of course the guest had no consequence at all for what she wrote about me and my family members.

long story short, my advice is: Use more channels. In Airbnb it’s truly random if a listing will go well. One review can literally DESTROY your entire year’s work. so use booking/Expedia and whatever booking channel can get you reservations and revenue. If Airbnb does not treat you well why give them exclusivity of your business?

im not saying stop using Airbnb just show them that you can do otherwise as well with moderate use of Airbnb, as long as they don’t understand your needs as a host

@John2297  You may find that using multiple channels suits your business best, but one single outlier review surrounded by many positive ones is very unlikely to destroy or doom your listing.  Prospective guests with an ounce of sense can quickly sniff out a revenge review, and those who can't are probably too dumb to be worth hosting.

 

The review you mention looks immediately suspect, and it only takes a second to confirm this by cross-checking your review of the guest. Fortunately, no personal comments about you or your family members are present in this review; as shown, it does not violate the Content Policy. I don't know of an alternative platform that would deem it worthy of censorship. 

In a listing that has 16 reviews, even with a perfect score till the troubled guest, believe me it does make a difference. Saying otherwise is bare-faced lying. The review itself obviously doesn’t violate the content policy, but it is in the guidelines that upon investigations from resolutions team, provided chat logs and proof, which I did, some reviews can be evaluated for removal. Please check the review policies, I can post a print screen later if you want.

i never said that other platforms are going to remove bad reviews. But Airbnb is the ONLY platform that one single review can really make an impact. Superhost status for instance requires a score of 4.8/5. Get a couple of troubled guests and you can forget about it. 

 

@John2297  There's no point in dragging your evidence file into this thread. It's not my job to litigate your case - and seriously man, an attitude like that will damage your business far more in the long term than a review.

 

To clarify, I never said it doesn't make a difference. So does a butterfly flapping its wings, supposedly. You might lose Superhost status for one quarter, but so what? It's a little badge, like a sticker on grade-school homework - it's only worth whatever feelings you've invested in it, and losing it is not the DOOM and DESTRUCTION that the more histrionic hosts among us forecast. You already have several positive reviews pushing that one down, and seriously - even listings with a middling track records managed to get booked if their location and price are desirable enough.

 

Also, a single review can make an impact in any platform if it's visible to potential customers. It really comes down to the content. If customers see a review mentioning words like "bedbugs" or "hidden camera" or "sexual assault," you've got a huge problem on your hands. Unspecific negative statements don't tend to make a strong impression when weighed against more substantive ones.

 

If you are finding that your listing is suffering at the moment, though, you might consider having someone make some decent photos of it. Airbnb is a very visual format, and people tend to pay far more attention to pictures than reviews. Your place is probably very nice, but the current photos in your listing don't serve it well.

@Anonymous  Regarding your previous comment about the specific review. That is a about 10 days after the review. Between 22 listings that's the only one's visibility numbers that have been dropped (by 21%) while the rest have seen significant increase due to high demand.

https://imgur.com/BIaRjZb

 

It's kinda irrelevant but it shows how a single review can impact a listing.

Kind regards,

Sarah977
Level 10
Sayulita, Mexico

@John2297  I really like the looks of your place. The clean lines, the lack of clutter, the use of rustic wood to offset the modernist aspects (a juxtaposition of modern and natural, straight lines and curved, is the most interesting and pleasing architecture and decor to me).

And I read through all your reviews and don't see a bad one in the bunch, they are all great, so I can't understand what you are up-in-arms about- you should consider yourself lucky. Your ratings are all 4.9 except for one 4.8 and one 5, so don't be like my friend who holds herself up to impossibly high standards of perfection and cried and couldn't sleep for days when she got the first B+ of her life on one of her college papers 🙂

There is nothing  in any of your reviews or ratings which would cause guests to be wary of booking with you. Quite the opposite. Be grateful for what you have and be aware that Airbnb tells guests that 4*s is a "Good" rating, so guests giving 4*s doesn't mean they are trying to tank your ratings, they just have zero idea how Airbnb deals with the ratings on the host end. Many hosts inform their guests of the disconnect between what Airbnb tells guests the *s represent and how they actually apply them to hosts. I do- I just educate them, without asking for a 5* rating (which could offend some guests and backfire) and most are grateful for the info- they are shocked that Airbnb is so punitive to hosts.

@Sarah977 I’m truly thankful for your nice comments. It’s true that most of my listings are rated around 5* just this particular one that I received the bad review is scheduled to be renovated next month for next season (as I’m renting them seasonally) which involves a lot of money and effort by me, that’s why I feel really disappointed from a bad/dishonest and full of hate review. 

I know that it is not going to cost me the superhost status as I still maintain a 4.9. @Anonymous despite the badge it also provides you visibility when guests are using the superhost filter. Believe me it matters. I appreciate your advice for new photos but as mentioned above it’s about to get renovated.

I don’t know if I can post printscreens from conversations here or it is a subject to privacy violation, but you should see the hate of this guest and how abusive/offensive and racist she is which is actually my true issue. Airbnb is supposed to be more user friendly both to guests and hosts and more “personal” in a way and check thoroughly these reports. The guest is probably not gonna receive any penalties or consequences  for her actions and words.

anyway I know none of this really matter I’m just truly angry about the whole situation