Concern About Retaliatory Review – Seeking Clarification on Review Policy Enforcement

[Sandra5452]

I’m reaching out to seek clarity regarding a recent experience I had with a guest review, and Airbnb’s decision not to remove it.

A guest by the name of Desiree booked my suite and contacted me in advance to ask about parking a 20-foot U-Haul with a towed vehicle. I informed her that the property itself would not accommodate such a large vehicle, but that street parking was generally available across the road and around the neighborhood. I even provided her with a map showing the suggested areas.

Upon arrival, she stated that all the surrounding spaces were occupied. I expressed understanding, but as the unit was fully available and ready for check-in, I was unable to offer a refund outside of the platform’s policy. She subsequently contacted Airbnb and was refunded directly through them. She did not stay at the unit.

Afterward, she left a public review, which reads less as a reflection of an actual stay and more as a reaction to the refund decision. I submitted a removal request on the grounds that the review appears to be retaliatory and not representative of a genuine experience with the listing. However, Airbnb declined the request, stating the review does not violate policy.

I want to respectfully reference Airbnb’s own Reviews Policy, particularly the section titled “Reviews should be unbiased.” It states that guests may not retaliate or manipulate reviews based on resolution outcomes, and that reviews should reflect authentic stays.

This guest did not stay in the suite, and the content of her review focuses entirely on the refund dispute, not on the property itself. In my understanding, this falls outside the intent of the review system, which is to provide helpful, experience-based insight to future guests, not to pressure or penalize hosts over refund disagreements.

I am genuinely seeking understanding:

• Under what circumstances is a review considered inauthentic or retaliatory?

• Does a guest who does not stay at the property still qualify to leave a review if their experience is solely based on a refund denial?

Any guidance from Airbnb staff or other experienced hosts would be greatly appreciated. My goal is simply to ensure the integrity of the review process is upheld for all parties.

Thank you in advance for your time and feedback.

Thank you,
Sandra

[Graeme144]

Hi Sandra,

Unfortunately, it appears there is no genuine interaction by Airbnb with requests to remove reviews, even when they clearly and obviously breach Airbnb's own policies. There certainly isn't any human involvement, not even from some third-world call-centre operator being paid peanuts to reject your request (which was what used to happen).

What there is instead is what I call an auto-reject-bot (it hardly rises to the dizzy heights of being an AI, it's probably just a script).

Whatever you say and whatever reasons you give, the auto-reject-bot rejects the request.

I've previously asked if there's any way to have a human look at the situation and had no response, as aparently there are no humans involved in Airbnb's 'support' system any more.

So to answer your questions:

• Under what circumstances is a review considered inauthentic or retaliatory? 

  • Under no circumstances whatsoever, even when it's blindingly obvious.

• Does a guest who does not stay at the property still qualify to leave a review if their experience is solely based on a refund denial?

  • They aren't supposed to be able to, but... clearly they can and we have no functioning way to remove their review.

This is all part of the process they call 'en ******ification' where platforms make themselves indispensible, then start cutting further and further back on the things that made them good in the first place, in order to make bigger short-term profits at the expense of both their users and ultimately their own business.

“Here is how platforms die: first, they are good to their users; then they abuse their users to make things better for their business customers; finally, they abuse those business customers to claw back all the value for themselves. Then, they die.” -Cory Doctorow

Regards,

Graeme.

[Emilie]

Hi @Sandra5452, 

I wasn't able to find the review in question so I wanted to check-in with you -have you managed to find a solution with the Support team since you posted here earlier this month?

Looking forward to hearing from you 🙂

Emilie

[Hanni89]

@Emilie I second the above, retaliatory reviews should be addressed by Airbnb no matter what. they should not be allowed. I and all the hosts I know have the exact same issue. I think its time to take this to the mainstream media