Being called racist and bigots by guest because of a dvd

[Jay-And-Ahna0]

Had a guest leave a glowing review in our cottage guest book. Then leaves a review of 2 and says “Extremely Disappointed” we were shocked until we read his feedback., then I fainted. 

" I found Fried Green Tomatoes in your videos for guests to watch. I thought we were trying to be done with racism and bigotry. Southern Americans are NOT all wife beating racists and movies like this are insulting and hurtful. Hollywood also put out Al Jolson in blackface, does that make it right? The greatest membership in the KKK in the 1920's was in Illinois - a northern state! For you to leave a movie like this for your guests encourages, supports and promotes stereotyping, bigotry, disparagement and hate!"

We reported this to Airbnb and they wouldn’t remove the review as it didn’t violate policy. We sent copies of the guest book and the feedback, feeling we were discriminated against and the guest was rude and out of line. They wouldn’t do anything. The guest was 5* all the way. Imagine or total shock of what he wrote. We have many DVD’s available for people to view. I’m stunned I got this over a movie. What would you do?

[Anonymous]

@Sarah977  Funny thing is, any time you're in a generic hotel room in the USA, there's only going to be one book placed in the room: the Bible. 

Which, viewed from a certain angle, is about the most broadly offensive book ever published. Who comes out unscathed in that one?

[Sarah977]

Yep, I was thinking about that bible in every motel and hotel room bedside drawer in the US. How did that custom ever come about? I wonder how many people actually read it in a hotel room.  @Anonymous

[Clare167]

The bibles are given by The Gideons International. My guess is that hoteliers have found, or assume, that refusing or removing them will generate more complaints and bad publicity than having them there does. I learn from Wikipedia that distribution in schools has been litigated to the US Supreme court five times. @Sarah977 @Anonymous 

[Melodie-And-John0]

@Anonymous ,

(Sporcle) "The Gideons decided that by leaving bibles in hotel rooms, they could serve a double purpose in that they could be of use to other members of the organization who wouldn’t have to carry their bibles when travelling anymore, and others using the room as well who might be interested in learning more about the gospel."  

It was also a hope that folks that that would come to hotels at the end of their rope might glean some hope to live for and reasons not to make life changing or ending decisions they couldn't turn back from as has been often the purpose of a one night stay without luggage at a hotel that doesn't care if you live or die as long as you pay your bill and don't leave a bloody mess behind.  

Maybe one just needs to change the angle of view to understand why so many others do consider it "The word of our God".  According to Pew research- "Three-quarters of Christians say they believe the Bible is the word of God".   Seeing as how there are an estimated 2 billion Christians in the world, That's allot of people that believe the words within that book are the word of God even if everything within its cover isnt pretty or without controversy.  

But I digress, I don't want to derail this thread, just thought I would put some context to the bible reference and Gideon's.  At the end of the day, those that book our stays cant be forced to read or watch anything that might be contained within so ratings that judge either are "not useful bits of information for future guests" which is what I thought was the basis and legitimate grounds for having a negative review removed.   I had that done just a few months ago and I think that is still the policy.  Stay well, JR

[Anonymous]

@Melodie-And-John0  Woe be the poor sucker at the end of his rope who flips straight to Leviticus.

[Christine615]

@Anonymous   I’m mostly facetious about people with emotional issues. My friend who manages housekeeper a large chain hotel has told me worse stories about their guests. It’s shocking there are so many people out there who are high functioning mentally ill people.

I had to help an international organization that was called our for something equally idiotic. I was one of three volunteers who combed their programming materials looking for the source of the problem. Then we realized the complaints came from a single person with hidden triggers. It’s like demanding I change my name because someone, somewhere was dumped at the altar by a person with the same name making me an unwitting trigger (sigh).

Being in hospitality requires a thick skin and a sense of humor. And a stiff drink 😂

[Sarah977]

I've never even seen that movie, but the guest's reaction and what they wrote in private feedback sounds to me like "He doth protest too much", as in men who publicly rail against gays (but are actually closet gays themselves) or religious fanatics who carry on about loose women and are then caught out with prostitutes. One has to wonder why someone would be so over-the-top aggressive/defensive, finding it necessary to point out that the KKK's membership was greatest in Illinois in the 1920s. If they aren't racist themselves, then why be so sensitive to what they perceive as a movie stereotype of Southerners and attack the host over it? That's what jumped out at me, anyway.

[Helen3]

Fried Green Tomatoes is one of my favourite films of all time. I am not sure in what way the guests saw it as being racist @Jay-And-Ahna0 

[Anonymous]

@Helen3  Because the film focused on the struggles of its female characters, the guest felt it wasn't flattering enough to heterosexual white men from the South.  And his view, that's the real racism. 

[Helen3]

Ah ha @Anonymous  😁

[Melodie-And-John0]

@Jay-And-Ahna0,  Just wow on so many levels this is horse hockey, its bad enough when folks decide they don't want actual proven history to be taught without narration, now were supposed to audit and sensor creative license of comedians as hosts?    Maybe someone should tell them that there are plenty of wife beating racists up north and down south and that has nothing to do with Fried Green Tomatoes or any other movie that is actually fiction .   I cant imagine what they would have said about Blazing Saddles (honestly one of the funniest movies of all time).  What if my listing has free movie channels, will guests like this be able to rate Showtimes content at our listing like critics?  The way things are going, the only thing we will be able to watch without censors is Barney the purple dino!

@Christine615  's  "This guest left a glowing review in our guestbook, but privately communicated that his disappointment was based on our DVD collection containing a movie that offended him." seems like a great way to handle that then grab some adult libations and sit down for a showing of Airplane and foregetabou this dipstick. 

[Ann72]

@Melodie-And-John0  🤣  "Looks like I picked the wrong week to quit sniffing glue."

Could we make it a double feature with "Animal House," please?  Then we can advise hosts to simply reply to bad reviews with "Fat, drunk, and stupid is no way to go through life."

[Sarah977]

That really made me laugh. Now that's a platform I could get behind- one where the Hosting Help pages said under the review response section:  "Retaliatory review? Inane complaints from "princess" guests? Lies? Let 'em have it, rake them over the coals, ruin their chances of ever booking anything again. They deserve it".

There was a restaurant in Vancouver whose claim to fame was that the servers were purposely as rude as they could be to customers. "What's wrong with the eggs? Yeah, I know you said you don't like them runny, don't you think I wrote that down? I don't do the cooking, ya know. Fine then, I'll tell the chef the pampered prince at table 5 needs his eggs redone."

The place was really popular- people loved the shtick and they actually had good food. 

@Ann72

[Ann72]

@Sarah977  That restaurant sounds fun - like every diner in New York.  If they don't give you attitude here, they don't love you.  😂

[Ann72]

@Jay-And-Ahna0  One thing you can do is ask Airbnb to remove your nice review of this guest.  You're supposed to be able to do this under authorship rules - see "Removing Published Reviews" here:  https://www.airbnb.com/help/article/367/can-i-edit-a-review-i-wrote