1-Star from Guest Who Never Stayed

[Abby483]

I wanted to share a situation I recently experienced and ask if others have faced something similar.

A guest booked our property but never actually stayed, because Airbnb support canceled the reservation due to house-rule violations. The guest then left a 1-star review out of spite in all categories, even though they never checked in.

As a result, our listing was flagged for a “ground rules violation”, which doesn’t truthfully reflect the quality of our unit . This flag has affected our ability to manage the listing and risks automatic suspensions.

We have a strong history of 5-star reviews from all other guests, both before and after this incident, and have maintained full compliance with Airbnb policies and house rules.

I’m curious if other hosts have:

Encountered similar situations where a guest who never stayed left a review

Successfully had the flag removed or reclassified

Tips on preventing these flags from impacting listing performance

Any insights or shared experiences would be greatly appreciated!

[Patricia2526]

Hi @Abby483 

Have you tried requesting for the bad review to be removed? If the guest never actually stayed, I suggest taking a screenshot of your conversation showing that they didn’t arrive. Then file a review removal request and cite “guest never stayed” as your reason. That alone qualifies as valid grounds for removal since reviews must reflect a personal stay experience. Keep your request short, factual, and focused only on that policy avoid adding unnecessary details or long explanations.

[Abby483]

Yes I appealed multiple times, but they said the content of the guest review does not violate airbnb policy and guest is allowed to leave a review if booking was made last minute (so cancellation is also last minute)

[Joelle43]

Hello @Abby483 

Another clear example of AI going against Airbnb's own policy regarding reviews that have to be deemed "relevant".  If a guest does not stay, then there is possible cause for removal as explained in the help link below:

https://www.airbnb.co.uk/help/article/2673

So in my mind, this irrelevant review DOES go against Airbnb policy and it's unfortunate that hosts who accept last minute reservations get penalised in this way because there is a fault in the way the system is set up.

Can you confirm that the guest did not even step into the listing?

@Bhumika for info

[Abby483]

Confirming guest never stepped in. In fact they mentioned it in their public review that booking was cancelled prior to their arrival. 

[Joelle43]

@Abby483 

Could you tell us please why Airbnb cancelled this reservation and what house rules were broken?

[Guy991]

Hello @Abby483 ,

To get a clearer picture, could you please let us know if the guest is the one who wrote the review from August 2025, and explain what you meant by the sentence:

“because Airbnb support canceled the reservation due to house rule violations”?

[Shelley159]

Yes @Guy991 I would also like to know exactly how it was canceled.

My concern is that posts in the community center (like this one by @Abby483). give me the impression that guests still get to review even in cases where the booking was canceled by Airbnb.

What I've been trying to understand, is whether Support has the ability to mark a cancellation of an active booking as an Airbnb cancellation (which logically should not trigger a review), or whether they allocate all cancellations of active bookings to either guest or host (which does still allow for a review).

I haven't been able to figure it out. As @Patricia2526 says, there are guidelines for removing the review, but we all know we don't want to end up asking for removal as that's a minefield.

@Abby483 do you think the cancellation may incorrectly have been processed as a host cancellation? Or did you get the impression it was canceled correctly and there's no way to avoid a review once a booking has started?

[Abby483]

airbnb support cancelled the stay, but airbnb allows guest to leave a review even if it’s cancelled if the booking was made last minute.