False allegation of smoking by host.

[Peter4013]

Recently I was very surprised to receive a host review which accused me of smoking within the property apartment. However I am a non smoker and have never smoked in my life. The host was not present and apparently the cleaning company told the host that there was a strong of tobacco smoke. I responded that this could not be from me as I am a non smoker and asked if the cleaning company had confused with a different property. The host agreed to check and then I heard nothing. During my stay I had a positive exchange with the host who was not present and had left the place clean and tidy. Hence the shock as I always take of every place where I stay.

I contacted Airbnb support, pointing out that I am a non smoker and this accusation could not be related to my stay. I even offered to provide a Dr's letter to prove that I am a non smoker.   However Airbnb just said that the feedback did not contravene their feedback policy, even though it is not relevant and harmful to my reputation as a guest. 

Airbnb support said that I could only add a responce- which I have done.  However within my  profile summary page within the app only the negative comment is shown- I would have liked to see equal prominence to my reaction or at least for the presence of a reaction  to be flagged. I have many previous reviews from hosts which are entirely  positive, but this is my most recent and the most visible. 

I am worried that the negative comment will make it harder for me to rent places in future.  For me this could  be a problem since I am usually not renting in big cities with many choices. Instead during a long distance hiking trip I am using for overnight accommodation  in villages and small towns where there is often only one Airbnb and if it refuses then I may have  no alternatives.

Hopefully with more positive host reviews the negative remark will be buried.  Was not impressed by Airbnb's policy concerning the publication of such demonstrably false comments.

What is the experience of others ?

Should I mention the negative review and that I am a non smoker when making new bookings ? 

Thanks

Peter

[Mike-And-Jane0]

@Peter4013 I think a message when you book a place explaining is the right thing to do.

[Louie62]

I think this may be becoming a widespread scam.

In fact, I fully expect someone will try it on me in the near future! 

In fact, I know a person this happened to just a couple weeks ago!

It is equally absurd that she or anyone present was smoking.

1) She doesn't smoke...I mean, that is just the reality. She is not a smoker, even socially. 

2) She's recovering from months of unpredictable intense seizures, so currently she "gets wild" by sometimes having a diet soda...not exactly in a "party hard" circumstance or place in life...

3) ...which is why she was the person who got the Airbnb -- SO SHE COULD COULD SUPERVISE THE TEENAGERS AND MAKE SURE THEY DIDN'T DRINK OR SMOKE.

I think unscrupulous hosts have found a scam using Airbnb's rules.

It appears Airbnb will basically NEVER take the guest's word over the host's when it comes to smoking, no matter what.

Therefore accusing some guests of smoking is no-risk for the host -- and possibly financially lucrative if there is an associated fee or a charge for "extra cleaning."

[Louie62]

Or wait -- maybe the cleaning crews just lie to the hosts if they can charge the host extra for no extra work!

I had not considered that maybe they are the ones doing the scam.

I am going to look into this more.

[Drew3722]

I am experiencing the same thing now. No one in my family smokes, and we are getting asked to pay $600 for a cleaning fee because 2 rooms smelled like smoke. I don’t know if it’s the host or the cleaning service who is lying (or both), but there is no way that it can be us because we don’t smoke! This is my 1st time using AirBnB, and the whole thing is extremely frustrating to the point where I am seriously questioning whether to keep using them. 

[Ali21231]

I am so glad I found this. This literally just happened to me this weekend. Host claimed the cleaning crew smelt a strong sense of cigarette smoke and they would have to charge extra for a deep clean. None of us smoked at all and I literally asked her if this was a scam. She stated she trusted her cleaners etc. Airbnb hosts are getting shadier and shadier. 

[Brian3345]

Same thing happened to my wife and I today. We are non smokers and the host accused us of leaving the house smelling of smoke. I mentioned there was literally no way it was us as we are non-smokers. She said both herself and the subsequent guests smelled smoke. Absolutely no way it was us. 

[Joseph2475]

The exact same thing is happening to me right now. I got a message a few hours after we had left that the whole place smelled of smoke and that cleaning crews found "ashes everywhere". I do not even smoke, and no one in my group smokes. He requested additional money to pay the cleaning crew, and called me "condescending" and said that I was "gaslighting him" when I told him I felt like he was scamming me. Luckily I was able to decline the extra fee, but Airbnb told me that I need to leave this person's review of me public on my profile, where he recounts this entirely made up story about me smoking. Honestly it makes me sick - I've told Airbnb that if the comment isn't removed, I'm deleting the app forever. Freaking scary. 

[Justine516]

My most recent host is trying to charge me $4500 for smoking inside, which I absolutely did not do!!  This is a huge scam and Airbnb needs to do something about it!

[Polly164]

Woah! That’s incredible.