Unfair & Damaging Review – Need Advice on Removal

[Stephanie3467]

Hi fellow hosts,

I need advice on dealing with an unfair and extremely damaging review that Airbnb refuses to remove. I’ve been a host for 10 years, but this is a new property (less than a year old) that I’ve worked hard to establish. I take great pride in providing a clean, welcoming home for my guests and maintaining high standards.

Recently, a guest left a 1-star review claiming my home smelled like human and animal urine—an accusation that is not only damaging but completely untrue. What’s mind-boggling is that this guest stayed the full 8-night duration without a single complaint. The only time he communicated with me was on the first day, when he asked for the laundry key and later when he locked himself out. Beyond that, he was silent. If my home was truly as awful as he described, why wouldn’t he reach out? Why not request to leave early instead of staying the entire time?

To emphasize my point, the guest who checked in immediately after him left a 5-star review stating the home was super clean—and this was before his 1-star review was even posted. Clearly, his claims were inconsistent with my property and my hosting standards.

Had he reached out to me, I would have immediately sent my cleaners to address any concerns. I have always worked with guests to ensure their stay is comfortable. Instead, he chose not to communicate and waited until the last possible moment to leave this damaging review.

I feel like Airbnb doesn’t want to help and doesn’t understand that a claim this severe can damage future bookings. Anyone who reads his review will not want to book with me. His review is so extreme that it’s shocking he stayed the full 8 nights. On top of that, he gave me a 5-star rating for communication, yet never communicated these supposed issues. If he had real concerns, he had every opportunity to reach out—just like he did when he locked himself out.

Has anyone successfully escalated a situation like this? How do I get Airbnb to take this seriously? I’d truly appreciate any advice on what to do next.

Thank you!

[Joan2709]

@Stephanie3467 

Just curious, what kind of previous reviews did this guest have? What kind of review did you gie him? If you gave him a 5-star review, then I would contact Airbnb and ask them to remove your 5-star review (you are permitted to remove your own review).

Request to Remove Your Own Review

https://www.airbnb.com/help/article/3582

He does complain about "neighbors that don't control their animals" so perhaps this was in retaliation for that? Did you file any damage claims against this guest for damage to the home? If not, then I'm doubtful you will be able to get this review removed. It doesn't appear to violate any of Airbnb's policies and what he says is his opinion.

The best you can do at this point is to post a short, non-emotional and factual public reply to this guest's review and state that at no time did this guest complain about cleanliness during his stay or smells, or you of course would have immediately addressed them and that the guest stayed for 8days and never communicated any issues. I would also say you take great pride in providing the highest standards of cleanliness for guests as evidenced by your all your previous 5-star reviews. 

Responding to a Review

https://www.airbnb.com/help/article/32

There is a new dispute review procedure you can try, but unless this review fits any of the categories mentioned, it probably won't be removed as it is the guest's opinion:

Review Disputes
https://www.airbnb.com/resolution/review_dispute/intro

[Greystone0]

Hi @Stephanie3467 ,

This is an extremely dismaying situation and totally feel for you. I am unaware of any method to remove a review UNLESS the guest broke a house rule and the review was written in a retaliatory way. Here's some general feedback:

- as mentioned previously, you can respond to the review. I would respond with exactly the type of explanation you made above. Obviously, don't accuse the guest but simply pointing out that the review before and after was good, you had contact with the guest during the reservation and nothing of this came up and you would most certainly have taken steps to address had you known. Upon checkout your cleaning team/whoever did not note any unusual smells or cleanliness issues. The review response is for future guests not this past guest, so re-assuring the future guest is important. 

- the review mentions neighbor dogs and as mentioned previously, I would investigate what is going on here and how it impacts guests. If the dogs are regularly urinating near your home in an area that a guest has to walk past this would cause an odor that you would need to address.

- if you haven't already, you could reach out to this past guest and ask for some additional insight. It can be very instructive to understand.  If something was called out, take steps to remedy. I once had a guest map every ding that they found in the home. Our home isn't especially dinged up, this was extreme on her part, but instructional nonetheless. I then took care of every ding possible, which we were doing generally speaking but just at our pace and started to use a better scratch cover for the floor (we have wood floors and they are in very good shape but do have wear as they are 20 years old). 

- it may also be possible to ask this guest to remove their review or ask them to adjust the star rating to something less damaging and perhaps more suitable to their experience. I believe this is possible but can only be done by the guest. So you would have to appeal to a fairness factor here that might be calibrated differently for this person for some reason. 

- and finally if you don't already do this type of messaging, add something along these lines: check in message that includes reaching out for any issues with the home including cleanliness, better instructions, help finding something, a local recommendation and share/reshare all the ways to contact you so it is handy. Another message we use for our stays of more than 3 days is a 'how's it going' message that asks if they are settling in and reiterates all of the above. Granted, you could do all of this, hear from the guest on unrelated issues and still end up here.