Dispute of retailitory review

[W17]

Hi everyone,

I’m reaching out here in hopes of getting advice from the experts who’ve dealt with biased reviews. Recently, I had a guest who checked out late, and when we informed them about our house rules and the late checkout fine, they left a biased and misleading review. In the review, the guest claimed I "threatened" them by sharing the house rules and even accused me of blackmailing them for a good review, which is completely false.

I contacted Airbnb support to request the removal of the review, but they refused, stating it does not violate their review policy. I even escalated the matter by emailing their CEO, but the outcome was the same.

I’ve read in previous discussions that Airbnb has a policy, released by their CEO, which states that overstaying a reservation is a serious violation, and retaliatory reviews can be disputed. I also have a screenshot of this policy. However, it seems Airbnb is ignoring their own guidelines, as many others have also pointed out.

Why is this happening, and is there anyone who can kindly assist me with this? Any guidance would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you!

 

 

 

 

[Joelle43]

Hello @W17 

You have many listings so can't check but  is the late check-out fine clearly listed on the listing itself?  Amount of the fine stated and time frame?

[W17]

Hi Joelle. It's lisitng "w14". The frustration part is that it's very hard to get a good case manager through phone call. That's is why when I'm lucky enough to get one. He educate me that I should highlight every single point whenever I call in Airbnb. Still no luck. I'm not sure if it's permitted to send screenshot here but I will just show you.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[W17]

Yes Joelle. The late checkout fine is clearly stated on our house rules cause we followed all the requirements in need for a dispute of review if there's any. 

[W17]

 

[Joelle43]

Hello again @W17 

Yes I went onto W14 and could see that that RIM 200,000 fine under your house rules.  This guest checked out at 12.37 rather than 12 (which I understand was the agreed check-out time rather than your usual 11 o'clock?) which is less than an hour as stated in your house rules so technically Airbnb might get funny about this, depending on who you get at the other end of the phone as you've found out.

From reading here on the forum about hosts facing similar disputes, it takes time and perseverance to get a review removed but it is my belief that we can ask our guests to leave us a review of their stay.

You are able to write a public reply to this guest review if you want to set things straight but remain professional to avoid it being removed.

All the best
Joëlle

[W17]

Yes. The problem is that the guest is accusing us for blackmailing them whereas I only replied to the guest to leave a good review as they said they had a great experience. Previously when there is such accusation. Airbnb will remove it immediately but not sure what is wrong with them now

[Tara0]

I'm well aware that customer services has fallen off a cliff lately, but I'm an old hand who's been hosting and guesting for 15 years or so. 

@W17  I think you need to relax and lose the punitive fining approach.  You will invite negative reviews if you continue with your approach.

I wouldn't dream of imposing fines for the various things you list. 37mins late for checkout? Seriously?! 

Treat guests as akin to 'friends'.

I block a night between each booking. So I can offer check-in from 8am and I can accommodate later check-outs by prior agreement. Low stress, everyone happy. Profit isn't everything. You're providing hospitality. 

[W17]

Hi Tara. Thank you for your response. I think you missed out some information. Guests asked for one hour extension and we approved on that. They still checkout 37 minutes later than the agreed 1 hour extension. So do you still think the guests are acting in a correct way? 🙂

[Justin2198]

You will get one type of response from a host that may have one to two guest rooms as opposed to a host with 4 or more guest rooms on a property.

Responses from hosts with one of two rooms will tell you to take a laissez-faire approach - let the guests do/have what they want i.e. let guests overstay check-out and don't charge them late check-out fees.

Read other comments and you will see the trend of hosts having to put signs after having many bad guests and not getting support from AirBnB.

Responses from hosts with many rooms on one property will agree with you and can share similar stories.

I can tell you that guests who booked via other platforms tend to abide by agreed T&Cs much more so than guests who booked through this platform.