Reviews

[John8633]

 Hi, we're new to hosting and had recently a guest asked for a third guest to stay at our 2 guest apartment.  We allowed the third guest at no extra cost. On arrival there were 4 guests! They stayed all night, the next day we told them we were surprised but if they really needed the 4th guest they should have asked and that there will be a £25 charge per night for the 4th guest. They became very rude and started finding fault with the apartment.  I spoke with airbnb who were very supportive and the gusts left 2 days in to a 13 day booking.  My question is abpit reviews, when will we see they're reviews/do we leave our review first? How long do we have before we leave a review? Thanks John 

[Joelle43]

Hello @John8633 

So much for being nice😞  Sorry these guests took advantage of your good nature - imagine you won't be doing that again.

How do reviews work?  Both sides have 14 days to a leave a review.  If only one side leaves a review then you have to wait the full 14 days for it to appear on Airbnb.  If both parties leave a review then they will become instantly visible under the host  and  guest profiles, no need to wait for the full 14 days.  Both parties have a right to a public reply that will appear under the host and/or guest review if they want to challenge or thank that person for the review left.

In your case John, I would wait until the last minute (watch that countdown and always refresh the window to check how much time you have left to review) as this guest must realise that your review won't be a 5* star one and is probably going to leave you a retaliatory review.  By leaving it as late as possible, this leaves the guest little time to react before the window closes for them to leave you a review. 

If a guest leaves you a bad review because you upheld your house rules, there is every chance you are going to have to fight to get it removed.  It will very much depend on who you get at Customer Service as technically you already broke your own house rules by letting guest #3 stay at no extra charge.  Here is what Airbnb say about removing retaliatory reviews:

https://www.airbnb.com/resources/hosting-homes/a/how-to-dispute-retaliatory-reviews-552

Have they asked for a refund for the remaining days of their stay or is Airbnb sticking by you for guest bringing in extra guests?

Make sure when you write your review that you are factual and leave emotion and personal resentment out so that it doesn't get removed for not abiding by Airbnb's terms regarding reviews!

All the best John and you did well by contacting Airbnb on the subject - they'll have a record of your call and hopefully this will help you if they lie about the state of the listing to get reimbursed - becoming an all too frequent ruse used by unscrupulous guests.

Joëlle

[John8633]

Thanks for your reply. Airbnb said it was up to us to refund the remaining days or not. We refunded the days the guest didn't stay at the property. Airbnb have the entire comms thread and were very helpful.  Your correct,  we wont be too helpful in the future.  We have learned to identify potential problematic guests and not be so keen to accept them. Thanks again John