Malicious offensive message from guest

[Rachel417]

Hi everyone 

I’ve been hosting since 2017 and I wanted to ask if anyone has had an experience of receiving a lengthy highly offensive message with comments (such as,  wishing her refund money pays my hospital bills’ ) from a guest and how you dealt with it.
Recently I had a guest who booked nine days on day seven she messaged to say the apartment was too cold - I messaged her to explain how to turn it up, and that the instructions were also next to the thermostat - long story short after making several attempts to contact her with how to resolve the issue she sent me a message saying she’d reprogrammed the thermostat! And then requested an 80% refund claiming my home was unliveable and that she felt uncomfortable that I had contacted her so many times and I had violated Airbnb rules - after challenging her refund request her refund was refused.  However, she has now left me a 1 star review (all the others are 5) claiming there are rats, the house smells, it is an unsafe location that I kept the heating deliberately low the list is too long but this experience has been absolutely shocking and very upsetting for me and that there is no filter on what a guest can write makes me feel there is no protection on this platform , her highly personal comments about me I thought at least would be investigated but it seems a guest can write whatever they wish - Airbnb has upheld her review stating it cannot be removed even though it’s clear it’s been written with malicious intent. 
I clearly have to respond to her review but I’m actually really anxious she’ll send me another hateful message 

I’d be very grateful to hear from anyone on this subject 

Thank you 

Rachel 

[Gabriel6358]

Hi Rachel ,

I am a guest in Australia and also professional reviewer. I realize this is distressing and see your point of view. Unfortunatly once reviews are up it's very diffcult as to remove it. Most comments go through a checker which is AI and often fail , saying the content meets the guidelines. I've had to do one star reviews that really have had rats and mice , even roaches and thats pretty terrible. I guess the best thing I can say is you have 5 of 5 stars reviews. People read reviews weighing up the good and the bad and it sounds like your ahead with the good postive. It most likely sounds this guest is being spiteful and mean , and sometimes they do 1 star so they can get thier money back. But if you have policies then you should be fine. I'm really sorry you had to put up with this but hey 1 star is not the end of the world. Keep hosting and if I'm in UK London I'll be sure to look you up and review. Take care and Keep smiling,

[Rachel417]

Hi @Gabriel6358 

Thanks for your email - and your thoughts on this issue, I have finally completed my response. 
Thanks again Rachel

[Patricia2526]

Hi @Rachel417 

To report a guest’s message, simply press and hold the message you want to report. A menu will appear just tap “Report” and follow the prompts to submit the issue to Airbnb. This helps Airbnb review inappropriate or concerning messages quickly.

[Rachel417]

Thanks @Patricia2526  this was very helpful 

[Emiel1]

i have read the review.

You shoul write a comment, but keep in mind  your "audience"  are your future guests.

The review is mainly about the heating, so i think it is easy to ensure future guest that "problem" will be solved.

She did not mention the house smells.

About the remaiing issues it is not easy to say something about it, as there is no proof or it is subjective ("feeling unsave in the dark outside"). But none of the other guests did experience this issues (all 5 stars)

This guest has been a host too (2022-2023), so she knows which damage a 1-star review will cause.

As @Patricia2526 stated inappropriate messages can be reported, but also there is an option to block the guest from further communication.

[Rachel417]

Hi Emiel 

Thanks for this yes it’s been a pretty awful experience -there seems to be no protection of what a guest can write in their private note however  abusive which I think goes against the principles of Airbnb 

thanks again Rachel