Retaliatory Review Policy Not Enforced

[Jenelie0]

Hi everyone,

I wanted to share my recent experience with Airbnb’s handling of a retaliatory review, in hopes of getting clarity and raising awareness among other hosts.

Despite following every policy and submitting proper disputes, I’ve encountered what appears to be a clear failure to apply Airbnb’s own Retaliatory Review Policy and Reviews Policy.

Here are the verifiable facts:

• The guest overstayed nearly two hours past checkout (10:00 AM), violating our clearly posted house rules.

• We processed a $30 late checkout fee, which the guest accepted and paid.

• Minutes later, the guest left a 2-star review, stating: “Very good stay, but horrible check-in & check-out times.”

This is almost identical to the example Airbnb provides in its own help article:

“Retaliatory reviews are biased reviews guests might leave after you report a serious policy violation, such as overstaying their reservation.”
— Airbnb Help Center: How to handle a retaliatory review

The guest’s own wording (“very good stay”) confirms that the low rating was not about the quality of the experience but a direct reaction to being charged a late checkout fee. This makes it retaliatory, irrelevant, and misleading , violating Airbnb’s “Relevant and Unbiased” and “Useful and Trustworthy” review standards.

Unfortunately, both of my formal disputes were handled through the automated review system, without apparent human assessment. This means the review has never been properly evaluated by the Content Integrity team, even though it clearly meets Airbnb’s definition of retaliation.

I’ve requested that Airbnb provide:

• The specific policy clause or internal reasoning used to uphold the review.

• The case ID and decision reason codes for transparency.

• That the issue be logged for Quality Assurance review, given the automated system’s failure to enforce stated policy.

If this can’t be resolved internally, I’ve asked for direction on escalation, whether to Content Integrity leadership, Airbnb Legal, or through Arbitration as described in Section 23 of Airbnb’s Terms of Service.

This isn’t about personal dissatisfaction; it’s about policy integrity and trust. Airbnb has published clear standards to protect hosts from retaliatory reviews, and hosts rely on those protections being applied fairly and consistently.

Has anyone else faced similar challenges getting a clearly retaliatory review addressed?
What escalation paths have actually worked for you when automated systems failed to apply policy correctly?

Appreciate any insights or experiences others can share.

[Joan2709]

@Jenelie0 

This issue stems from Airbnb’s implementation of a poorly developed AI system to handle review disputes, introduced earlier this year. Despite numerous documented cases where the system violates Airbnb’s own written policies, the company has failed to take corrective action. The resulting harm to Hosts is significant and cannot be overstated.

The latest suggestion is to submit your review removal request only once through the automated system. Then if denied, contact Airbnb CS to escalate instead of submitting again a second time in the automated system.

I recommend that Hosts:

1. Turn off Instant Book and screen their guests thoroughly
2. List on other platforms 
3. Consider a direct booking site
4. File an Arbitration claim against Airbnb under their Terms of Service for not upholding their own written policies
5. Continue to escalate the case with Airbnb for removal

Arbitration Claim (U.S. Hosts)

https://www.airbnb.com/help/article/2908#22

To be fair, some negative reviews are deserved and should not be removed. However, the vast majority I am seeing posted about in the CC are clearly retaliatory reviews by guests that should be removed in accordance with existing Airbnb written policies.

[Jenelie0]

We reached out to Airbnb about a recent situation for how many weeks now, and someone from the support team finally got back to us because of this post . Unfortunately, they said their decision is final, stating that our case doesn’t qualify for a retaliatory review removal. They also mentioned that we didn’t contact Airbnb “right away” when the overstaying happened , but Airbnb can clearly see in our message thread that the guest checked out late, which should serve as proof that they violated our house rules. They could ask for proof or whatever as well. I’ve been reaching out to Airbnb support every day about this, but no one has been able to help. Each time, the case either gets closed automatically, or the call gets disconnected and call us back after 30-1hr but still no resolution. As a Superhost, this whole experience is truly heartbreaking. It feels like Airbnb is sending a message that it’s okay for guests to violate house rules and still leave a 2-star review without consequence. Hosts like us put so much effort into maintaining high standards and following Airbnb’s policies, but it’s discouraging when the same fairness doesn’t seem to apply to us.