So Frustrating...
I had a guest reserve our Private Suite for 1 guest, for 2 nights. When confirming his reservation, and also confirming he read and agreed to our House Rules and Policies, the guest messaged me and wrote: "Hello, Yes I’ve read and understood everything, the number of people we have is 5 people and the extra guest is my little son that is 2 and a half years old, I hope that’s fine but if you want us to pay extra there’s no problem in that." So, he knew our policies with regard to an extra guest. However, he lied about that as well as he actually brought 6 guests which we do not allow. I contacted Airbnb immediately and they contacted the guest. Because there were young children, it was late at night, and it was only for 2 nights, I allowed them to stay as long as they paid the additional nightly fee. He responded to Airbnb the next morning, refused to pay the extra fee, told Airbnb he wanted to cancel, and asked for a refund. I refused. They left at 1:30 pm.
He never paid the fee but left a 1-star review with such fraudulent claims it's glaring. He claimed he did not know about the extra fees, that our listing was actually a small garage, and 1 small room and bathroom, no air conditioning, and checked every box he could in the details section. He said we were money hungry yet never mentioned he brought an unauthorized 6th guest.
Our listing is a 2 bedroom, 1 bath Private Suite with central air conditioning and full use of the attached garage which was made into a Mancave/Game Room.
His review is retaliatory as we contacted Airbnb with doorbell video proof to resolve it and he was aksed to pay for the additional guests. He violated our Policies as well as Airbnb's. From the Airbnb Review Policy link it states, “Hosts and guests can only leave reviews for stays that have been booked and paid for on Airbnb.
1) He did not pay for the extra guest
Airbnb's Review Policy states "However, reviews do need to be honest and relate to a genuine reservation and may be removed if they violate our Reviews Policy. In short, this means that a review may be removed. Reviews may not contain explicit, discriminatory, harmful, fraudulent, illegal, or other content that violates our Content Policy
2) He lied about the details of our listing. His review is dishonest in that he made fraudulent claims.
3) It is harmful in that guests will read his claims and this could affect our bookings.
Airbnb's new retaliation policy states a review can be requested to be removed for a guest who:
- Violating your house rules (new in November 2022)
I have read many stories here of late that Airbnb is not following through on their review policies and siding with guests who write retaliatory reviews when being asked for additional fees or when they do not receive refunds they are not entitled to. This is simply wrong, bad for business, and can greatly affect how we enforce our rules to protect ourselves and our property. We want to give every guest the best experience but at what cost?
I need help resolving this, please. Is there a way to escalate this issue?
