Retaliatory 1-Star Review After Guest Was Cancelled by Airbnb for Policy Violation

[Courtney784]

Hi everyone,

I could really use some help or advice from a Community Manager.

We recently had a guest whose reservation Airbnb cancelled shortly after check-in due to a clear violation of our no smoking policy — the hallway and unit reeked of marijuana within two hours of arrival. Additionally, the reservation was for 4 people and there were 5 in the unit (likely to evade our $25 per person additional fee for stays exceeding 4 guests). We reported it immediately, and Airbnb Support confirmed the violation and informed the guest that her booking was cancelled, instructing her to leave. 

Unfortunately, after the cancellation, the guest was still able to leave a retaliatory 1-star review filled with false information. This has badly impacted our Superhost status and rating, even though Airbnb agreed that the guest broke house rules and ended the stay early.

I’ve already reached out through Support to request removal under the Review Policy (biased/retaliatory content) including footage from our outdoor camera of the guest walking in with a lit joint, but so far our requests have been denied and we are now unable to submit anything further or escalate the request. It seems inconsistent for a guest who was removed for violating house rules to be allowed to leave a damaging review afterward.

We’ve worked really hard to obtain our Superhost status and have all 5-star reviews otherwise. It’s disheartening to have a review like this stand when the issue was clearly caused by a rule-breaking guest retaliating against the consequences.

Any guidance or escalation help would be so appreciated. Thanks!

-Courtney & Mike

[Melissa3029]

Hi Courtney and Mike,

I had a scammer arrive and plant fake photos of black hairs (from the dogs they brought with them most likely) they wanted a full refund after being there for 2 hours and sending photos of red smeared on the bathroom wall and a knife smeared (which admittedly the cleaner may have missed one knife in a full kitchen) but would never allow hairs in the sheets or lots of red stuff on the shower all... it was a clear scam.  She then did a claim for a full refund one day after departure which was rejected by airbnb after much writing and documenting by me.

airbnb would have liked time dated photos of before the clean to show it was clean.  The next guest who checked in the day this one departed gave a 5 star review and actually mentioned the word "spotless" in the review.  

This woman left it until the last 24 hours to do the review ie 13 days... hoping I would not see it maybe and not leave her a review, she obviously has big plan to do this again in the future.

Anyway they rejected my first request to have the review removed even though it is a retaliation, I have rang up and complained and they sent me a second review removal request (apparently you only get tow shots at getting it removed so ring the airbnb support line and get the link and do it again.  I included supporting document an affidavit from the cleaner and the details of the claim she made.

the first review was obviously reviews by AI as a human would not have returned it so quickly as not approved.  So go back and do it again it might get to a human.