How to respond to a retaliatory review?

[Carrie234]

Hello all, I need your valuable opinions! Last week we hosted a family that was new to Air and it turned out to be a regrettable experience! They flooded the bathroom in the suite, cleaned up the mess with our bath towels. They then bagged up the towels and threw them in the outside garbage. We werent home when they check out and I discovered this when I went to clean. They didn't respond to any of my messages so I escalated it to Air. They also didn't respond to any othe Air's messages so they reimbursed me for the extensive cleaning required. I am still waiting for a decision on the request for replacing the towels. I will post my review once a decision has been made

In the meantime, I receive the dreaded email that they left me a review. The nerve!!! I took a few days to calm down but now I am preparing my review as well as my reply to their review. I have already contacted Air about removing the review but they said it has to be posted before they can review my request to remove it. 

Here is what I came up with so far.

My review for them:

​"Proceed with extreme caution if you decide to host [GUEST NAMES] & their kids. They plugged our toilet, flooded the bathroom and cleaned up the mess with our bath towels. Then they bagged up the towels and put them in the driveway garbage bins. No mention whatsoever of any issues during their stay so we didn’t have the opportunity to help with the flooded bathroom. Zero communication about what happened (after numerous messages were sent).   We did not enjoy having to replace the towels and spend excessive amounts of time cleaning, disinfecting and odor removal. Hopefully other hosts can avoid the same problems we had with these people." There is so much more I could say but I don't want to seem like I'm going on & on. Thoughts? 

My reply to their review:

"This proved to be our most challenging hosting experience to date. [GUEST NAMES] liked their stay much less after we asked them to reimburse us for the damages they caused during their stay. They flooded our bathroom, cleaned up the mess with our bath towels then threw the towels outside in the garbage. We received zero response after numerous attempts to communicate with them. We definitely would have dropped everything to help but we were not given that opportunity. All of the other issues (cleanliness, lack of communication and additional guests at check-in) were overlooked as we wanted them to enjoy their vacation. We take pride in hosting a great stay for every guest & all of our 5-star ratings didn't come by accident."

I don't want my review taken down for any reason so I am being selective of what I say.

What do you think?

[Carrie234]

@Fiona243 that's a good strategy

[Rowena29]

@Lisa, @Carrie35 Already lots of good advice here so I won't muddy the waters further, except to say, that as a host, I use air review  when looking at guests who have booked into my place. this shows me the review guests have left other hosts, and ALSO any host  responses to the guest review.  (This can be very illuminating.)  So it's not always just future guests that see your responses, some future hosts probalby will too.

Although in this instance, it's moot really as I have no doubt you will be giving them a thumbs down and your review of them will speak volumes.

Regards

[Sarah977]

@Ian-And-Anne-Marie0  "To say we were relieved when you left...."

I wouldn''t use that wording- I'd say "To say we were relieved when these guests left...."

It's a subtle, but I feel, important difference. The response speaks to future guests, it shouldn't be addressed directly to the reviewing guest, who obviously won't care or will just be further angered. They're gone, never to darken @Carrie234's doorstep again. To state it personally can look vindictive and aggressive to future guests, whereas using "these guests" means future guests can distance themselves mentally from the bad guests if they are confident that they are respectful people.

[Ian-And-Anne-Marie0]

@Sarah977 

Great minds think alike. I edited at the same time you posted to make it less personal as @Carrie234 was unaware of any activity at the house.

I changed from 'we were' to 'the house'

"These guests were the worst. We take pride in hosting a great stay for every guest & all of our 5-star ratings just didn't come by accident. The house sighed with relief when you left would be an understatement" 

[Sarah977]

@Ian-And-Anne-Marie0  Still missed not using "you" 🙂

"The house sighed with relief when these guests left."

[Ian-And-Anne-Marie0]

@Sarah977 

More like this you mean?

"These guests were the worst. We take pride in hosting a great stay for every guest & all of our 5-star ratings just didn't come by accident. To say the house sighed with relief when these guests left would be an understatement!" 

[Lisa723]

@Carrie234 @Ian-And-Anne-Marie0 @Sarah977 @Angelyn1 

Styles differ, of course. My own preference is to basically not comment at all on the guests themselves but only their review. Why would a future guest care that some previous guest was "the worst?" I wouldn't mention the guest or their behavior at all, except insofar as is necessary to refute any false claims. i.e. I'm not looking at it as a trial where the future guest is the judge/jury. Whatever happened is over and why should they care? I only want to relieve them of any worry that whatever false claims are made in the review might be true.

[Sarah977]

@Lisa723  I totally agree. What I was mostly trying to get across was that "you" statements come across as aggressive and accusatory and prompt defensive or apprehensive feelings- "Is she going to rake me publicly over the coals like that, too?"

Whereas stating facts and expressing how "I" felt about something is neutral and can't be objected to. 

"It makes me feel so overwhelmed and exhausted to come home after work to find that no one has done their chores and that there is no clean space for me to prepare dinner" is much more likely to ellicit an "I'm sorry, Mom, I'll do it right now" than "You're so lazy and self-centered, you don't even appreciate how hard I work all day."

[Ian-And-Anne-Marie0]

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@Lisa723 wrote:

@Carrie234 @Ian-And-Anne-Marie0 @Sarah977 @Angelyn1 

Styles differ, of course. My own preference is to basically not comment at all on the guests themselves but only their review. Why would a future guest care that some previous guest was "the worst?" I wouldn't mention the guest or their behavior at all, except insofar as is necessary to refute any false claims. i.e. I'm not looking at it as a trial where the future guest is the judge/jury. Whatever happened is over and why should they care? I only want to relieve them of any worry that whatever false claims are made in the review might be true.

---

@Carrie234 @Sarah977 @Lisa723 @Angelyn1 

Ok, challenge accepted... 🙂 As yet we don't know about the guest review but based on the information @Carrie234 provided in her proof review how bad can it be? I've written a SPOOF Guest Review to test everybody's theories. Maybe if we compile an answer then we can see how this pans out? (appologies to @Carrie234 this review is totally fictional,  I hope it might help).

FICTIONAL GUEST REVIEW:

"We have just had the most horrendous experience at a holiday residence we have ever had. This is our first Airbnb experience - and never, NEVER again!!

The plumbing in this place was terrible, constantly flooding, it was a health hazzard. The host was not on hand to help as we sent numerous messages to them from our sons' phone as ours had broken after trying to charge it in a dodgy socket in the Lounge. We got no reply and we were left to clean up foul drain waste. We had even paid for cleaning and nobody turned up all week! This is not the sort of service we expect to receive when we are so far away from home and my kids were almost in tears about the state of the place. Obviously high standards vary greatly between country and country and we shudder at the idea of previous guests’ standards of living.

There was not even a bucket to clear up the flooding waste, never mind an aqua-vac ! The place was a swimming pigsty. The only way of cleaning was to use the house towels we had after using them all week - without a change - for our stay. The towels were so disgusting at the end of the week we had to bin them when we left. (And later we were even charged for them!!!)

Then to top it all off when we got home and fixed our phone, we were inundated by a flood of abusive messages wanting payment for this and paying for that! We are beaten to a pulp after this experience and so totally, totally want it to go away. We don't want to even talk about it anymore. We're so upset!

DO NOT STAY HERE. DO NOT STAY AT ANY BNB . STAY AT HOME! "

Reply's welcome!

[Mike1034]

@Ian-And-Anne-Marie0Nicely written! I am afraid that this type of reviews have been around to some unfortunate hosts.

Reviews from other guests showing track of records are crucial and prove the review written like this is a lie and false.

It is really not an easy job for hosts managing Airbnb properties and guests. Fortunately most guests appreciate a host's efforts and devotion. That encourages hosts to continue their good work with passion.

[Ian-And-Anne-Marie0]

@Mike1034 

Nicely written! I am afraid that this type of reviews have been around to some unfortunate hosts.

Thank you. I worried myself I was being too true to life. I worried that my excuses could actually be true and the guest could really be justified somehow. I worried that the review could actually be believable. I still do to a certain extent because the excusesI made could actually be plausible.  I did have some specific objections to work with however which I specifically tried to justify.

I will point out that I'm not one to leave negative reviews as a guest because normally I'm so greatful for somebody else doing the bedding and the tidying up that I don't ever complain. I've stayed in some hell holes but been really greatful! Anne-Marie normally does the reviews, but normally only to compliment. I thik I should be a bit more vocal in the future.

I do know without any unfaultering doubt that any hosts airing concerns like @Carrie234  did with their background of hosting would not allow such a scenario to prevail. It just wouldn't happen. Even to be a victim of such contrived circumstances would somehow have been averted  by now by either @Carrie234 or ABB, so any review in the pipeline will really just be retaliatory.

Interesting excercise though, putting yourself on the side of the guest.

[Sarah977]

@Ian-And-Anne-Marie0   Yep.

[Sarah977]

@Ian-And-Anne-Marie0  Hilarious. Unfortunately some guests actually write reviews like this. My response would be: "This is a retaliatory review resulting from the guests being asked to pay for extensive cleaning and replacement of destroyed towels after plugging the toilet, failing to communicate with the host, and disappearing without a word. Our other reviews give a true picture of what to expect when choosing our listing."

[Lisa723]

@Ian-And-Anne-Marie0 @Sarah977 I would only change "plugging the toilet" to "clogging the plumbing"

[Carrie234]

@Sarah977 I like this response and I will try to incorporate into the reply! Thanks!