Airbnb refuses to uphold its review policies

[Sarah6458]

I am concerned that Airbnb denies all requests to remove guest reviews, even in clear cases of review policy violations. I recently had a guest leave a 1-star review in retaliation for being denied early access to the unit. The guest immediately threatened to leave a bad review in Airbnb messaging, and his reservation was subsequently cancelled by Airbnb without penalty, so the guest never accessed the unit. He did nevertheless leave a 1-star review making several false claims about the cleanliness and accuracy of the unit he never saw. So that makes 2 violations of Airbnb's review policy: retaliation and relevancy. I was told by an Airbnb ambassador not to worry about the guest leaving a review, because he was clearly threatening to do so in advance. I submitted 2 requests to the "specialized team" to remove the review accompanied by documentation and was immediately denied the removal both times (just like all the previous cases were "resolved.") It is very disheartening to be continually ignored and denied justice according to the company's own policies. Meanwhile, the quality of their guests is swiftly declining.

[Elegant-Homes-Retreat0]

Hi @Sarah6458,
I’m really sorry you had to go through this—that sounds incredibly frustrating and unfair. You’re absolutely right to point out that retaliatory and irrelevant reviews are supposed to be against Airbnb’s own policies. It’s discouraging when we follow the rules, provide proof, and still get automated rejections with no clear explanation or accountability.

I’ve seen other hosts face similar situations, and it definitely feels like the review system is increasingly tilted in favor of guests, even when there’s clear misuse. It’s not just about a rating—it affects visibility, trust, and ultimately, bookings.

Thank you for speaking up. More hosts need to raise these concerns so Airbnb understands how deeply this affects us. You’re not alone.

[Sarah6458]

Thank you so much for responding! I really appreciate the support! I just received notice that Airbnb finally decided to remove the guest's retaliatory and irrelevant review, but they also removed my fair and honest review of the guest. It is a shame that Airbnb is so reluctant to support hosts in review disputes and withholds valuable information from future hosts that may suffer from similar issues with the guests. This seems to be leading to increased guest quality issues. Furthermore, I was recently denied the opportunity to review a guest who DID stay at the property but cancelled after checking into the unit for personal reasons. In this case, Airbnb informed me that the host does not get the opportunity to review the guest, if the guest cancels after checkin due to "not needing it," however reviews are solicited when the guest says the cancellation was because of something the host did. This further supports your view that the review system is biased towards the guests rather than the hosts. It would be nice if this could be rectified.

[Emre136]

Hi Sarah,

I am experiencing the same problem with a retaliation review.

See https://community.withairbnb.com/t5/Support-with-your-bookings/Dealing-with-a-Retaliatory-Review-Aft...

how did you get someone to review your issue ?

[Taylor785]

You can try to escalate this with another review member by calling Airbnb Support and have them escalate this, hopefully its worth a shot! 

I agree, that a lot of guests are getting away with retaliatory reviews and as a host, I wonder what we will have to avoid guests to leaving reviews that break community guidelines and Airbnb terms and policy