Pick Your Poison: Reimbursement or Negative Review?

[Adelline1]

I wanted to share a very frustrating experience and hear your thoughts - and perhaps help other hosts avoid the same trap.

Recently, we had a group of guests who broke not one, but two hair dryers during their stay. We have photos of the damage, including the plug stuck in the outlet, and even had to call a technician to repair it.
Our villa manager politely asked the guests about reimbursement upon checkout. They ignored the request, spoke in a language our staff couldn’t understand, and left.

Shortly after, they left a very negative review — complaining about the “broken hair dryer” that they themselves broke.

We filed a damage claim with Airbnb, which was approved (so Airbnb agrees the guests were responsible).

But when we asked for the review to be removed - providing all our proof - Airbnb refused, saying the review “reflects the guest’s experience.”

This puts hosts in a terrible position:

• If we ask for reimbursement, we risk a retaliatory review - which is nearly impossible to remove even with proof.

• If we don’t ask for reimbursement, we absorb the cost.

It feels like we have to choose between protecting our property or protecting our review score.

Some hosts are waiting until the very last minute of the review window to file a claim, so there’s no time for retaliation - but that means we’d have to track every check-out manually and time it perfectly. That’s not realistic when running multiple villas.

I really think Airbnb needs to take retaliatory reviews more seriously - otherwise, we are incentivized to just “pretend everything is perfect,” encourage the guest to leave a nice review, and then only afterwards file a damage claim.
This feels wrong, but it seems like the only way to avoid punishment for enforcing the rules.

How do you all handle this?
Do you delay damage claims to avoid retaliation?

Do you just take the hit when guests break things?
Or do you risk the review and fight with Airbnb afterwards?

Curious to hear your strategies - I can’t be the only one frustrated by this situation.

[Adelline1]

I wanted to provide an update after speaking with Airbnb support again, this time on the phone with a senior case manager (Gaurav M.).

He confirmed verbally what we all know — that reviews must be truthful and cannot be retaliatory. I then pointed out that:

• We have proof that the guests broke two hair dryers (half of the power plug was still stuck in the socket and had to be repaired by our technician).

• Airbnb granted our reimbursement claim, meaning they agreed that the guests caused the damage.

• The negative review was left after we asked for reimbursement and contains false statements such as:

  • Claiming there was no power outlet in the bathroom (we have a photo clearly showing there is one right next to the mirror).

  • Implying the toilet is outdoors (photos of the villa clearly show it is a regular indoor bathroom).

So by Airbnb’s own definition, this is a retaliatory and factually inaccurate review.

And yet - despite acknowledging this on the phone - the case manager still told me that the review will not be removed.

This is exactly the problem many of us are facing:

• Airbnb confirms the rules (reviews must be accurate, not retaliatory).

• Airbnb confirms the facts (guest broke the item, reimbursement granted).

• But Airbnb refuses to enforce the rules when we clearly prove a violation.

At this point I am left asking:
Are we, as hosts, supposed to just absorb damages and say nothing, for fear of a retaliatory review? Or should we pretend everything is fine, encourage a glowing review, and then file a claim afterward?
Both options feel wrong - but right now, it seems those are the only two choices Airbnb leaves us.

Has anyone here ever had success in getting a clearly retaliatory review removed after a reimbursement claim was granted — especially when there is hard proof that the review contains false statements?

[Elaine701]

@Adelline1 

Obtuse customer service behaviour seems to be common amongst the platforms, and many other service industries. For example;

A Family Pays 1,800 Euros for a Rental in Spain — On Arrival, There’s No House. They Called Booking, but “The Calls Were Cut Off”

https://indiandefencereview.com/a-family-pays-1800-euros-for-a-rental-in-spain-on-arrival-theres-no-...

I would expect that the consequences would be damaging for these businesses, but it just seems to get worse and worse. And apparently the shift to AI is only making it worse. 

It seems you need to establish your own protection methods. 

[Marie8425]

@Adelline1 

Reading the review, here are your problems.

Guest "1 Hairdryer broken"  "Multiple notifications to Host" Host provided "2nd hairdryer to replace broken hair dryer" a replacement unless Host identifies else is believed to be a Host Failure.  Guest states Host employee was notified 2nd hair dryer not functioning,  Host employee the House keeper  responded as to accept blame replacement tomorrow not why?  

If you are aware during the stay of a  Guest possible issue and you don't document then, you are in a catch 22.

I would suggest not all Guests are a pain, but maybe in the future I do something like this when I suspect maybe bad intentions.  Tell your Housekeeper next time " Wow, 2 hairdryers how unusual.  Something odd like that  my STR requires I do a visual check to make sure just a minor issue.  I really appreciate you, the Guest feedback. Insurance rules can't have a paying Guest review property." Gets me in the property, and your Housekeeper would of  seen and take pictures (for my STR) of the outlet during the stay.  My STR doesn't get involved every time I have a pain, I just mention insurance company blame them not me.

[Adelline1]

Hi @Marie8425 ,

thank you for your detailed response and suggestions – I completely agree that documenting issues during the stay is very important.

In this case, we actually did document everything:

• The first broken hairdryer was reported by the guests and documented in the chat.

• We have photos showing the broken plug stuck inside the outlet, which had to be repaired by a technician. This we submitted with the claim.

• The second hair dryer was tested personally before placing it in the villa and it broke exactly the same way as the first. (I aussume, they dried their hair in front of the TV and someone stepped on the cable - the power plug under the TV was used and had the remains of the plug left inside - European plugs)

We submitted all this proof to Airbnb when we requested reimbursement. Airbnb granted our damage claim promptly, confirming that the guests were responsible for breaking the hairdryer.

The frustrating part is that even after Airbnb confirmed the guest broke our property, they still allowed the guest’s review to stay online - a review that blames us for providing a broken hairdryer and even falsely claims there is “no outlet in the bathroom.”

So the issue here isn’t really about lack of documentation - we had that - but rather about Airbnb refusing to remove a review that is clearly inaccurate and retaliatory (since we asked for reimbursement at checkout).

It feels like, as hosts, we are left with two bad choices:

• Don’t claim damages to avoid a negative review, or

• Claim damages and risk a retaliatory review that Airbnb will not remove, even with proof.

That’s the “pick your poison” problem I’m trying to raise.

How do you and other hosts handle this? Do you just accept the loss to protect your ratings, or do you go through with claims knowing this might happen?