Specialized team

[Kyla157]

I am having a huge issue with a past guest. They snuck in 2 extra people without authorization.  Finally agreed to pay and then he accused me of having a hidden camera in the pool area. It was completely false and air bnb denied his complaint. He then wrote a terrible inaccurate review.  He did this in retaliation of having to pay extra. The specialized team has denied my request now twice  without any reason!!! All my other. Reviews are perfect. He has deceitful right from the beginning. Air bnb did not give  me the support I needed and now are not helping as I kept telling them about my concerns with this guest!!!! Please help!!!

case id. ID:** 

**[Personal details removed in line with the Community Center Guidelines]

[Joan2709]

@Kyla157 

First, so sorry this happened. Unfortunately, Airbnb has turned over review disputes to AI and it appears that even if the review is retailatory and/or clearly violates their policies, they are not removing them. It is best to respond non-emotionally and factually to false negative reviews, as you are writing them for future guests; not the one who wrote the negative review. Be very careful how you word your reviews of guests and your public replies to guest reviews. 

Your review of the guest doesn't really jive with your public reply of his review? What star rating did you give him? In your review you mention he was "a good guest" and the only problem you had was he brought in extra guests? No mention of the other list of issues you mention in the public reply to his review? It's always best to be calm and non-emotional when writing public replies. If you gave him a 5-star review, I would contact Airbnb and have them remove your review of this guest. You also cannot edit a public reply to a review after it is posted, so be sure your reply is factual, non-emotional and doesn't give Airbnb any reason to remove your public reply (and a review for that matter). It probably would have been better to leave out the comments about "I should have kicked them out when I saw the kids" as Airbnb might consider that discriminatory and remove your public reply. It would have been better to say, "unfortunately, XXX brought in 2 unregistered, extra guests when our listing states two guests only" 

Removing Your Own Review

https://www.airbnb.com/help/article/2673

House Rules

I would not suggest you use ALL CAPS in your list of House Rules. Although this guest broke some house rules with extra guests, you don't want future guests to be scared off. Having all the Additonal House Rules in ALL CAPS is like blaming future guests for this guest's bad behavior. I would add a fine to your wording about no unregistered guests. We use $150/guest per night. I would go to your calendar under Addl Charges and add $150 to the addl guest fee section after 2 guests. Airbnb can then see your addl guest fee and it adds more weight to the fine mentioned in your addl House Rules. I would also add wording to the effect that the listing is for 2 persons maximum (including infants and children). Keep in mind that Airbnb says guests can bring up to (5) infants on any booking and they also are allowed to stay for free! You need to clearly spell out that your maximum number of guests is two (including infants and children).

Safety Section

You are not disclosing in the Guest Safety section in the Listing Editor about the pool? Can't see if there is a fence around the pool from the photos? There is also a section that says "not suitable for children" and I would consider marking those as well. It won't stop guests from adding children to a booking, but you have said the listing is "not suitable."

Prevention

Preventing the issues with unregistered guests is key. The problem is, once the guest checks in and you discover they have broken your addl House Rules sneaking in extra guests, even if you have the stay cancelled by Airbnb (a real pain in itself), and charge the addl guest fee, they will still be able to leave a negative review. It's best to prevent the problem in the first place. Many Hosts have an after booking message that reminds the booking guest that "the listing is for a maximum of 2 persons only (including children and infants)."

Future Strategy

I will send you a Direct Message regarding future strategies. It is a shame that Airbnb is really dropping the ball on the proper removal of clearly retaliatory reviews that violate their own written policies. Giving AI free reign on this (with seemingly no human oversight) is not a good idea. Ultimately, a listing that doesn't get a clearly retaliatory review removed, will lead to fewer bookings (and less money for Airbnb), as the listing drops in search rank due to the false review, even though it is a fantastic listing. This is "cutting off your nose to spite your face" IMHO.

[Kyla157]

I am so discouraged by your platform. It does not matter what I do you tell me I am wrong when it clearly is the guest who is wrong!!!!!!!

[Joan2709]

@Kyla157 

I am simply a Co Host and Short Term/Mid Term Rental Consultant; not Airbnb. I assist Hosts in creating new listings, optimizing existing listings and troubleshooting under performing listings. This is not "my platform". Airbnb runs the platform and I help Hosts navigate it by offering ideas and suggestions.

I agree with you there are a lot of actions (or lack of actions) Airbnb takes that make no sense and are not even in compliance with their own written policies. However, this is the environment you have to work within in order to Host on Airbnb. There are other platforms; but all have their quirks and issues.

This is a forum for Hosts and guests to discuss situations, seek advice and offer suggestions. I was simply trying to help you understand how the platform works and strategies to use in the future based on my previous experience with other Hosts and in similar situations.

Hosts volunteer their time and experience in the CC to help other Hosts problem solve and possibly find ways to troubleshoot issues. You can choose to apply all of the suggestions, some of the suggestions, or none of the suggestions. That is your choice and I whole-heartedly support that for any Host.