Bad review reposted

[Lynette131]

Hello Everyone,

Up to July, and even currently we get 5 stars from our guests, but in July I  received a very bad and unfair review from a guest. He was threatening our property manager, made claims the property was dirty and even accused the cleaning lady of leaving the previous guests drinks in the fridge, when those are drinks that we leave for every new guest. At the end of his stay, we had to have security escort our Property Manager to check the guest out.

We made several attempts to contact Airbnb support once the review was posted and finally made contact with Mariana, an Airbnb Case Manager who reviewed it and removed the review siting Airbnb rule violations. Three weeks later apparently another case manager reviewed it again and felt the guest review was okay and reposted it.

We made contact again with airbnb support which is really the worse in the world and after not getting a response we tried and tried again to get in contact with the original case manager, but the first level support refuses to even send her an email to contact us. They refuse to remove the review. Any advice on how to deal with this would be appreciated.

Thanks,

Lynette

[Huma0]

@Lynette131 

Sorry to hear about your situation. I am surprised a review would be removed and then reinstated. I can only imagine that the guest contacted Airbnb after it was removed and made a case for it to be reposted.

The problem here is that there is nothing in the review that violates Airbnb's content policy, as far as I am aware. Customer Services' standard response to requests to remove reviews is that if it doesn't violate that policy, it is a reflection of the 'guest's experience', regardless of whether the statements are true or not.

So, I'm sorry to say that you might have just got a sympathetic rep the first time round and not have much luck in having the review removed again. That's not to say don't try, but I am not sure what basis there is for its removal. I would be interested to know though what exactly made the first rep decide to remove it?

Also, on a side note, when you say the guest threatened your property manager, what exactly do you mean? Threatened them with what? Do you have these threats in writing or was it just verbal?

On the plus side, the rest of your reviews are all very positive, with no mention of cleanliness issues nor a rude property manager. Hopefully your five star reviews will continue and you'll achieve Superhost status and this outlier review will be pushed further down the list. Already it looks like the guest was potentially the one with the problem, but once you have even more positive reviews, it would be obvious to most potential guests that it is him, not you, that is the problem.

[Huma0]

PS @Lynette131 

I noticed that your listing includes the Enhanced Cleaning Protocol. Are you cleaners following this because if they are, then the place should have been so spotless, there's no way the guest could provide photos that prove it was dirty?

My cleaners are very fast, thorough and efficient, but there is no way they could do all the stuff in that protocol in a few hours. It's not realistic in my opinion. However, if you are displaying that badge, you must make sure the cleaners stick to the protocol!

I am also confused as to why the cleaners would still be there when the guest checks in. If you are really trying to present a place that is 'COVID-19 safe', although of course you can never guarantee such a thing, it would be better to make sure there is a gap between guests and therefore also no need for tight turnarounds by the cleaners.

[Lynette131]

Hello @Huma0 

Thank you for your feedback. My husband and I own and operate a commercial cleaning company in Canada, so to ensure that cleaning in the DR is done properly, we have hired more cleaning staff. Our standards of cleaning are actually higher than what Airbnb suggests.

Regarding the guest, the check-in time for the property is set at 3:00pm. This guest was arriving from Santo Domingo which is 3 1/2 hours away. He contacted our PM and said that he was probably going to be early for check in, around 2pm. She said yes,  the cleaning staff would still be there. He never arrived at 2pm, but he did arrive at 2:50pm. He knocked on the door and our PM said that they were just finishing up, but he went on to say that was okay, but could he and his partner use the washrooms as they have been travelling for a long time. She that it was okay. After they used the washrooms, they didn't say that the the bathrooms were dirty. They walked around the property, went out to the pool area and our PM said they were finishing up and if they wanted to they could start bringing in their bags and she would show them around. They said it wasn't necessary as everything looked in order. At 3pm, the cleaning staff left and so did Maria. 7 Minutes later, the guest contacted Maria, complaining there were no ice cubes. She couldn't answer as she was on her scooter. It was reasonable for her to return his call within 15 minutes. He laid into her with all sorts of accusations, calling her names and then when she offered to come back she was told, she better not because he doesn't know what he would do to her if she did because he was so angry. We don't have that listed as a feature of our property, but knowing people are tired and hot from travelling, we place 4 beers and 4 soft drinks in the fridge for every new guest. That was a complaint. He complained about the microwave being dirty, but doesn't provide a picture. He complained about a pen mark on the bedspread and another spot on another bedspread. The image of the spots from him were so blurry it made it look huge, but it was the size of a pinky nail. He complained about a leaf and a hair in the pool. Really, the girlfriend had long hair and could have been hers. It was certainly the same colour. The complained about the pool towels being wet, but they were rolled on the loungers, so his picture showed them in a soaking state next to the outdoor shower.

The key to all this is that Maria offered to return to address the issues. You ask if there is any proof of a threat. My lady wouldn't lie. The other thing is if it was so bad, why wouldn't he contact me directly. Our contact information is first. He contacted us about everything else before he arrived.

So regardless of any of this, Airbnb, doesn't inform us that the review is being reposted and doesn't provide a valid reason.

He can dispute it but we cannot! please that is a very one sided. Any person with common sense would see reading other reviews and compare it to his, that something was wrong with this guest. We were prepared to refund him as he was so unhappy and he could find other accommodations. He never communicated with us whether it was through Airbnb or Whatsapp until the last day of his stay. 

[Huma0]

@Lynette131 

Sorry, I wasn't asking if you had proof of the threats against the property manager because I doubt you but because, if you do, perhaps you have a stronger case against this guest. Threatening behaviour is not okay.

From what you say, this guest sounds pretty unhinged but, unfortunately, I don't think he has written anything in the review that will result in it being removed. That is just the way Airbnb CS generally handle reviews these days so I think you maybe lucked out with the first rep who removed it.

From early on in my hosting experience, I had a problem with guests turning up early. I will post a link here to a thread I created about it if I can find it. The guests would say that they didn't mind if the cleaning had not been completed, they just wanted to drop off their bags, would come back later for a proper orientation etc.

Once they arrived, however, they wanted to access the room, use the bathrooms etc. and refused to come back for a proper check in. Then they marked me down on cleanliness because the cleaning was still in progress when they arrived and insisted on accessing areas that were not finished. So, I understand. It's amazing how unreasonable some people can be, even when you are effectively doing them a favour.

I have since become VERY strict about check in time. It's just not worth the hassle. 

That does mean that I have occasionally got dinged on check in because it didn't 'suit' the guest that they couldn't ignore my check in times and show up whenever they felt like it, but I dont' get dinged on cleanliness because of it.

[Mike-And-Jane0]

@Lynette131 Sadly for you there is nothing wrong with the review so it's highly unlikely to be taken down for content.

Assuming there was no extortion then I guess the review stands.

There is no way that Airbnb can determine what really happened

[Lynette131]

@Mike-And-Jane0 

"There is no way that Airbnb can determine what really happened" Then they shouldn't be posting either review, his or ours, but clearly they are listening to him and not us. 

[Mark116]

@Lynette131   I wouldn't bother about the review, it is so long no one will read it, and if they do, they will see that the guy complained and was allegedly irate but couldn't be bothered to take and send photos in a timely manner. 

We stopped filling ice trays on purpose, as the guidelines? I think? say they should be left empty for guest safety. 

@Huma0  I've seen a few of these weird instances of hosts saying that refunds from stays from many months ago came through, so perhaps, in typical airbnb fashion they're going through and starting at the oldest unresolved stuff and going forward.  Or, as you say, maybe the guest complained his review was taken down.  

[Mike-And-Jane0]

@Lynette131 both your review and the guests reviews are negative and both have been posted with responses. Whilst you may not like it I think this is the best that can be done otherwise people (hosts and guests alike) would just need to write a negative review and then the other review would be deleted which means there would be no bad reviews and no point in the system.

[Ross648]

I think,  Mike and Jane, Lynette believes that given her history of excellent reviews and hard work,  AirBnB should take that into account and remove a review filled with mistruths.   To trust and support hosts in this manner is not to undermine the review process, quite to the contrary.   

My sympathies,  Lynette.  Everybody occasionally meets this kind of bad guest, who is usually angling for a free stay.    It is a mistake to see AirBnB as a responsive company to whom we give a percentage of our rents.  Rather it is a computer algorithm biased towards guests and staffed by online help that are instructed never to question the premises of the program.   Grasp this and everything simplifies.   

You did well in your response.  

[Mike-And-Jane0]

@Ross648 Lynette has 11 reviews (10 good 1 bad) and the guest has 6 reviews (5 good 1 bad). I'm sorry but it would not be statistically significant to say one party is at fault based on these very low samples.

Both guest and host have had their say by responding to each others reviews eloquently. What more could Airbnb do other than to arbitrarily decide one is more correct than the other.

[Ross648]

Mike and Jane -- as we all know,  Lynette could have a guest complain about being kept awake by noise from space aliens and the AirBnB algorithm would do nothing.   Lynette could sterilize her bathroom with a blow torch and the guest could describe it awash in blood in a scene out of the Shining and the AirBnB algorithm would do nothing.  Lynette could have a guest suspect her of being a serial killer and the AirBnB would do nothing.    "It's just a matter of opinion!" you would cheerily say.  

Your defense of the AirBnB algorithm has a certain charm but has no basis in reality.   

Lynette, once you recognize this you won't take anything personally.  

[Lynette131]

Thank you @Ross648 @Mark116 Thank you for your support.

Lynette

[Linnea-Or-David0]

Hi Lynette,

The place looks beautiful and your other reviews are great.  Honestly, if I were looking for a place to stay there that one review would not sway me.  Really, he lost me at the anger at the property manager calling back after 15 mins.  In my books, that is lightning fast... I mean, what if someone is in the shower or sleeping... or just living their life aside from being a property manager.  I think people will see that review for the overreaction that it is and not worry about it.  Those that are deterred by it, well you probably don't want those kind of guests anyway.