Unfair Handling of Guest Complaint and Review - Need Urgent Help!

[Tingting19]

Hello everyone,

I’m an Airbnb host, and I recently encountered a situation that has left me very frustrated. I’m hoping to get some advice or help from the community.

A guest recently booked my property for a seven-day stay. For the first two days, there were no complaints, but on the third day, the guest suddenly raised concerns about cleanliness. To quickly address the issue, I immediately offered two solutions:

1. Provide additional cleaning services.
2. Offer a full refund if the guest chose to check out.

However, the guest refused both reasonable options and instead chose to pressure me through customer service, calling me three times late at night to demand a £200 refund. Under such pressure, I felt forced to agree.

Despite this, the guest still left a negative review. I was told by customer service at the time that if a negative review was left due to this issue, I could request its removal. But when I reached out to Airbnb afterward, they informed me that the review couldn’t be removed because it didn’t violate any rules.

I feel this situation has been handled very unfairly. I tried my best to resolve the issue and provided reasonable solutions, yet I was coerced by the guest, ultimately leading to a refund and a damaging review. This has seriously affected the reputation of my listing.

What’s even more disappointing is that customer service only considered the guest’s side of the story, completely ignoring the harm caused to me. They simply told me everything “complied with the rules,” without taking into account the broader context and unfairness of the situation. I find this approach to be self-centered and inhumane.

Has anyone else experienced something similar? How can I escalate this issue and get Airbnb to reconsider my case? I would greatly appreciate any advice or help!

[Helen3]

Hello @Tingting19 

sorry you had this experience. What cleanliness issues did the guest provide you with evidence of .

in your situation I certainly wouldn't have refunded the guest anything if you were confident that there were no cleanliness issues .

having looked at your listings you do have what Airbnb considers low ratings with a number of complaints about cleanliness so it's probably worth you reviewing your processes to see how issues could be addressed as Airbnb does suspend hosts with ratings under 4.6.

please don't accept calls about issues like this but keep all communication on the Airbnb platform,

airbnb normally only remove reviews if they don't meet their review policy.

[Tingting19]

Hello, thank you for your reply. In fact, I did not ask for any refund. It was only at the request of the tenant and after the customer service promised that the tenant would not leave malicious comments against me, I agreed that they could continue to live in my house and provide a refund. But now the malicious comments have occurred, and the customer service did not help me. I feel very helpless.

[Jennifer1897]

@Tingting19 Helen offered some great advice, I too reviewed your listings, and you have several complaints about cleanliness and non-working items throughout the homes. You can face suspension of listings for low ratings and continued issues. Might be worth looking into so you can improve those areas.

That being said, I think you offered the guest two appropriate and reasonable solutions to his complaint. Moving forward I would not offer a refund unless he/she vacated the property. I am not quite clear if he called you or customer service called you, but you have a right to stand firm on your stance regarding the issue. Also make sure you are always documenting things via the platform.

Since you agreed to the refund, feeling coerced or not, I am not sure there is a lot you can do at this point. I am not sure why the customer service rep informed you that a review could be removed, that is a little misleading. Keep in mind most customer service reps for Airbnb are now outsourced and basically follow a script of how to handle issues. I read his review and your response, and unfortunately nothing he wrote violated the terms. Unless he made a threat of leaving a review unless you refunded, I don't think there is any viable reason for it to get taken down. 

[Tingting19]

Thank you for your reply.

The person who called me was the French customer service. He called me at 1 am, 3 am and 6 am. I told him I agreed to let him leave and refund the money, but he said the tenant didn't want to go. I said I could arrange the cleaning again, but he said the tenant just wanted a refund. The last time, he expressed his plea, saying that he was pushed by the tenant and had to ask for my consent. He said that the tenant promised not to leave a bad review, and if he left one, I could contact customer service to delete it.

[Lorina14]

@Tingting19 

From your response above you offered reasonable solutions to the issue. In the future you should have a scheduled message the next day asking if everything is OK and if the guest needed anything. This way, if they said thanks all is good, this would have been proof to the customer service that there was not an issue.

It is suspicious that they took 3 days to complain on the cleanliness as it should be reported on the check in day to the host to remedy and airbnb customer service so they are aware of it. Usually when this happens, the cleaning fee could be refunded if they agree that it was not clean but the guest would have to show pictures of proof (I had this experience and had to provide multiple pics of mildew/mold in the bathroom, hair on the bedding, and more; unfortunately only after leaving I found dried dog poop behind the bed (who checks behind the bed when they check in? I only checked it as I was looking for toys or clothes as things go missing with our kid)). 

The customer service rep incorrectly told you the review would be removed as Airbnb will only remove reviews that violate their terms and conditions (see the resource center for full details). I have read on the boards here that removals have been granted if they are discriminatory, coercive, defamatory, etc. 

As the other members have noted if you have a cleanliness issue mentioned with your listings, you should consider hiring a different cleaning crew or do a better checklist and job cleaning (if it is yourself). It is less likely that customer service would err with a guest if you had a good cleaning track record and this was a one time occurrence. Airbnb many times takes the side of the guest and it is our job in hosting guests to provide a good experience (working amenities, clean space, good communication). So perhaps a revamp of who manages your listings (if you have it hired to a third party) and also a double check of who is cleaning your spaces too would be in good order. 

Even if we have bad reviews the best thing to do is honestly and factually respond to the guest with compassion and empathy thanking them for staying with you and letting them know that you take feedback seriously and aim to provide a good experience. If you show how you offered what you did to the guest, other guests would see that it could be an unreasonable review, or that you are attentive and address issues quickly. We are all here to learn and grow and help one another and if you show you care guests are more likely to be kinder in their reviews.