Peculiar AirBnB policy about revenge reviews evaluation…

[Don-And-Emily0]

We are new to AirBnB and had a nice streak of excellent guests until we rented to a very young man without reviews.

He turned our home into a frat party house! He brought in extra guests (we caught him on camera) and huge amounts of alcohol, smoked behind the house, damaged our new jacuzzi, broke a door screen and then stole robes and towels…etc 

At the end of his stay he said he really liked the house and would like to return, however, after we confronted him about the stolen items he got angry and left a lengthy malicious 2 star review full of lies.

We have asked AirBnB customer service 5 times to please remove his review to no avail, and each time they come back with the SAME cookie cutter reply: “his review does not violate the AirBnB review guide lines”

What we don’t understand is the narrow-minded  AirBnB policy of ONLY looking at how a Guest WRITES rather than how a guest BEHAVES  in our homes.

We have an excellent 5 star track record with our guests and as you all know, a lot of effort goes into that. We work really hard and strived to offer a top notch product to our guests and to AirBnB. 

This particular guest has contributed NOTHING to the AirBnB community and yet his revenge review is allowed to stand.

The obvious question is: why is AirBnB not looking at the entire picture with some perspective, taking into consideration both parties’ track record, and they only make a call on whether somebody writes within their set guidelines??

Are we to believe that guests can break the house rules and vandalize our property but if they “write pretty” they are off the hook and there are no consequences for their behavior?!

We feel we brought value to the AirBnB experience, but someone who has done nothing is allowed to negatively impact our ability to rent our property going forward. How does that help us or anybody in case?

Airbnb needs to review this policy and do better. As hosts, we don’t feel supported or appreciated in this “partnership”. We have one more (return) guest and after that we will take down our listing unfortunately. 

Thank you for reading.

[Don-And-Emily0]

@Dave52  It is now at 747 views. I did tag the CEO and one other person and I will also write them email before I go. 

When faced with Revenge Reviews they need to change their policies and maybe have an actual AirBnB employee look at the big picture rather than someone from a calling center who reads from a teleprompter.  They are all nice, but they don’t seem to have  the authority to make complex decisions.

I called them again today and still haven’t heard back from them. So no news is good news for now. Maybe it means that they are really looking at the case. 

let’s hope so…

[Dave52]

@Don-And-Emily0  Will be interested to know your outcome.  You're right, the people in airbnb CS are very nice, but have no ability to remove a review.  They follow scripts and flowcharts and are not allowed to use discretion.  I can understand, its an outsourced company anyway.

BUT what is needed, as many hosts have requested, is a special group to handle *only* revenge reviews. 

A revenge review should be easy to spot by looking at the message trail, damage claim, etc.  NOT to be confused with what some hosts might call an 'unfair review' which frankly is subject to interpretation because you are dealing with opinions.  I have no problem with that, it's the guest opinion vs. my opinion.  

Revenge reviews are totally different.  They are NOT opinions.  They are payback by a guest who wasn't allowed to destroy a place without consequences.  They represent a tiny fraction of overall reviews, yet 1 revenge review can damage a listing, especially a new listing.  

Revenge reviews make hosts reluctant to enforce rules against parties. 

IF airbnb is serious about banning parties, they need to ban revenge reviews.

[Ute42]

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@Don-And-Emily0 

Unfortenately I have no advice for You how to better Your situation, but I have something else to say.

In the thread „How hard is it to become a host“

https://community.withairbnb.com/t5/Host-Circle/How-hard-is-it-to-become-a-host/m-p/1448090

@Anonymous  had posted an article from Skift Magazine.

https://skift.com/2021/05/13/airbnb-posts-1-2-billion-loss-and-turns-attention-to-expected-supply-demand-mismatch/

In said article Airbnb says, they want to make it easier to become a host on airbnb, they are urgently looking for new hosts and their listings to meet the expected demand for the upcoming summerseason.

2 days ago, the German government lifted the touristic rental ban starting May 21st. I have immediately opened up my calendar on another platform for the dates thursday june 3 to june 6. Thursday june 3 is a holliday in Germany, this is a „long“ weekend and one of the most sought after rentaldates in Germany. It took just 3 hours, and the first booking request came in.

I did not open these dates in my airbnb calendar though. Why? Well, the same thing that happened to You may happen to me as well and I don't need that. I always have an uneasy feeling when opening dates in the airbnb calendar, my thinking always is: „Will this go well?“.

I'm not sure if airbnb will get many new host for their platform with the way they treat us. I think the word is out: As a host on airbnb, You always loose against a guest.

What's the consequence? Well, sell Your dates elsewhere.

Cc: @Ann72 @Elaine701 @Lisa723 @Colleen253 @Mike-And-Jane0 @Sarah977 @Angelica-Y-Jorge0 @Holly142 @Dave52 @James2566 @Stephanie 

[Anonymous]

@Don-And-Emily0   Any guest who would choose not to book your home on the basis of that review is probably not the kind of guest you wanted to host anyway. It conveys that your home is every bit as nice as advertised but that you are not a doormat who can be messed around with by people who disrespect your home. 

I would be less likely to book a place with only 9 perfect reviews and no critical ones, especially if the listing made everything sound too perfect. The skeptic in me just says "yeah yeah, what's the catch?" The not-so-great reviews can be rough on the ego, but they can also help refine your clientele. If I'm on the fence about trying a new restaurant, and I find reviews complaining that the food was "way too spicy," I'll book a table immediately. 

[Don-And-Emily0]

Thank you @Anonymous 

I like your point of view.  The problem with this nice home is that it was never meant to be rented. It is furnished with things that are too nice for a rental property. 

It has been in our family for years but now we all go up less and less so we decided to share it with the AirBnB community.

The problem we are faced with now is that we have to let our team of workers go because we no longer have rentals which is sad.

We employ 2 cleaning ladies, a handy man, a gardener and occasionally a plumber and an electrician…. The house is big and there are a lot of things that need to be maintained when it’s being used.

The fact that a bad revenge review affects so many people is completely lost on @AirBnB and it is so unfair. 

Thanks for your note

kind regards  

[Rich-and-Yan0]

@Don-And-Emily0 There's not much to add to this conversation that hasn't already been stated by other hosts, but we will just quickly add that if you have all 5-star reviews except for this one bad one, then it shouldn't take too long before things are back to normal for you. 

We have some friends in Portugal whose two lovely apartments we have stayed in on two different occasions, and they had a similar experience last year when a guest came, roughed up their place from what they suspected was partying, and left broken furniture behind when they checked out. They contacted Airbnb about the broken furniture but felt like they were not being given much assistance or sympathy. However, because Airbnb did ask the guest about it, that person retaliated by leaving them a bad review. 

Obviously, they were very upset, but they did reply to that guest's review with their own version of what happened so that other potential guests could read both sides of the story. That, along with all their many 5-star reviews from previous rentals, seems to have been enough to persuade future guests that their place was fine, because they have been renting steadily ever since.

So, that's something that you may consider: leaving a reply to that guest's review, which you should be able to do. Be sure that you avoid any libellous or bitter-sounding text. Just write the facts. This is what happened, this is what you said when you checked out, and the above is what you wrote after we had complained about your partying and about our items having gone missing. If you keep it factual and courteous, then Airbnb shouldn't block it, and potential future guests will be able to see this review for what it really is.

We hope this helps. Good luck. 

[Sarah977]

@Rich-and-Yan0  Good advice, but he did leave a response. You can click on any host's profile photo here and go to their listing and see their reviews and responses.

[Don-And-Emily0]

@Rich-and-Yan0 

Hi - and thanks for writing. 

We did leave a review but we were just told it is “hidden” as per our request. We never made such request because that would defeat the purpose of a review.

Thanks for sharing your friend’s experience. It seems like almost every host has a similar story or two followed by the typical lack of support from @AirBnB 

I wonder if they think hosts are supposed to take hit after hit from misbehaving guests and keep on making our homes available to the world. It sure seems like they don’t care.

We really appreciate everybody sharing their knowledge and experience here. There is a lot to take away.

Yesterday we filled yet another request to have this revenge review taken down, it is number 6 or 7, not sure… we lost count.  The lovely CSR said she would call me right back… that was 24 hours ago.

We brought up the new Party Rule which @Catherine-Powell introduced last year. Our guest Youssef threw himself quite a party in our home for two days. 

One of his guests photographed the front of our house to locate the surveillance camera.

Then, when it got dark outside, they brought in extra guests  through 2 side windows where there are no cameras…. they left a huge number of empty liqueur bottles behind and alcohol stains all around over our living and dining room. Based on what they left behind we a Youssef had 15-20 people in our home and his reservation was for 6 

It is perplexing how AirBnB protects people like Youssef who will most likely go on to do this to another host in the future. Their loyalty is loud and clear! @Brian-Chesky

Thanks again for chiming in. 

[Rich-and-Yan0]

@Don-And-Emily0 Yes, we did read through your original post as well as your other replies to other hosts yesterday, and so we definitely got a full sense of your experience. It sounds horrible and we do feel for the both of you. However, as we were trying to emphasise yesterday, you should be able to restore your reputation quite quickly after the coming tourist season when more good reviews come in. You sound like conscientious hosts, and so we are confident that things will work out for you after you get more renters in.

Oh, and @Sarah977 was right: you did leave a review for the guests, and we did see that. What we were trying to say, but did not make clear, is that you have the option of leaving a reply to his review, which will appear directly under what he wrote. This is separate from your own review of the guest, and it will give potential guests a chance to read the full story so that they understand what REALLY happened. That is what our friends in Portugal did, and it must have worked, because as we mentioned in our previous reply, they have had guests staying at their place ever since--and with a whole series of 5-star reviews from those subsequent guests, their average has remained high enough to allow them to keep their Superhost status.

We hope this is more helpful, and sorry for not clarifying what we meant the first time. We hope that everything works out and that, most of all, you don't let this one bad experience consume you. As you have already noted, most guests are indeed good people, and as for Airbnb, we have actually more good CS experiences than bad ones. Mind you, it hasn't all been good, but we have been fortunate enough to have had a couple of agents who went above and beyond to resolve our problems. Hopefully your future experiences with them will be better as well.

[Sarah977]

@Rich-and-Yan0  I said he left a response 🙂

We can all see it- it's right under the guest's review. 

[Jo56]

@Don-And-Emily0 

I'm afraid that this is an old, ongoing, never supported issue that hosts have to face. 

Other Hosts will always pitch in with "helpful" comments every time this comes up, but the reality is - no change will come of it. Airbnb is stubbornly and intentionally ignorant to any form of support for hosts with regards to 'revenge reviews'. They simply want to keep guests on the platform, hosts and their personal properties be damned, and I suspect that the CS reps are highly incentivised to deflect and ignore.

This new pointless talk of removal of retaliatory reviews around the "party ban" issue is the most ignorant waste of time and money, as it's only indicating support for the outdated idea of waiting for a problem to occur before (pretending) to offer support by saying they will remove a revenge review.... and it remains to be seen if they will ever stand by their own policies. 

The hosts who are proactive from the front end, working to prevent problems at the outset with clear guest/ host expectations, and thereby working to maintain a GOOD name for Airbnb in their neighbourhoods, are still ignored when there is an issue with guests breaking 'house rules' set in place to prevent parties in the first place. The pandemic has also sadly brought out some incredibly manipulative and entitled guests, playing on hosts' financial pressures and without care for property. 

As with your experience, and our own, Airbnb will NEVER support hosts by taking down a "revenge review", whether with an obviously 'outlier' star rating of 1 or 2 stars, or whether the review is filled with outright lies which can be proven by (publicly noted) security camera footage or includes defamatory comments. Most hosts don't seem to realise that all policies are all backed up with disclaimers noting that CS reps can simply default to saying that they "don't believe" that policies have been violated.

"Additionally, reviews may be removed from the platform for stays where a significant violation of the Party and Events Policy has taken place."

"When we receive a report of a review that violates this policy, we may remove the review from our platform."

MAY not WILL. One little word makes the world of difference @Catherine-Powell 

[Don-And-Emily0]

Hi @Jo56 and thank you for writing in. Your note re-affirms our decision to leave the platform at the end of the month if we don’t get a fair resolution from @AirBnB CS @Catherine-Powell 

Our case is still under review, going on 48 hours now, so dare I say there is still a small chance they will do the right thing.

It is hard to wrap our minds around the fact that a smart group of people who run AirBnB, willingly turn their backs on hard working Hosts in favor of misbehaving Guests who mistreat our properties and leave revenge reviews when confronted.

It defies business logic that this practice is being allowed to exist, yet here we are. 

We are looking at other platforms like VRBO, Booking and Expedia to list our properties. (We have 3)

Thanks again for writing. Your track record is very impressive. 

[Elaine701]

@Don-And-Emily0 

Yes, it's very frustrating. We've had similar experiences and are, also in the process of ramping up our listings on other platforms. 

However, you should be aware that Airbnb is not the only platform delivering substandard guests (not always, but increasingly so). I can tell you from first hand experience that VRBO also delivers a poor quality of guest. And their host support, in our experience, is no better than Airbnb. 

Booking.com is another animal altogether. It offers everything. Flights, hotels, excursions. Anything bookabke. There is little, if any personal connection. It's just a booking machine. You're obliged to accept any guest that books your property (it's all instant book, no interaction between host and guest). And guests are obliged to accept whatever they book. There simply is no "host support" At all. 

We (relisted) on VRBO about 6mos ago, after quitting them several years ago after a stream of horrible guests.

So far, we've received ONE booking. Otherwise, nothing. The one booking is in August. It was this booking that brought my attention to the numerous additional charges VRBO adds on, such as "payment processing" and "booking insurance". I've never received any response from VRBO when I've inquired what these charges are for. Others here on this forum, who are, also listed on VRBO have graciously provided some explanation of those charges, but VRBO has never responded to any ticket I've ever opened.

Also, as we have no reviews or history on VRBO, we're relegated to something below page 60 in search results, so it's doubtful we'll see much activity anytime soon. 

So, think carefully about your exit strategy. We're focusing less on Airbnb, and more on other platforms, but it'll take a couple years to eliminate Airbnb entirely. In the mean time, we're unfortunately still largely dependent on Airbnb. For now. 

After years of a great relationship with Airbnb, as it now descends into mediocrity, with declining quality of guests and declining host support, we've learned some important lessons about vetting guests, and nonexistent support. We have no illusions that any other platform will be any better. But we're better prepared now.

And like you, we feel sidelined, insulted, and frankly, cheated, by a company we helped establish here (we were among the first Airbnb's in the Balearic islands, and have a pretty stellar history, and over the years, have been one of airbnb's loudest cheerleaders here). But that time is over. Airbnb isn't what it used to be, and we're moving on. But it's important to be realistic and pragmatic about it. 

[Elisabeth40]

@Don-And-Emily0 

I had same experiences too. My recent was couple month ago, as a guest violated my house rules and ignored the max guest capacity on the place I rent, brought a friend to stay on a not extendable couch. I even was on a phone with an airbnb service team, tried to cancel her booking, no chance. In the morning woke up and my entire place was pepper sprayed. Me and my second guest needed to run out of my place on a street and didn't even knew what this spray was, we were scared. I basically risked 1 star review from a guest, for me being angry about being pepper sprayed wile asleep. Couple month later I went on this guests profile and the guests changed her pic to a man picture and a man name and she got more reviews after me, where hosts complained about her behaviors. Air Bnb still doesn't takes down her 1 star review. Well what I do always is videos of my place prior every guests arrival, I film everything, I never confront guests anymore about anything, when they leave I check on everything again. This is how you can proof the damage. Sometimes I ask the guests to go with me on a video and let het count the towels and the robes and slippers and say everything they want. 

[Liv]

Hi @Don-And-Emily0,

I'm really sorry to hear about that situation.

I asked the CS team about your case and I was told a Support Ambassador is currently working on it. They should get in touch with you soon.

I hope this helps and that the issue is resolved shortly.

Please do keep us updated and let me know if I can help with anything else.

Thanks,
Liv