Dealing with a Retaliatory Review from Difficult Guests

[Alice1786]

Hi everyone,

I’d appreciate your advice regarding a challenging situation with my second guest at a new listing that’s already booked solid until March.

Here’s what happened:

During their stay, there was a water issue caused by a municipal supply interruption, which was completely beyond my control. I responded to their report within an hour, sent maintenance to address the issue, and even provided documentation from the water company confirming the situation. I also issued a refund for the inconvenience, including a full day and the cleaning fee, even though the issue wasn’t caused by my property.

Unfortunately, the guests were under the influence of substances during their stay, openly smoking despite house rules prohibiting it, and they behaved in a manner that made it difficult for staff to access the property for repairs. Communication became hostile, and they refused to cooperate with attempts to resolve the situation.

After checking out, they left a 2-star review that was both retaliatory and full of lies, claiming that my listing doesn’t reflect reality. This is incredibly frustrating because I went above and beyond to address their concerns and provide a good experience.

Now I’m wondering if I should consider removing the listing and starting over to avoid the impact of this unfair review, even though it’s booked until March. I’m also concerned about how this could affect future bookings and my reputation as a host.

Have any of you faced a similar situation? How did you handle retaliatory reviews, and would you recommend starting fresh with a new listing? Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance for your help!

Best,

Alice 

[Joelle43]

Hello @Alice1786 

What an awful way to start the New Year, so sorry. You went above and beyond that's obvious and looks like you were unfairly treated.  Whatever you do don't start over your listing as with the introduction of AI on Airbnb, it will get flagged as a duplicate and will be removed.  Too many hosts in the past have done just this to get around the bad reviews left by disgruntled guests but there is a process now in place to put a stop to this pratice.

I can't see your listing under your profile to see what these guests said but Airbnb does have a policy where you can contact Airbnb to have a review left in reprisal.  (I won't hide the fact that there is the rhetoric and then there is the reality)  You will have to be persistant, provide proof to the CS rep and may have to phone several times to get someone competent.

Here is the link in question:

https://www.airbnb.com/resources/hosting-homes/a/how-to-dispute-retaliatory-reviews-552

Good luck and keep us posted🤞

Joëlle

[Alice1786]

Thank you @Joelle43 , 

I believe airbnb should be change the review policy. Its very gratifying for nasty people to lash out at services provided... so airbnb just devalues the host entire investment, and encourages hosts to use other plataforms that are more host friendly. 

[Joan2709]

@Alice1786 

So sorry this happened...

Since we can't see your listing (your profile says Guest) or what the guest wrote, but the only thing you can do now is to post a factual, short, non emotional public response to the guest review. Be sure to mention the actual situation with the water, the steps you took to resolve, and the fact they broke some important House Rules and not cooperate with your efforts to assist them. Be careful about saying anything specific if you can't prove it (your suspicion they were under the influence of illegal drugs). Then as @Joelle43 suggests, do everything you can to get the review removed (we can't see the guest review, so not able to help you find things in it that could help your cause). 

Do let us know how it goes.