How to address a vengeful guest review that is an outlier from our other reviews

[Sarah72]

Hello!

We have been with Airbnb as superhosts for 6 years. We have more than 400 reviews (377 as a host and the rest as guests) with an overall rating of 4.99. We recently hosted a group who had three extra people that primary guest snuck into the guesthouse. The capacity of the guesthouse is  six. Because he was already there, I simply, directly and courteously asked him to pay the additional fee of $15 per person for each additional person over six. This angered and agitated him. He is new to Airbnb and I feel certain he will leave a retaliatory review because I was direct (while remaining professional and kind) in my communication with him.

What can be done about that kind of a review? It will clearly be an outlier from the rest of the reviews that we have received. What process does Airbnb have in place to address this?

Sincere Regards,

Sarah Syverson

Airbnb  SuperHost

Mancos, Colorado

[Laura2592]

@Sarah72 Sorry to hear this. Guests over capacity are my number one pet peeve. I have found that many guests are not aware that this is a no no, and they may in fact react like yours have when asked to follow rules. As far as getting the review removed? There is no process for an outlier. The guest has to say something that warrants removal (the review is irrelevant because it says something like "terrible weather. " which is not helpful to future guests. The review contains slurs or profanity. Its not enough that the review is just bad, or a one off bad one. Airbnb doesn't care if a guest lies.)

You don't know what the review is yet. It may not be bad. If it is you have plenty of great reviews to offset it. So I wouldn't worry about that so much. I would leave a very honest review for this guest at the last possible moment. Something like:

"So and so was pleasant until we explained that he could not bring guests over our capacity numbers without remitting an additional small fee to cover extra cleaning and laundry. We offered this as a courtesy as the guest was already ensconced in the space and new to the platform. In general we do not allow guests to bring persons above what we state in our listing. Communication could have been improved and extra clean up was indeed required. House rules were not read or understood. On the whole, this guest is not someone we would welcome back until they have a better understanding of how to successfully navigate the platform."

If he does leave a bad review, respond with some version of the above. To prevent this happening again:

1. Make sure your house rules are VERY clear about consequences for guests over your limit (will they be asked to leave? Charged a fee? How serious are you about this?)

2. Reiterate in an email a few days before check in "Hi-- just wanted to ensure I had the right info for your upcoming stay. Its X guests for X days. Let me know if your plans have changed at all. I will be sending check in instructions on X date."

3. Don't mention furnishings that could accommodate extra guests. Only list the actual beds, No sofas, no air mattresses. 

4. Put an Easter egg phrase in your rules that show your guests have read them. Ask them to send you the phrase at booking. 

5. Filter if you have instant book on. No guests not recommended by others. Profile fully filled out and verified. Use ALL the filters offered. 

6. RAISE YOUR PRICES! Waaaayyy too cheap for 6 people at $112 a night for a whole house. Either that or lower your guest counts to the number of adults who would normally sleep in the actual beds. 

[Sarah72]

These are such helpful suggestions! Thank you so much for taking the time to write them out!

[Brian2036]

@Sarah72 

Airbnb really has no process in place to address revenge reviews.

Unless the guest flagrantly violates the review guidelines they will let it stand.

 You can point out any outright lies briefly in your response and also mention that unregistered guests will not be tolerated.

Prospective guests will see your extraordinary record of excellence and will ignore any spiteful, inaccurate reviews unless they are incredibly ignorant, in which case you don’t want them anyway.

 You can use this to your advantage by reminding people of your policy regarding extra guests.

[Dominic101]

After hosting for years, being a super host and now have a rating of 4.7, we just experienced our first revenge review of 1 star, based on us asking for additional cleaning fees from our home being left in a filthy and disgusting way, plus some of our property needed to be replaced. I followed all the procedures messaged to me, asked for the extra fees, waited the 72 hours for guest to respond properly, then escalated it to the host guarantee (since that is all you can do), only to be told I did not follow procedure and after "careful" consideration there is nothing AirBnB will do about getting me the extra money in cleaning fees nor my property replaced that was damaged. The guest left a ridiculous review naming the numerous issues they encountered (nothing was mentioned to us, matter of fact they were very pleased with the house, cleanliness, neighborhood etc. and messaged us about these things). Then.....wham, all the issues came up in the review, simply because I asked them to pay for leaving my home filthy....of yes and their message about leaving my home in a "lived in condition" was not taken into consideration by AirBnB either...the message stream is CLEAR...these guests have NO clue what is expected. I have 6 listings with AirBnB, however this issue is not making us think we need to go to another platform...and we are stock holders, have always held Air in great esteem, BUT to be treated with such disrespect by our platform has left us shaking our heads and quite upset. How about stories from other hosts of AirBnB's inept handling of hosts issues? Thanks

[Mike-And-Jane0]

@Dominic101 your situation demonstrates the difficult issue Airbnb face. Both your review and your guest's review appear entirely credible. If I were in a call centre many miles away how would I know what to believe?

[Dominic101]

Firstly Mike...looking at the entire conversation/messaging thread would/should be the first step...been doing this a while and know to make sure you have everything documented...which we do. That would be a good first strike to determine whether a review is true or not. Easy really. Seesm like there are a LOT of hosts that have had the same issue from looking at other threads. Hosts are the LIFEBLOOD of any platform like AirBnB...without us they dont have a platform. Simply taking a proactive approach instead of hiding behind the shield of "not following procedure" canned response would be a good start by Air too.

[Huma0]

@Dominic101 

I successfully had a review/ratings removed by Airbnb on this basis, i.e. the rep read through both the correspondence (which confirmed the guest was lying) and also my listing/house rules (confirming the guest chose to wilfully ignore them). 

I didn't even ask Airbnb to do this. It happened several months after the review when the rep spotted it during a conversation about a technical issue, and suggested to me himself that it could be removed.

This was years ago and, sadly, something seems to have changed at Airbnb CS. They now give you a very canned response that:

1. Reviews can only be removed if they violate Airbnb's content policy, otherwise it is 'the guest's experience' regardless of whether it is true or not. They've even stated in the content policy that they are not concerned with the accuracy of a review and will not mediate in those cases.

2. Even if a review is removed, they will not remove the ratings, so that does little good in regards to Superhost status or your overall rating. I don't know why this is the case if they were able to do it before, but I was very recently told that it was impossible for ratings to be removed once they are submitted.

[Helen744]

Helen744@dominic 101. Hi Dominic , I had a similar review that accused me of all types of things because I asked a young person who expected to have a party in my house with carloads of others waiting in the street to come into the house not to have a party and reminded her that this was against the rules This person contacted Airbnb accused me of making her feel unsafe . She was with two other bookees as well as seven other friends and I can say that at sixty six my intimidating days are behind me.She decided to cancel the booking which meant she recieved her money back from Airbnb who basically told me that giving her money back was the only way this could be resolved . Then Airbnb assisted her or so they said to find other accommodation. She rang me later that night by which time the place was already booked again because it was a super busy weekend . the people with her came into the house in the hour and a half before she left filled the rubbish bins with beer cans stole part of the gaming system and left remnants of drugs. Her review which stood for months said that as well as one star I had made her sleep in a tent. Eventually with assistance from my son who realised this review had nothing to do with the accommodation because she did not stay but was a personal attack on me by someone who did not know me we had this review removed . It practically wrecked my life .Vindictive people like this exist and turn up out of the blue but do not let them. they have not got the right to attack you personally .They can review their stay nothing else . They need to follow your rules . Its your house and if they dont then as my mum used to say "they can nicky woop'.

[Stephanie1933]

@Helen744 Hi Helen, that sounds absolutely awful. So sorry you experienced that. Let's hope it never happens again. Best wishes. 

[James2913]

My experience with Airbnb exactly (in February and March of 2021), but thankfully only with a guest that was seeking excuses for requesting (and easily getting) a full refund, and not a guest that damaged my place. Airbnb was quick to refund the guest, and just kept reading me the same script over and over again. It was only after spending about 20 hours on zillions of phone calls that I finally got someone at Airbnb that took the time to listen to me and credited me back the rental income.  Frankly, if there was an equal competitor I would have switched hosting sites from Airbnb in a New York minute. But alas, Airbnb has no serious competition (that I know of) so am still here out of necessity, not choice.

[Iolanda54]

It's a big problem. I just had a group with a one night stay have a party and someone broke the upper bunk bed so it became unusable. I had it fixed and I told the truth on the guest. I will see what they write about my listing. 

I reported to airbnb because they say no parties allowed. I found the commercial trash can full with beer cans and alcohol containers. The city trash can is made for weekly trash pick up. They filled it in 1 night. I am no longer offering 1 day stays.

iolanda

[Sarah977]

@Dominic101 "How about stories from other hosts of AirBnB's inept handling of hosts issues? Thanks"

This discussion forum is filled with that. Thousands of posts and threads about it. Just start reading through a few pages of the Hosting and Help sections. (This is the Host Circle section)

[Branka-and-Silvia0]

Post-Covid guests became very critical, nitpicking, and revengeful. Everyone I spoke with said their rating dropped the same as ours although we have the same listing, offer the same service, and didn't change the prices. Maybe one day when there will be no super hosts left and all listings will be below 4* will Airbnb react to save its reputation and will start to remove revenge reviews.

Until then we can do what we have always done. We dont host for reveiws and status but for money 🙂

[Larissa96]

I've noticed guests becoming much more critical and flat-out rude since COVID, and even more so after Airbnb IPO'd. 

It's unsettling and perplexing, especially since things like my cleaning costs and check-out procedures have not changed.  I did NOT raise my cleaning fee while also raising my cleaning standards to be COVID-compliant. I pay my cleaners well, probably more than other hosts in the neighborhood.  And now I have rude guests who are complaining about the fee, asking for refunds and refusing to do the check-out requests. (Is taking out the trash considered 'unreasonble?')  

I also had a prospective guest inquire about a discount.  When I told her that I offer a discount with a non-refundable option, she flipped out on me claiming I was just 'running a business' and threatened to check if my guest suite was 'even legal' in CA because 'she knows zoning laws' (I have an STR license from my city).  I wished her well in finding accommodations that would fit her budget and didn't engage with her further. I'm 99% positive she would have been a headache had she stayed in my listing.

The experience that tops the cake was a guest who broke ALL my rules (every. single. one.) and gave me a poor review.  I fought hard with Airbnb to take it down despite the clear evidence we provided. It should not have been this hard and yet it took perseverence on our part to get them to do it.  (MULTIPLE calls and tickets to Airbnb.)

All of this is mentally exhausting as a host.  I'm not a hotel chain that will take guest abuse, I'm an Airbnb host who has opened a portion of my home so that guests could enjoy a neighborhood feel.  I feel like the expectations of guests have changed now that the company has gone public and people started complaining about fees.  Some days I do question if I want to continue to be a host on Airbnb.