Backdated review removal

[Inna22]

In light of the Airbnb update I went back and found a retaliatory review.

The guest overstayed and even entered the property when new people already checked in (they had the door unlocked). The response I got from Airbnb? You can charge them for the late check out through resolution center.

First off, I already did that and in fact referenced that in my message to them as proof of what transpired.

Second, I was asking specifically for the review removal in light of the new policy using the link posted in Cheeky's updated.

The only thing that surprised me about the whole encounter was that I believed yet again that Airbnb changed. Silly me

[Bhumika]

Hello @Inna22 ,

Sorry to hear this! Is this the request removal  method you used? If possible, please elaborate on the communication you had for review removal. You can also find more information here.

Bhumika

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[Inna22]

I have posted the conversation, not sure what else you are looking for. To be honest, your reply is pretty similar to the agent. You are asking me to click on some link that is really vague. How would I know if it is the same one or not? It is a generic contact agent link

[Bhumika]

Hello @Inna22 , apologies if you didn't find my tone and answer correct, was just trying to dig in more for your query.

As @Sudsrung0 correctly mentioned, keeping in mind the current feedback from hosts, we are trying to elaborate about retaliatory reviews in coming days, will keep you posted regarding any information I receive. 

Thanks, 

Bhumika

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[Sudsrung0]

@Bhumika 

Just a suggestion there is one platform that does remove old reviews It looks like anything older than 2 years is gone, I cant say for others if that happens,

In my case my old reviews have gone,

[Gillian166]

@Sudsrung0 @Bhumika  I quite like this idea! and i think especially for younger people this would be helpful, as they gain experience and mature. I will not expect this to actually be considered though. i also like the idea of us hosts being allowed to have a review removed after 100 good reviews. (or whatever works). again put it into the #wishlist quicksand  

[Sudsrung0]

@Gillian166 @Bhumika @Huma0 

I was trying to find some data this morning regarding reviews, 

I suppose we can make what we want from data,

On average a percentage of Americans read 17 reviews

I have seen less than that 12 to 14 reviews, 

A large percentage of people only read the most recent reviews, Which is what I would do, Not reviews from 5 years ago or more,

We could do a Poll on that in the community "How Many Reviews do you Read" 

Dont forget so called guest or customers are being bombarded with "Leaving a Review" for just about everything you do.

I wonder how many times airbnb ask a guest for a review in that 14 day period? 

[Gillian166]

@Sudsrung0  they do nag us guests to leave reviews, as much as the  hosts. so maybe 3 or 4 times during the 14 days? i'll be staying in an abb on our trip across the country in a few weeks, so i'll have another guest experience. 

I think you are right, no one reads more than 10 reviews, and as a host, if they are 5* i only read the last 3. It's kind of irrelevant what they were like 2 years ago, we all mature, even us oldies! as we gain experience we become better guests.  

[Sudsrung0]

@Gillian166 @Bhumika 

It's all nonsense I really think airbnb should be concentrating on more important issues like getting people paid ON TIME,

To me it seems obvious the CS team are not upto speed they didn't get the memo. 

Suspending host accounts without a word why, Or is it the just dont know what they are doing? 

What happened to innocent until proven guilty? 

[Huma0]

@Sudsrung0 @Gillian166 

I am sure you are right that most people are only going to read the first few reviews that appear. That often means they'll only read those that appear on the landing page of the listing, without clicking on the 'see more reviews' link.

And of course, they are going to be more interested in the most recent ones. The problem is that the reviews are not displayed to guests in date order exactly. They are ordered according to nationality and language first, and then by date. So, the guest is unlikely to be presented with only the most recent reviews first.

I noticed, for example, that on one of my listings, for a long time two reviews from the same guest were showing on the landing page, even though the guest stayed years ago. Why??? Okay, this guest did speak English, as she was from Hong Kong, but why is the algorithm deciding to show me two from her, instead of reviews from the multitude of British guests I've hosted (not to mention even more from the USA, some from Australia/New Zealand etc. etc.)

[Bhumika]

@Sudsrung0 @Gillian166 This is interesting. Yet another product side suggestion from both of you !!!! Amazing, noted and passed on 🙌

Bhumika

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[Sudsrung0]

@Bhumika @Inna22 

Morning from Thailand,

I can see this being a huge problem for Airbnb getting bombarded with request to remove bad reviews,

I can also see our forum slowly filling up with the same questions I think you need to make another section otherwise the CC is going to get boring, 

So, you got a bad review we all get them I've got one and I never even asked airbnb to remove it, bye the way I didn't deserve it, 

I also think airbnb should automatically remove reviews after a certain length of time I mean reviews that have been lying there for years I wouldn't read them.

I did read once that guest only read the first 12 to 14 reviews.

[Tina9064]

Hi, according to AirBnb policy.."guests should not write biased or inauthentic reviews as a form of retaliation against a Host who enforces a policy or rule."

I just recently got a retaliatory review (1-star, my first one after 4 years of SuperHost) and I can't believe the "standards" being used by AirBnb's customer support. Here is just a few clips of their response to decline my request.

"In order for a review to be removed, the contents of the review has to be in violation of our policies, after checking several times through the review which was left for you, the review did not violate our polices. We also do not remove review based off truth or fairness."

"Based on the content in the review, we could not find any content or language that goes against our policies, we understand that this may seem unfair to you and wish that there was something else that could be done however, we are not able to make exceptions or override the policies." 

So, doesn't matter to AirBnb that the guest violated my house rules (exceeded # of max guests/brought a 6-year old into a home that was designated "unsuitable for 2-12 year olds), that he got upset when I didn't refund him for 2 nights, only one, of his 3-night reservation even though I had a strict no-cancellation policy) , what only matters is that his review didn't violate AirBnb policy, and they don't care if it was truthful or not.

Your policy is to not look at anything else (Host's reply/response of Host's current rating) in determining whether a review is retaliatory or not, so how can that be determined if you don't hear the Host's side of things? I've busted my butt for the past year and maintained a constant 5-star overall rating. Before this vindictive review, it was 4.89...now it is 4.2. How is that fair to me? Oh, wait...because "We also do not remove review based off truth or fairness."

What is also not right is how can a guest (even this one who left 1-star) rate you on all the other review components (communication, cleanliness, checkin, etc.) by giving you 5-stars on almost everything, yet an OVERALL rating that is much, much lower?

I just need to understand Airbnb's logic here. I obviously can't stand behind my house rules and enforce them because a guest can just violate them at will and leave me a bad review as a thank you.

[Branka-and-Silvia0]

@Inna22  yes, you were naive 😄 I didn't even try

But, just imagine how many removal requests they are dealing with now on a daily basis. I am sure this new review policy will soon be withdrawn because CS will be overflooded with requests.

Remember when hosts asked (and Catharine Powell promised) hosts will be allowed to remove X bad reviews / year or per each 100 reviews? It would be so much easier and more effective solution.

[Huma0]

@Inna22 @Bhumika @Gillian166 @Sudsrung0 @Branka-and-Silvia0 

Yes, there has to be a better way, and many suggestions have been made over the years, but ignored thus far by Airbnb.

What is the point in making it a 'possibility' to have a retaliatory review removed if the only option is to have to request it from a Customer Support department that is clearly BROKEN and seems, right now, mostly to not even know some change has apparently taken place?  Where does that get us?

I was invited to a Zoom, along with a lot of other hosts from around the world, to 'feedback' on the changes to the host cancellation policies. Well, it was not really a feedback session as the decisions had already been made and were announced the next day. But, one question that came up over and over again during that Zoom, and which the Airbnb representatives seemed very reluctant to respond to, was, how can we rely on CS, in its current state, to make these decisions fairly and logically?

Well, we can't really. Nor can we rely on a poorly trained CS rep with no authority to judge when a review is retaliatory and should be removed. All we will get is the same old script read back to us, as has been evidenced by the hosts who have already posted here on the CC saying they have tried and failed...