Airbnb refused to remove a clearly retaliatory review — I need a real escalation path

[Raziel235]

Airbnb refused to remove a review that is clearly retaliatory and violates multiple sections of the Review Policy.

They told me they “reviewed everything” and that it “follows policy,” but never addressed my evidence point-by-point.
The support ambassador even wrote: 

“As per my investigation I would like to inform you that the dedicated team have gone ahead and investigated from their…”

That’s confusing — did both investigate? Or was it just a copy-paste template?

Here’s exactly what I submitted:

• A table mapping review quotes → exact Review Policy clauses violated

• Historical listing text proving the guest’s claims are factually wrong

• Full message thread showing I was responsive and that the review came right after a refund dispute

• Private messages from the guest showing hostility and retaliation — nothing to do with an objective review of their stay

Policy violations in the review:

• Retaliation / Bias – Written immediately after enforcing my cancellation/refund policy

• Irrelevant personal information – Includes private details about the guest’s friend unrelated to the booking

• Harassment / Personal attacks – Uses inflammatory language instead of constructive feedback

• Factual inaccuracies – Contradicted by my documented listing description and message history

Why this matters:
This single 1-star rating is dragging down my overall rating and directly hurting my ability to get hosting work.
I followed Airbnb’s own process, submitted organized proof, and still got what looks like a template denial within hours — which makes me doubt any in-depth human review actually happened.

For hosts who have been here before:

1. What actually worked after a “final decision” message?

2. Specific wording that forces escalation to a senior human reviewer or the Content Policy team?

3. Channels outside standard support that got traction?

4. Has anyone gotten a review reopened and removed after being told “case closed”?

I’m not re-litigating feelings here — I want a clear escalation path that forces Airbnb to apply its own Review Policy and remove both the review text and the 1-star rating.

[Guy991]

Hello @Raziel235 ,

Do you like metaphors? Here is one for you: in boxing, sometimes you hit and sometimes you duck.

I am happy to see you have had great reviews since that bad one, and slowly you will rebuild your status.

It has been a while since that review, and I do not think Airbnb will remove it.

You taught the guest a lesson, and they also taught you an important one.

Go over your version again and think about what you could do next time to duck the situation.

And I promise you, it will happen again.

We all have bad guests sometimes, but you must learn how not to fall into this guest dynamic that will hurt both them and you. You must learn to avoid it. You must learn to duck.

[Mike-And-Jane0]

@Raziel235 You are wasting your time. Specifically you state the review has factual inaccuracies and yet Airbnb is very clear that it does NOT arbitrate the truth in reviews.

Please do take @Guy991 's advice and also mine which is: Your review response is critical in dealing with a bad review. DO not write the response to the reviewer but rather to future guests. These are the only people who matter to your business going forward.