Review Policy

[Jessica729]

Does this violate Airbnb review policy?

"(Guest) was friendly but was not necessarily considerate.  Arrived at the guesthouse at 9 am for a 3 pm check in." 

[Pat271]

No, it doesn’t violate Airbnb review policy.

Why did you arrive at 9 am for a 3 pm check in?

[Jessica729]

I am a host, this is a review that I left for a guest, which was removed. I am completely flummoxed as to why my review was removed. I am very careful to follow a Airbnb policy. I have been a host for eight years, I rarely leave less than positive reviews. However, when I guess violates several house, rules, and generally doesn’t show a good amount of respect for our property or our time. I feel it is important to let other hosts know, mainly because I’m hoping the guest will be more considerate in future, potentially the feedback allows a gas to improve their behavior for future hosts 

[Joelle43]

Hello @Jessica729 

I can't see why your review would be removed by Airbnb - to me it just seems honest and nothing you said could be described as going against their policy review! Was there more to the review or was it just this bit?

I imagine you've asked them for an explanation and haven't received one?

[Jessica729]

Hi Joelle,

Thanks so much for your reply.. I appreciate it.

I also am flummoxed as to why the review was removed.  

Obviously my guest found the review to be offensive and contacted Airbnb immediately upon reading it.  I was removed within 3 hrs of my submitting it. And  yes I have asked for an explanation, and no I have not really received a sufficient reply.  I had to ask 4 times over 2 days to be escalated to a supervisor, and eventually it (appears) it was escalated.

The other unfortunate thing was that I can no longer see what I wrote in the review.. I should have captured a copy of it before submitting.. but I have 5 listings and I do a dozen reviews or so every week... 

It went something like this.  "(guest) arrived at the guesthouse at 9 am when check our check in time is stated as 3pm. He knocked on our front door (the guesthouse entry is at the back of our house, and did not follow parking instructions, so it appears he did not read the online check in instructions or messages. He left an hour after check out.  (guest) was friendly but was not neccesarily considerate.    Our metal nightstand was slightly damaged by nail polish, which left a stain after removal.  Would not host again. "

I left 3 stars all around 

In 8 years of hosting Ive not had a review removed.  So it's really important to me to understand HOW my review violated content or review policies so that I can communicate my concerns as a host better without having my review removed. 

[Robin4 · Accepted solution]

@Jessica729 

Searching your profile I can't find  check-out or check-in times stated but, these are generally given to the guest on booking.

From my experience it would be highly irregular for a host to have a check-out time earlier than 9 am. Airbnb's programming accepts an 'end of stay' time of 10 am, unless otherwise advised by the host. So, on that basis the guest has arrived before the official Airbnb start of the stay date. Airbnb do not offer a check-in time of 9.00 am. The accepted check-in time is 2.00 -4.00 pm, unless otherwise advised by the host!

As far as Airbnb's programming is concerned the stay cannot start before 10.am on a given date, if it does it is counted as an official previous day check-in and would be subject to a previous night charge, if pursued by the host!

I know what I am talking about Jessica because I have worked in Airbnb support!

So Jessica, your review absolutely does not violate Airbnb policy and in fact, although I can't find evidence of your check-in time I would say this guest has broken not just your house rules but also Airbnb's terms of service rules and should render the guest subject to Airbnb sanction.

As far as the review window is concerned, if the guest has not cancelled the reservation prior to 10 am on the scheduled day of the stay start, whether they have turned up or not, an offer to review will be sent to both you and the guest at 2.00pm on the day of the scheduled end of the stay! This is automatic, there is no human involvement. 

You can quote this to support if you wish Jessica........Make them look up their rule books!

Cheers.......Rob 

[Jessica729]

Thanks Rob! this is very helpful!  

I'm curious where you can see our check in and check out times on my profile?? A couple people have mentioned that they looked for my 'times' and didn't see them listed..  Is it possible that because I have several listings and some have different check in and out times that's why it doesn't show??  I've double checked all my listings and they all have check in and out times on the booking page, I also include them in the online check in instructions, and 2 days prior to check in I send a message which includes the check in time as well as directions, parking and access info.

I rarely leave less than positive reviews and I was just hoping to have clarity on why it was removed... so that in future I can leave constructive reviews without them being censored.. 

It seems baffling to me.. because I've had guests outright lie and leave retaliatory reviews, either after being refused discounts or refusing to pay for damages.  And the (thankfully rare) times this happens, and I contest the review.. Airbnb has not once removed the review, and every time they say that cannot police 'the truth' of a review. .ie a guest leaving a review that is not true is not a basis for removal...  even in cases where there are messages threatening to leave a poor review in the message thread to back up my 'side'?????

But when I leave a short, concise 3 star review in which basically I say..  "guest didn't appear to familiarize themselves with house rules and check in instructions'  showed up early, checked out late, did not park in the correct spot.  damaged a nightstand.  was friendly but not necessarily considerate.. would not host again"  unfortunately I don't have access to my review anymore as it was taken down from my side, and I really should have taken a screenshot of it before submitting!

The fuller story is that the guest arrived at 9 am, parked in our driveway (parking in indicated on the street because we have tandem parking and if they park in the drive it blocks our cars) and tried to enter his code in the front door (of our house); of course the code didn't work. My husband answered the door, and explained that the guesthouse was in the back yard, and that checkin time was 3 pm; finally that we had guests currently in that were not checking out till 11.  Guest apologized and then parked up across the street. Messaged us through the app asking for noon check in.. We replied that we could accommodate 1 pm check in earliest.. with payment of $30  early check in fee, to which he agreed.  We cleaned the unit thoroughly but quickly and were able to still get him in 2 hrs early.. 

(FYI I include in my welcome message for every one of my listings that early check ins can usually be accommodated with advance notice and payment of early check in fee.. because before I started charging a fee EVERYONE and their mamma was asking for early check in.. late check out.. and with 5 listings this gets to be quite a big hassle!!  Since we implemented the changes we only get  occasional requests)

The reason I am explaining all the above is that I was told by the 'support ambassador' that the review was removed because it 'lacked relevance' and when I asked for clarity on which part was not relevant.. as the entire review was directly about the guest and their stay with us. 

Their reply:  "upon checking on this we found that there was no case opened for early check in and that you and the guest have agreed for additional charges with the additional hours that the guest had stayed. therefore we decided to remove the review as it is irrelevant to what had actually happened."  

???? Which I'm translating as "we checked the message thread with your guest and determined your review to be untrue"?   WTH??  

I understand the situation was more nuanced than "he arrived at 9 am for a 3 pm check in" but I was trying to be short and concise.  And while it IS true that he did pay for an early check in (on the day) and he was able to check in early (because we busted our butts to accommodate him) .. it is also still completely true that "he arrived at 9am and our normal check in time is 3pm" 

my only consideration when leaving a constructive review.. is that I hope to help other hosts make informed decisions and I also hope that it might 'nudge' guests in the direction of being more considerate of any future hosts space (and their time)

but when they remove the review with no sufficient explanation as to why.. it really makes me feel that my experience  as a host is not even remotely valued 

[Robin4]

@Jessica729 

Jessica, I have had a good experience with Airbnb over the past 7 years but this experience of yours is what frightens me.  Airbnb support do not adhere to, or follow their own rules. Here is a screenshot of Airbnb moderation rules.......

Your review does not contravene any of those moderation rules. It was a genuine statement which related to the stay, it was relevant, and it was your personal experience. You personally organised a work-around to accommodate a situation outside both yours and the company's rules.....and Jessica, that is the duty of each and every host, to be as accommodating to guests as possible to ensure a good hosting outcome! It is also your duty to inform the Airbnb hosting community when either yours or the company's rules are compromised!

Jessica, almost all support is now outsourced to companies such as 'Zendesk'  which  has over 5,000 contractor employees and closes 7 million  tickets per year. These employees are home based around the world and are paid on a results basis.....they get paid to close tickets without having to pass cases on up the chain internally to Airbnb themselves.

It is pure supposition of course  but it appears this guest may use Airbnb frequently and does not want his guest satisfaction rating affected and has threatened to close his Airbnb account if the review of this stay is not removed!

I could of course be entirely wrong but, support are fishing for excuses by offering the explanation they have. They are not adhering to their rules. Even though you are a 5 listing Superhost with 1200+  reviews, logic would say you are more important to the company than a guest! But to support, closing that ticket is more important than your potential worth to Airbnb as a fine host.

I feel for you Jessica, as I said this is what frightens me about dealing with support, in most instances they do a good job but, in the final analysis it's about them, not you.

Good luck, if your case is escalated to Airbnb personnel, just maybe they will see your worth to the company and put that review where it belongs....back on the guests profile!

All the best Jess.

Cheers.......Rob

[Fred13]

A guest can arrive whatever time they want to, but it doesn't mean they necessarily will be allowed  to enter our place before our check-in time, unless they pre-arranged a deviation of our policy beforehand. We do not even give them the opportunity to be inconsiderate, no wonder they never are.

P.S. We have a check-out time of 10am (area places 11am) and check-in at 1pm (area places 3pm check-in).

[Jessica729]

Thanks Fred.. I agree that a guest can arrive whatever time they want... 

And of course this guest was not allowed to enter at 9 am.. especially as in our case, we had guests in who were checking out at 11 am.. 

The nitty gritty of our experience with this guest is that he arrived at 9 am, knocked on our front door (guesthouse entry is at the back of our house... ADU) we told him verbally that the check in time is 3 pm, that we still currently had guests in and would need time to clean after they checked out.   At 10 am he apologized for not reading the message 'properly' and asked us to make the guesthouse available at noon, and that he would be willing to pay and 'early check in fee'   

We told him that the earliest we could accommodate was 1 pm with early check in fee. He paid the fee and we prepped the guesthouse in time for him to arrive at 1pm.  

The airbnb support first told me that my review was removed because it "didn't have enough relevant information to help the Airbnb community make informed decisions" . I asked what about my review was not relevant and this was the reply: "upon checking on this we found that no case opened for early check in and that you and the guest have agreed for additional charge with the additional hours the guest had stayed. Therefore we remove the review as it is irrelevant to what had actually happened" 

I replied... huh???  That doesn't make any sense to me.. All I said in my review was that he ARRIVED at 9 am when our normal check in time is stated as 3PM.   And if you're using the messaged thread to 'verify' the relevancy of my review then you'll see that he did not pre arrange and early check in.  But that we did work hard, last minute.. with him waiting in his car on our street.. to accommodate an earlier check in (which he paid for on the day) how am i supposed to write all of that in a review that i am trying to keep concise?

I still don't feel I understand why my review was removed, and I'm still waiting to hear from airbnb.. but finally at least my case was (supposedly) escalated to a supervisor. 

[John5097]

@Jessica729 

Great comments so far. Some tips  moving forward or might be helpful to someone else if you don't do this already. 

-- You can create a custom first message and add the check in date, time, to be  included for each reservation. That way it's clear to guest and customer support. This is what mine looks like. Each guest has their own code so I send all the check in info in the first message.




 The lock is intigrated with Airbnb booking, so it automatically creates and adds the code for each guest. If they show up early, even by accident, or wrong date, they don't have access. 

And include this in the message two days before check in. I aways change check in one hour earlier so if guest ask if they can check in early I say sure, 2pm. (and also explain again that it takes 3 hours to clean between guest, which is already cutting is close, and guest love how clean it is)

 

You can also add to your house rules, which I've seen other host use. "Check in is at 3pm. If there is no-one checking out that day, guest can check in early, but must be approved the night before check in." 

 I think what concerns other host is that a guest would show up at 9am for a 2-3 pm check in. This is alarming because they may have tried to access the rental unit. The current guest could have already unlocked the door in the morning to have coffee on a deck or something, or been in bed. 

Finally, the new review format gives guest the option to click "flexible check in". So guest thinks flexible check in is showing up at 9am, badgering the host to get in early. Mine clearly states guest can show up and check in any time after 3pm. So that is flexible. But not many guest tag that, and more will be conditioned to thinking they can show up at 8am or whenever.





 

[Jessica729]

Hello All!  

Update!

After 10 days of frustration my review was finally re-instated. 5 days of requesting a supervisor, and when  supervisor took the case and additional 5 days of crickets = no communication  from them not even a reply to  say 'hey still working on your case here' He finally reached out today and told me my review did not violate Airbnb guidelines, and would be re-instated.

I'm leaving the full review here for others to see..

(Guest) arrived at 9am on day of check in, 6 hrs early. He didn’t seem to have read the check in instructions as he arrived at our front door rather than the guesthouse door which is at the back of our property. He was friendly and didn’t seem too put out to have to wait until the previous guests checked out and the guesthouse was cleaned. The rest of his stay pretty much mirrored this first experience, not unfriendly, but not necessarily considerate. Nail polish on a side table, which someone covered with the lamp.. it mostly came off but small stain is left. Checked out an hour late. Would not host again.

 **[Private conversation removed in line with the Community Center Guidelines]

That's when the support ambassador stopped giving reasons for the removal and indicated they would escalate the case to a supervisor.

IT SHOULD NOT BE THIS HARD!!!!!!!!!