SOS: Reservation canceled by airbnb, guest left me 1 star review, airbnb rejected my first dispute request

[Allie269]

Dear all, 

Really messed up by the current review dispute process! 
I got a reservation which not able to host becasue the previous guests left 20ish trash bags in the room, there are stink and gnats all over the house, so that I reached out customer service right after the reservation and sent the proof, so the reservation was approved and cancelled by admin. Guest left 1 star right after the cancellation, and now I'm trying dispute the review but they rejected my request, need some suggestions for second attempt since it's the last chance for me possible to dispute it, please 🙏 

Below is what i have for last dispute : 

I am writing to formally request investigation and resolution regarding a review posted on my Airbnb listing that is both unfair and violates Airbnb’s own policies. I also wish to highlight serious issues with Airbnb’s customer support and Dispute system that have left me unable to resolve this situation.

Details of the Incident:

1. Guest Never Checked In:

   • The guest never stayed at my listing. According to Airbnb’s Review Policy, reviews must be based on an actual stay.

   • Airbnb’s own rating system for reviews requires guests to provide detailed feedback in categories such as Check-in, Cleanliness, Accuracy, Communication, Location, and Value.

   • How is it possible for a guest who never checked in to accurately rate any of these categories? Giving a one-star rating under these circumstances is entirely meaningless and violates Airbnb policy.

2. Cancellation Was for Safety and Sanitation Reasons:

   • The previous guest left over 20 bags of trash, causing a severe gnat infestation. The space was temporarily unsafe.

   • I immediately reported the issue to Airbnb Support with photographic evidence.

   • Airbnb Support approved the cancellation and handled communication with the guest internally.

3. Review Contains Misleading and False Statements:

   • The guest claimed I canceled “without reason,” which is factually incorrect. The cancellation was fully documented, approved by Airbnb, and necessary for safety.

4. Retaliatory Review:

   • The review was posted immediately after the cancellation, despite the guest never staying.

   • This demonstrates the review is frustration-based, not experience-based, and violates Airbnb’s policy against retaliatory reviews.

5. Internal Miscommunication and System Issues:

   • When I contacted Airbnb Support, they admitted that the guest’s statements do not align with Airbnb’s own policies.

   • Despite this, they encouraged me to submit a second Dispute. If this second Dispute is rejected, I will lose all opportunity to appeal.

   • This indicates both poor customer service and a significant flaw in Airbnb’s Dispute system.

   • I feel unfairly trapped by a system that punishes hosts even when the guest never stayed and the review violates Airbnb’s policy.

Impact on My Business:

• The review contains false and misleading content that unfairly harms my listing and reputation.

• Airbnb’s own policies clearly state that guests who never checked in cannot leave accurate ratings, yet this review forces me to endure an unjust one-star rating across multiple categories.

• The combination of customer support failures and Dispute system flaws has left me unable to resolve this issue.

Request for Resolution:
I respectfully request:

1. Immediate removal of the review from my listing.

2. Review of Airbnb’s handling of cancellations due to emergencies to ensure hosts are not unfairly penalized.

3. Examination and improvement of the Dispute system to prevent this type of failure in the future.

4. Confirmation from your side regarding actions taken

[Guy991]

Hello @Allie269 ,

I am not sure how you can improve the result for your second attempt, but I do have some thoughts to share.

When the guest says that you cancelled without reason, they mean without a reason given to them, not to Airbnb. Did you contact the guest directly and explain the situation before cancelling? I think that should have been the first step.

It is always kind and helpful when either a guest or a host cancels and gives a short explanation and a simple apology.

The guest is also a host. I hope you have their number. Send them a message explaining what happened and apologise. Ask if they would consider removing the review after your explanation. I believe they are waiting for that and it may help you.

In my opinion the sky did not fall. You have many excellent reviews, your ranking is still very high, and the guest did not say anything negative about the property.

[Allie269]

Thanks @Guy991, 
That's a very angry person that's why I'm trying to communicating with airbnb first, because very clear in the policy mentioned below, but they just told me not able to dispute, if the guest never checkin how come they are able to rating the Check-in, Cleanliness, Accuracy, Communication, Location, and Value. It's just making nonsense 

Reviews should be relevant

• If a guest never arrived for their stay, service, or experience, or had to cancel due to circumstances unrelated to that reservation, their review may be removed.

[Helen3]

Sorry to hear that .

Did you contact the guest when you needed to cancel to apologise , explain what happened and help identify alternative accommodation? @Allie269 

Did you leave your own review to explain what happened?

did you respond to the one star review? 

[Allie269]

Customer service told me he would explain to the guest
I did not respond, I honestly don't think response works, I'll reach the guest if my second attempt fails again,

[Helen3]

My point it's good customer care to reach out to a guest to explain what has happened when their booking is cancelled whether Airbnb was contacting them or not. 

it could have made all the difference between getting a bad review or not .

why would you reach out to the guest at this point if your second appeal fails ... the damage is already done? 

[Allie269]

Because after fails, reaching out to him is the only way to remove the review 

[John5097]

@Allie269 

This is subjective but if it were me I would just focus on the reason why the reservation was canceled: namely the previous guest left 20 trash bags and there were gnats and terrible smell. 

If you have any supporting documents and photos keep including and reiterating  those. keep reiterating that Airbnb customer support said they would cancel this without penalty to host, and you provided proof. 

If you have any other documents such as an invoice for cleaning, removing odor can include those. Maybe you used someone and they can provide one? 

Some additional FYI:  Read the Airbnb review policy. There are a few circumstances where guest can leave a review even if they didn't stay. The fact the guest can't accurately rate the sub categories won't factor into Airbnb decision to remove or leave the review. That's why I suggest only focusing on the reasons that would justify having the review removed and supporting that with their policy and any kind of proof. 

My personal take on customer support is that they might only read the first two sentences. I always get straight to the point and only include the most relevant information. They also want to close the case ASAP as fast as possible.

While I've never successfully had a review removed, if this happened to me, I would take pictures, make sure customer support will cancel without penalty, and if they don't get receipts for the cleaning in order to submit to have review removed. 

Good luck and hope that helped! 

ETA: I think you do have a valid point that the review is also not relevant. (Read Airbnb policy that reviews nee to be relevant so can cite that) As the review only states that host canceled reservation without reason, and you are correct that there was a reason, namely the prevues guest left so much trash it had insects and smell. So could also inched that but if it were me I would just focus on the most relevant and important and keep it very concise. I would cite the reason you are contacting them, and in the same sentence cite the reason why the review should be removed. (Airbnb CS removed it because of the 20 bags of trash, and that the review isn't relevant, as there was a reason) Then can provide proof, domucnts, exact date and time CS canceled the reservation, and can screen shot the Airbnb policy and underline relevant part in red.) 

[Allie269]

Hi John,

Thank you so much for your answer, very helpful content! The reservation was cancelled without penalty to host, I had uploaded pictures on the dispute request, also provided the reimbursement request link, I was thought the case is strong, but ...

Airbnb the review system are really bad now, last time I have a guest misreading the list, he booked my room and thought it's whole house, although he checked in late night at 1am, I still helped him, right after he checkout the second day he filed full refund request state that he was expected private whole house (I don't understand how could people think 30$ can rent a whole house), I rejected his request, and then he left me 3 star review with no bad word, only saying it's not as his expectation, I provide all type of proof of my listing is correct and he misunderstanded it. First attempt failed, so I called customer service and they kept saying that I needed to submit second time and they put a note on it, but still failed. I have no choice to contact the guest to help remove it, Airbnb saying they don't want host doing it, but I just don't see any other way to keep good rating anymore 

I'm so disappointed with Airbnb about the review dispute system, if all hosts got bad reviews with nonsense, ratings go low, who gonna want to stay in Airbnb anymore

[Patricia2526]

Hi @Allie269 

If check-in did not occur for example Guest change of plans , but cancellations due to listing is not ready or unable to check in due to unresponsive Host isn’t valid for removal I believe.