Revenge 1 star Reviews?

[Kristina764]

Can Airbnb remove a review if a guest left me a 1-star rating? Here's what happened: I had a last-minute cancellation and lowered my price significantly to fill the dates. Unfortunately, I ended up with an entitled guest who made demands and complaints throughout her stay, which I quickly addressed.

After she left, I discovered the apartment was in a filthy state—there was hair everywhere, even under the mattress cover, INSIDE the dishwasher!!! and dryer. The bathtub was clogged, and the plumber pulled out a massive clump of hair (as if 10 people lived there for a year!). 

I sent her a request for reimbursement, including photos and an invoice for the plumber. She was furious and, in retaliation, wrote a review saying in the lines how dare I send her this invoice. That’s the only reason she gave me 1 star—there were no other complaints about her stay.

Can Airbnb remove this review since it’s clearly retaliatory?

[Mike-And-Jane0]

@Kristina764 Can they? Yes. Will they? No. This type of review is unlikely to be classified as retaliatory.

[Welcome-To-OC0]

My assumption, is that, the problem is they keep trying to cut expenditure to look nice on papers for quarterly reports for shareholders. And hits the business very bad...I started to get more business from other platforms now. And think about stop paying attention to airbnb this much.

[Rachel2399]

I want to go that route with my waterfront homes.  Besides VRBO, what other platforms?  My husband and I discussed getting a website for our properties as I already have some direct bookings and words of mouth how lovely our properties are.  I am to the point I just can't depend on airbnb anymore to support me as a host.  Any negative review being placed right after a reimbursement claim comes in (and the fact I the host involved support during the guests stay regarding the problem) has put me in a position that I am too tired to deal with all the hoops they make you jump.  Any leads for other platforms are much appreciated.

[Kristina764]

Rachel,

Having direct bookings especially if they aren’t monthly or mid-term stays comes with serious downsides. You become personally liable for any accidents that happen on the property.

A friend of mine had a child drown in the pool of her Airbnb listing. Had that booking not gone through Airbnb, she would have been financially screwed for life. I myself am currently being sued by a tenant who completely fabricated a story and is now trying to extort money from me. He will lose — I have plenty of evidence — but it’s still costing me time and legal fees.

So, make sure you not only have insurance, but that you fully understand exactly what it covers. So in this regard, Airbnb protects us big time.

[Welcome-To-OC0]

Go big on social media channels, try to get more direct bookings. Where you would be in control. 

[Elaine701]

@Kristina764 

We aren't a discount retail store. We're in the hospitality business. And that involves a mutual trust agreement. You agree to provide a comfortable accommodation, and the guest agrees not to trash it.

When you drop your prices out of desperation, it's a flag to the irresponsible guest profile to take advantage of. They look for that.

Very sorry this happened to you, but chalk it up to experience and realize that nobody is going to support you. You lose, they win. Pay attention. 

About the only cure is to screen your guests before they book. Ask a few friendly questions. Their answers (or lack of them) can reveal a lot. Experiment with this and you'll start to see patterns.

And write a factual, impersonal review of the guest. Just as you would have benefitted from before they booked it 

Sorry.. but in the real world, you're on your own. Find ways to protect your interests. Nobody else will help you. And keep Airbnb out of it wherever possible. 

Good luck and happy hosting. 

[Kristina764 · Accepted solution]

Elaine, we’re in the business of making money, and sometimes we need to adapt to make things work during a tough month.

An update: Airbnb actually sided with me and removed the review. They determined the review violated platform policies, didn’t reflect the actual experience, and were deemed retaliatory, which is unfair and unjust.

While I’ve had frustrations with Airbnb support, this experience shows they can be helpful when it matters. Also, the guest changed her reviews after I sent her a plumber fee request, further proving her review wasn’t fair.

Fellow hosts, remember: one bad guest shouldn’t ruin your hard work. Stand your ground, stay professional, and document everything.

[Rachel2399]

I am glad it worked out for you. It didnt for me.  Just two weekends ago I had a guest stay at the property and throw an event/party.  I inofrmed support about it as it was occurring so it was documented.We have security cameras so I took screenshots of all the guests coming in.  I did not have to get a plumber (thank God) but talk about hair...it was EVERYWHERE. Apparently she had a prewedding party and had a salon set up in every rrom that people could sit at. Dining room table, floors, furniture, desks had hair all over it.  We cleaned the property and asked for extra guest fees and the extra cleaning time.  Right after I put in the reimbursement claim, the guest left her review. Within the hour.  My reimbursement claim later got denied as they said I did not have photographic evidence of the hair (I had a house cleaner but that wasn't good enough plus pictures of the folks coming into the property).  Sigh. Moving on I finally posted my review on the guest...sure enough she posted a 1 star review (support said they could see it was done one hour after I submitted my claim).  And her review was not only retaliatory but not relevant as she discusses being watched by a neighbor walking their dog.  I submitted a request to Airbnb to have it removed based on that.  They denied my request to remove it.  I then submitted it a second time after I spoke to support on the phone who agreed with me and even added a screenshot of the conversations I had with support when the guest had the party (I document everything) and it got denied again.  I literally had a 5 star rating with 91 reviews just get trashed with her review.  As a host, I more likely will be too nervous to be in a reimbursement claim as airbnb obviously does not care if the guest retaliates on it.  To top it off, the guest had only one review before mine and had been on airbnb since 2022.  You would think they would take that into consideration.  I definitely had no airbnb support on that guests stay.  Worst support ever.

[Kristina764]

Hi Rachel,

This is an awful experience — I’m very familiar with it. Just a couple of weeks ago, I had a similar situation. Not a one-star review, but a three-star — because I didn’t provide $2 tissues and a bottle of olive oil for her 40-day stay — truly ridiculous. She left a review full of petty, absurd lies, despite never having asked for those (bootle of olive oil) items during her stay.

Also, yes — if you’re submitting an additional payment request, you absolutely MUST provide photo + video evidence. I once had a guest who turned out to be a drug addict. Airbnb canceled the reservation and took my money, saying the guest had a "medical emergency." I had to physically go to the police department, request the 911 call + pay for it(where the guest screams her boyfriend is overdosed), and get a written statement from building management. Only after all of that (tremendous time spent!!!) did Airbnb refund me and remove her from the platform.

So here’s what I’ve learned:

1. Document everything — photos, receipts, guest messages, MUST

2. My assumprion is that you are not dealing with a human at Airbnb. You’re up against an AI that follows policy scripts. It doesn’t care about context — just whether your evidence matches keywords in their policy.

Dealing with dishonest or manipulative guests has become so exhausting that I’m transitioning away from this business. It’s easily 10X more time-consuming than it was even three years ago.

Hang in there,
Kristina