Allowing Guests to Delete Reviews

[Verron0]

I am getting more and more disenchanted with AirBNB as time goes on.  We have been hosting only for 2 years.  We have a 5.0 Score.  Top 1% which is woohoo who cares.  My point is this. We bend over backwards to make our place comfortable.   Balancing cozy, useful items with the sensation of not over-cluttered.   

I have two issues which now has made me decide that I am no longer leaving reviews.   I had a guest smoke inside the apartment.  We clean the apartment so there was no mistaking the odor of smoke.  I said they were quiet & very clean.  In the house rules I said followed most.  Then I said left the place smelling like smoke.  OMG **bleep** hit the fan.  the daughter (supposedly using her mom's log in) started threatening me with a lawsuit.  Which I know is nonsense, started threatening me to remove it, called me names and I decided based upon how psycho she went that I could feel there was impending doom to go against my better judgement and remove it.  The MOM called Airbnb after she saw my comment about smoking and removed the most beautiful review of my place.  I was furious that Airbnb allowed a guest who obviously had a great stay to remove their review in retaliation to my review.  

Also, since then I had a guest stay and left the place dirtier than anyone has in 2+ years.  I now am afraid to leave a bad review.  Keep in mind they had 5 stays and zero reviews.  That tells me that other hosts opted to not deal with the drama and did not leave a review.  CRAPPY guests. So I called AirBNB to just remove my review.  They said if they do they email the guest and let them know.  OHHH I lost it. I said so you initiate drama.  Fantastic.  I said they should not be allowed to INstaBook without a positive review.  

I purchase land to build unique AirBNB's since mine is a success,  last year I decided to not build.  I am so thankful I made that decision.  I am moving to long term rental and getting out of this nonsense. 

I feel so much better venting.  For the record I am not one of these hosts that goes to facebook groups and said "the guest left crumbs on the counter - should I charge additional cleaning fees". That is equally insane.

[Mike-And-Jane0]

@Verron0 The problem for Airbnb is that they have to obey the law. They were taken to court in the EU and guests (and hosts) won the right to have their own reviews removed.

Your response to this though is wildly excessive. So what if you have one less 5* review - At least your honest review of the guest will be there to warn future hosts about this guest. To just no longer leave reviews does your fellow hosts an injustice and, if others follow suit, you will not know if the guests arriving are good or bad.

[Verron0]

It doesn’t matter to me that I have one less. It matters that each time I dinged someone the guest deleted their beautiful review.  It isn’t an honest feedback then.  We get punished when we speak our truth.  Unless a valid reason neither should be able to be removed.  It is being manipulated. 

I left a 4star on house rules and got their family members calling and threatening me all hours of the night.   If I leave a bad review it isn’t going to change anything.  I’ve had people stay that over-judgy hosts left a horrible review for them and yet they did fantastic at our place. I’m just not participating in the review system anymore.  

I am not the only host that feels this way.  This family had 5 stays and zero reviews.  What does that say? 

[Mike-And-Jane0]

@Verron0 To answer your final question - It shows that some hosts are letting down their fellow hosts. But as you are joining this group I guess you don't care that a zero review guest could book your place and then behaves badly.

To answer your first paragraph - Whilst you do not like the current process it is driven by Airbnb operating legally - Surely this is better than them breaking the law???

And finally if a guest's family is threatening you then report them to the police. Law enforcement can then ask Airbnb for their address and deal with them.

[Joan2709]

@Verron0 

First, sorry this happened. Most Hosts will experience something like this if you Host long enough. It's part of the risks Hosts take when using any short term rental platform. Proving a guest smoked inside is difficult, since we aren't allowed to have cameras inside. If you don't allow smoking outside either, if you have them on camera smoking outside then it is "provable".

I suggest to Hosts I work with to never name the specific House Rule that was broken if they can't prove it, but say something like "this guest left the home neat and tidy, but broke an important house rule that required us to do extra cleaning after their stay." Most will understand what you meant. I also suggest they don't mention anything to the guest about the issue until after the guest has written their review.  No matter if the guest removes their 5-star review. There is really no harm to you as a Host to have a guest remove their review.

If the guest badgers you, send images of the texts and messages to Airbnb so their profile can be removed from Airbnb. Then block them on your phone and block messages on Airbnb (after you have your screen shots of the messages saved for future use if needed), by clicking the flag this profile icon. If you have concerns about your personal safety, file a police report and provide copies of the threatening messages to the police.

Sadly, this type of issue is always a risk, so only you can decide if you wish to continue short term rentals or not. Long term rentals might be a better option as you mention, if you feel this risk is unacceptable. However, there are also issues with long term rentals, so any type of rental has it's potential drawbacks.