Guest review of homeless people

[Elizabeth2787]

We have a listing for a house in central downtown. It is in the middle of the most popular area in the city. However, there is also a salvation army shelter two blocks west. We note this very clearly in the listing. 

A recent guest gave us a 2 star location rating because a homeless person decided to sleep on the sidewalk outside the fence to the house. 

1: I cannot control this, nor would I try to. 

2: We clearly state that there is a shelter nearby, this is a downtown, and there are homeless people around. 

Is this a review I can have removed? This is basically no different than if a guest complained and left 2 stars for the location because they went to downtown Portland and it rained the entire time. 

It's completely out of my control where that person chose to sleep. 

Am I wrong here?

[Bhumika]

Hi @Elizabeth2787 ,

We appreciate you sharing your concerns with other Hosts and trying to look at the broader perspective.

I have also raised your concern to the team hoping they provide you with some clarity around this review. I hope you get to hear from them soon.

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[Elizabeth2787]

Thanks. I spoke to a support escalation person yesterday. I'm hoping to hear back today. I believe it will be removed based on our conversation.

There were other elements of the review that were also inaccurate and irrelevant. 

Essentially, this would be like someone giving a bad rating to a listing in Seattle because it rained during their stay. It isn't something a host can control and shouldn't be held against the listing. 

No one can control what happens outside of their property and having that be a factor in a review is unfair and pointless. 

[Elizabeth2787]

They are now arguing the relevance with me. 

You know what's funny about this too. There is a fire station and a police station around the corner as well. She didn't complain about how many firemen or policemen she saw in the area. Only the homeless folks. They weren't in her space. They didn't cause her any duress. She just complained because she saw one and AirBnB thinks that complaint is relevant. Kind of disgusting actually. 

[Mark116]

@Elizabeth2787   I'm not sure that police/firefighters is the same as homeless people, although I am sure there would be some guests who would feel uncomfortable with a lot of police around.

The safety of the neighborhood, while out of the control of the host, seems relevent to me.  I would want to know if I should expect to be stepping around people or walking through encampments.

[Elizabeth2787]

Well, they aren't dangerous just because they are homeless. That's sort of the disgusting part about complaining about them being there. 

What if she had complained that she saw black people outside my listing. You'd all be in total agreement that she was in the wrong. This is absolutely no different than that but somehow her complaining about homeless people is, okay? Really?

[Bhumika]

Hi @ Elizabeth2787 ,

I understand how you feel about this situation. I have passed on these further comments to the team to ensure they look into it!

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[Elizabeth2787]

For anyone still following they decided the review would stay up. I'd point out this portion of the Colorado Bill of Rights...

"The bill creates the 'Colorado Right to Rest Act', which establishes basic rights for persons experiencing homelessness, including, but not limited to, the right to use and move freely in public spaces without discrimination, to rest in public spaces without discrimination, to eat or accept food in any public space ..."

So, I ask again, what is AirBnB's stance on bigotry? Because allowing people to leave discriminatory comments in their reviews certainly seems to suggest that they are okay with it. 

[Mark116]

@Elizabeth2787  I can't see the review you are talking about so no way to judge whether the comments would or should be considered 'discriminatory'.  People also have a right to feel uncomfortable and to speak about their experiences.

[Elizabeth2787]

It's fine. I have thousands of reviews across moltiple accounts. I don't often argue against negative reviews because they don't matter much in the grand scheme of things. This one just rubbed me the wrong way because this entitled person complained about "an abundance of homeless people" which was actually just one person and also knew about it ahead of time and even mentioned that she read it in the listing before booking but still complained. 

Honestly, the review policy is garbage and I don't expect Airbnb to care about discrimination against homeless people because homeless people aren't booking their listings. 

Either way, it's over. Move on. 

[Elizabeth2787]

...and it isn't like an encampment. This is a house in the center of downtown. There is construction on one corner and a brand new apartment complex on another. There's a new stadium caddy corner and a large open market with restaurants and bars 50 yards away. Yes, there are homeless people in every downtown in America. The fact that she booked a house that even mentions this in the listing and then complained about it is just crazy. 

[Helen744]

Apropos of homelessness during the pandemic. Our government did become very concerned about random people being un housed during our severe lockdown times and voila, like magic , managed to house them all for periods of time . So they can do it , thats obvious but the political will is simply not there.   H

[Bridget354]

I'm only 9 months in to hosting a small Studio apt in downtown Jacksonville, FL - in the 'urban core'. The bread & butter of my bookings have been Jags games, concerts (3 venues), theater shows (2 venues), and conferences (walkable to the main center). That said, I have stated in my listing in the "Neighborhood Description" , the following: "Urban core - this area comes with diversity and presence of unhoused people that is common in large cities. Please expect this when booking any stay downtown! However, this building's direct location is in a quiet pocket....". 

That said, I have been able to reach Superhost rather quickly with 5 Stars "Overall" but dinged on Location. Last guest gave me a 3 on this and I did reach out to her and ask. Her reply to me via Abnb text was:  "Location was shady. Homeless people everywhere and there were multiple druggies hanging around. Maybe that’s “normal” there in JAX, or maybe that was just random timing for them to be hanging out there. I’m just not comfortable with that. And I am law enforcement. I couldn’t imagine someone who has never experienced that before feeling comfortable. That was the only 2 issues I had. Everything else was amazing with your place".

Uh, ok...'Druggies'? Everywhere? What in the world? OP, I get you! There's 2 shelters downtown but they are frequently at capacity. It was pouring rain the whole weekend, so they were seeking shelter under entryways, I'm sure, but not at MY building, I was there. Also, the major concert they came to see they said was amazing but they also put in the "other" under Location said 'not much to do'. It's still bothering me a week later LOL. 

This topic of removing Location as a sub-category has been brought up for years, I find posts as far back as 2015 in just this recent search that led me here to your post, and I also contacted Abnb regarding. They will do nothing. So, we just have to deal with it :(. Thank you for your post, it was a place I could also vent!