How a 1 star untrue retaliatory review can be allowed to ruin an Airbnb business

[Kirby45]

After seeking support from various Airbnb Ambassadors during the last week, I’m reaching out to the Airbnb Community as a last resort in the hope that other more experienced hosts can provide guidance on how I can handle this situation better. Apologies in advance for the long message, but the Airbnb support staff don’t appear to be reviewing this case in its entirety.

As a background, I began hosting in July 2024 and have since worked hard to strive to receive the Superhost status, which was granted to me last week. At that point I had received thirteen 5 star reviews and one 4 star review, giving the listing an overall 4.93 rating. My listing is located in the island of Jersey in the United Kingdom. The island is 9 by 5 miles and has a population of 100k people; therefore Airbnb competition is very fierce.

Last week I had a guest check in for 4 nights with her mother and 2 children. At the end of the first day the guest messaged me to ask if I could move her to another property which doesn’t have stair access, as her mother was unable to climb the stairs and she herself was also struggling to carry the pram up the stairs. She confirmed that this would be an issue for the rest of their stay. I advised the guest that I only have this one property and so I couldn’t move them elsewhere unfortunately. I confirmed that within the property description, under the access section, I detail that the property is not suitable for wheelchair access or people with mobility issues, due to their being stairs to access the apartment. I offered to source a walking stick, but didn’t hear back from the guest. That evening, unbeknown to me, the guest reported the listing to airbnb advising that the tv, WiFi, heating, baby highchair and bath were all broken and unusable, that the apartment was dirty and cluttered and that there were stairs to the property that she wasn’t aware of. Therefore, she confirmed she would be checking out the next day and she asked for a full refund for the unspent days. Airbnb emailed me to advise of this. The guest messaged me the following morning to advise she would be checking out as she felt the apartment was unsuitable (but she didn’t elaborate as to why). I went to the apartment within an hour of the guest leaving and filmed videos of the apartment, with commentary, to prove that the tv, internet, wifi, bath, heating and highchair were not broken or unusable, they are working perfectly fine, and that the apartment was clean and clutter free. I sent the evidence to Airbnb and I spoke with a brilliant Airbnb support ambassador (they exist) who confirmed I hadn’t breached any policies and that I was not obligated to provide any refund for unspent nights. He also advised that if the guest proceeded to write a negative review, it could be removed.

I was so confused as to why the guest would complain to Airbnb that there were all of these fictitious issues at the apartment and so I messaged the guest via Airbnb to confirm that the apartment had been inspected and checked and that there were no issues found with the WIFI, tv, heating or bath. The highchair straps which the guest said were missing, were in the cupboard where the highchair is stored, as advised to the guest the previous day. I mention in the message that the guides in the apartment give detailed instruction on how to operate the tv and heating etc. The guest then proceeded to reply stating that she wasn’t previously going to write a bad review, but she will now, and so she did. The guest went on to write a 1 star review where she has selected every possible negative and untrue reason available to her in the review. She also writes in the review that her main issue was with my message sent to her after she had checked out. How is this a review of the property or experience if it’s after the event, I ask myself?

I have consequently spent days on the phone and sending emails to various Support Ambassadors around the world in attempts for this very false and retaliatory review to be removed, but I keep getting the same ‘case closed’ message back stating that the review doesn’t breach any policies. So basically, a guest can stay at an accommodation and then write a false review saying that there were a lot of broken items/ appliances along with mess, clutter and mould, which is all untrue, and we as hosts can do absolutely nothing to dispute it, even if we have solid proof that the actual reason the guest checked out early was due to the stair issue, and so she proceeded to then invent lots of other issues in an attempt to get a full refund, and when she didn’t get that, she went on to write this false review to damage the reputation of the apartment as much as possible. Airbnb don’t take in to account the 14 positive reviews received in less than 3 months since beginning hosting, and they don’t think it’s strange that within a few days of the apartment receiving a glowing 5 star review from a guest, along with gaining the credited Superhost status, the apartment, less then a week later, is now apparently in such a bad state, as the guest describes in her 1 star review. All of the messages and video evidence has been supplied to Airbnb support multiple times, but it makes no difference.

I have tried to evidence to Airbnb in the following how the guest has breached policies, but airbnb confirm there is no breaches; ‘Guests must not write biased or inauthentic reviews as a form of retaliation against a host who enforces a policy or rule. The guests writes in the public review that she is unhappy because she was requested to check out by 10am, which is inline with my standard check out policy. The guest writes that she is unhappy she was charged for 1 night which she didn’t stay, which again, in line with my cancelation policy, I was under no obligation to provide any refund for the unspent nights, but as a gesture of goodwill I agreed to refund the guest for 2 nights, which I didn’t have to. 

Inline with Airbnb policy, reviews must contain relevant information reflecting the actual experience ‘during’ their stay. Within the review the guest write that her main complaint is the message I sent to her via Airbnb after her stay, which she is unhappy about; however this did not take place ‘during’ her stay, in line with policy. She state in the review that I called her a liar in the message - this is completely untrue, as I didn’t call her a liar at all, as per the message I sent, I confirmed that, upon inspection, there were absolutely no issues found with the TV, wifi, heating, or highchair and the property is very clean, which is evident in the video evidence I have provided and other recent reviews which all rate the accommodation highly. 

The guests review is very fraudulent, harmful and retaliatory, which breaches Airbnb policy. The guest has rated the property as 1 star in every possible area and selected every negative option available, in order to damage the reputation of the property as much as possible. The video evidence, taken on the morning that the guest checked out, proves that the areas the guest has selected and rated as negative and not up to standard, are completely fraudulent and untrue.’

Airbnb confirm that they have thoroughly investigated the issue; however the last ‘closed case’ message I received from Korean support states the following, ‘We apologize for the delay in getting back to you as we prioritize and review incoming cases. I'll take a closer look at the inquiry and see what I can do to help, and I apologize for the fact that I'm using a translator, so the context may be a bit off.’ How has this case be properly reviewed and investigated if it’s being reviewed by someone who can’t read English and needs to use a translator which they states may not give proper context to the case or the background. I don’t feel like this case has been reviewed in its entirety during the multiple times I’ve now raised a case for the removal of the review.

So, from one retaliatory, false review my listing has gone from having a 4.93 rating with the solid black ‘guest favourite’ badge at the top of the listing, to a rating of 4.67 and is now one of the lowest rated properties on the island of Jersey. Airbnb advise that I should write a reply to the review; however I don’t know where to begin…. And I don’t see how this will make a difference to potential future guests - if I were them I would just scroll straight past my listing and select a higher rated property. Also, as a parent, I wouldn’t take the risk of booking my property where a previous guest has stated so many issues, damp and mould and that the highchair is dangerous - it sounds like a health hazard. She advises future guest to avoid the apartment completely and that it was a horrible start to her holiday.

I have had many young families use the highchair over the months. Even within my public reviews guests have recently commented on how well equipped the apartment is for babies, but this isn’t taken in to consideration at all by Airbnb.

I would appreciate any guidance, as I feel that this one review has ruined my business and is leaving me with no option but to leave the Airbnb platform and utilise other hosting platforms. Many thanks for taking the time to read this post.

[Autumn11]

Let me start by telling you one bad review isn't going to make people pass up your place if it's nice. If people are reading reviews they're not just going to read the first one they're going to read the additional ones and see that the negative review is way far-fetched and completely opposite of all the other five star reviews ..people know that people write fraudulent reviews or retaliatory reviews.  You also have the option right under her review to write a response which you should and say in about a paragraph that this review should be removed because it's a lie and this guest is a scam artist just trying to get free nights and was mad because she didn't follow the rules and read where she would be staying and realize she can't go up and down stairs which is none of your fault.  

Now as for getting some kind of assistance or help with this review being removed from Airbnb it's probably next to impossible to get them to do anything they're supposed to do or enforce the rules that they created themselves. Airbnb doesn't even follow its own policies or rules. But it demands that you bow down to every whim that they have If you want to get back to having all five star reviews you can go ahead and just erase that listing and relist it the exact same listing just created a new one and you'll start off with no reviews but then once you start getting reviews though I'll be positive and it'll change your rating status because when you delete a listing from your profile the reviews go with it too.  To avoid things like this in the future make sure that your listing has every single little detail even if it seems like it you're explaining too much, oh well because then if something like this comes up again you will be able to say I told the guests they're upstairs they agreed to my house rules and they seen the pictures of my house prior to booking so it is what it is.  

I've been dealing with Airbnb for 10 years now and every single thing that could happen has happened and I've grown to realize that when things do happen you're basically on your own it's become all about money and this company makes billions of dollars on the backs of the hosts And they really do treat the hosts like you're just a cash cow for them and if you're not making the money oh well they don't care about what you're talking about. 

Also just keep calling back and trying to get a hold of different people and pretend it was the first time you've ever talked to someone and then the next person you talk to if that doesn't get what you want done just tell them that you've called 10 times before just switch up the story every time because you're going to get a different story from them every single time too. And don't forget to write that guest a 1 star review as well!!!!

[Gregory-William0]

Excellent reply Autumn11 . I will definitely keep all that in mind . I'm a newbie 

and this info eases my mind .

[Kia272]

@Kirby45  actually, you should think very carefully about the reply to the one star review that the guest left. Rather than being accusing, be professional and unemotional. Don't go into a lot of detail about she said-he said. The response is for the benefit of any future guests. Being defensive will likely hurt more than help. 

I understand that you're probably really angry about this- I would be!! But being professional about it will benefit you more than "defending" yourself against the accusations of this horrible person. 

"Guest X did not read the property details carefully, and as a result, found the property unsuitable for her family's needs. We take pride in providing great detail regarding the amenities and space provided to our guests,  and take considerable care in seeing that the property is well maintained and delivered to guests as promised. We are sorry that Guest X booked a property not suited to her family, and wish her the best.