Retaliatory Reviews

[Pedro1798]

I am extremely disappointed by the lack of support a host receives after a guest left a 1 star retaliatory review.

The guest was caught stealing from other guests, and the police was called, which he was forced to return the stolen goods and was refused stays at other hosts' places because we are situated in a island and news travel fast without my involvement.

I reached out to the support workers, but to no avail despite me providing clear evidence to support my case. They did not read it and closed the case without solving the issue in less than 5 minutes.

Right now I'm at my fifth attempt at contacting a different worker, and the same is happening.

This is really stressing and puts the integrity of the review system into question. Especially since this is not the first time it has happened. And is becoming increasingly common to have groups of guests also try and extort refunds after their stay is over by threatning bad reviews.

And the dread of having the notification on my mainpage that I'm in risk of having my account suspended is unbearable, as it has happened with another host in my area, where when he didn't budge after being extorted, and they reported him for being racist and the case workers ignored every evidence of his innocence he provided, including the extortion messages.

Transparency and fairness are key to building trust between guests, hosts & the platform. This issue needs to addressed and ensure that hosts are not unfairly penalized by retaliatory reviews, and are treated on the same level guests are.

[Mike-And-Jane0]

@Pedro1798 I guess the issue from Airbnb is who to believe.

Jonas' review gives a different perspective

about 1 hour after the checkout, I was called by the landlord. I would have to come back immediately as I would have forgotten something important in the property. Upon request, I couldn't be told what this was. I was already in the bus for a hiking tour. Shortly after, I got messages on AirBnB from the landlord again with the note I had to come back directly. This time it was said that there was a problem with a roommate. Again, after several questions, I couldn't be told what the problem was. A callback was stopped responding In retrospect, it turned out that I was accused by a roommate to have used his food unasked. I was reported to AirBnB and the police were even allegedly contacted. I'm inexplicable why overreacting to unchecked accusations? Why wasn't I told what it was about and given the opportunity to respond?

[Pedro1798]

You have a fair point, but like I said in the post, I provided evidence of him being caught, witnesses, the stoled items + police report from the other guest.

[Jennifer1039]

I agree, if you have proof and messages that say otherwise to their review, then Airbnb should protect you as a host.