Who needs another story about retaliatory / revenge reviews?

[Becky88]

No one, right?

However I'd like to highlight to @Catherine-Powell that after 7 years of Superhost status without a single miss, I just lost this status in the period ending 3/31/21 due to a single 1-star revenge review from a guest who was charged for damage and extra cleaning for a party she threw against House Rules.  Normally there would be enough total reviews that the occasional revenge review wouldn't matter, but not so last period with bookings way down due to the pandemic.

Total average rating:  4.73

Average rating without revenge review:  4.88

Some here may say...

"It's a feature, not a bug, to dissuade hosts from enforcing House Rules or making damage claims."

"Stop obsessing about ratings and Superhost status, it's just control psychology and status will bounce back quickly anyway."

"If you don't like it, leave the platform."

"In fact, Airbnb wants you to leave because they have a glut of hosts; now more than ever, their biz depends on driving demand (guests), not supply (hosts)."

Maybe so, but I wanna BELIEVE!  C'mon Airbnb, don't crush my naive host dreams.  Please fix this issue!

[Bill177]

Dave I think you are right on here. However I made the decision after talking with Aibnb  to hold the guest ransom by their not writing a review at all or if they did I would request the additional money thru Airbnb for 4 guests 2 nights. The quests never left a review. They were con artists but not worth all the above discussions to me , aggravation. What I found out from Airbnb, before i held them ransom, was if they wrote a bogus review because they were caught I was told: Their review is posted as well as mine which would not have been good. Then Airbnb decides if I was correct  they bill the guests for additional  and their review is then deleted? Airbnb did not tell me if my review of them would be deleted?  It does not sound like these retaliatory reviews against hosts are deleted? We do need a dedicated team for Super and Plus Hosts so we get the correct information.  Bad guests are not beneficial to either party in my book but if bad reviews of guests are deleted that hurts all hosts. 

[Dale711]

@Becky88 @Laurie95 @Dave52 @James638 

Hopefully HAB members  look in to your case and  seriously works on the reviews standards.

 @Anna1403 , @Bez8,  @Antonella78, @Susan208, @Till-and-Jutta0,  @Nutth0, @Norma17, @Peter1, @Merrydith0, @Pascale144, @Omar202, @Pooja30, @Tiffany204, @Vinícius0, @Shinya0, @Ningyi0, @Samuel604 

[Ute42]

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@Dale711    

You said hopefully HAB members should seriously work on the reviews standards. Even if they do work on the review standards 24/7 this won't change anything.

The complaints about the review system aren't new, host have been complaining about this for the past 5 years and nothing ever changed.

Why do You believe there would be a change if the HAB members start tackling the issue?

[Dale711]

Chere  Madame @Ute42 ,

 5 years, 10 years, 20 years are doesn’t matter.

As a matter as fact, HAB members started introduced by 12 Dec’2020.

Success or in success are doesn’t matter either, the matter of a matter is they willing to keep pushing forward. With respect, I do understand you may  feeling hopeless regards to the issue,  yes this doesn’t mean I necessarily to change my perspective.

Has you forgetting the “sour grapes and the fox” tale.

[Ute42]

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@Dale711   

From reading Your posts I understand that You are extremely motivated and positive all the way. Have You ever considered running as a candidate for the HAB 2022 season?

[Dale711]

@Ute42 

I’ll take that as a compliment! 

My answer is ‘ No’.
I believe a greater and talented  host like you’re more preferred as candidate of  HAB 2022.

There's nothing wrong with being a positive person. But there is a time, place and proper application of it. Yet, I wouldn’t toxic positively.

As a matter a fact,  It's a "good vibes only" approach to life.

[Mary996]

I think @Dale711 would be a great candidate... better still @Ute42 ...would be working through issues and arriving at solutions between ourselves which we might politely promote?  Shame we need an intermediary.

[Mary996]

Fresh faces fresh endeavour..... @Ute42 

[Ute42]

.

@Mary996   

If 5000 people have been banging their heads against a concrete wall for 5 years to no avail, how likely is it that 17 new people with new heads and fresh faces will bang this wall into pieces?

That's not very likely, right?

[Sarah977]

@Ute42  Those of us with realistic expectations, i.e. no expectations of change, won't be disappointed.

Those wearing rose-colored glasses will eventually see the light, or perhaps choose to leave the glasses on forever.

[Mary996]

Could be a matter of timing @Ute42 . Now they are ready to listen ... Lets get onto it xxx

[Renee472]

I'm new to AirBnB ... I wouldn't want the bad reviews removed... I think it shows authenticity to see a little bad reviews - even for the Best of hosts , the fact you can RESPOND to anything bad written ( I'm still new here, I think you can?)... that is how you make up for it, your platform to respond, give the flip side.   This allows those of us who read both sides to get a fuller picture, many times it's SO VERY OBVIOUS the guests were at fault !  Frankly I would be afraid to open up a house to this - for this very reason!

Being as honest as possible with reviews is very helpful for both sides.  

Before I do any booking, I read these reviews carefully to get some idea of how guests may have taken advantage of a Host, also gives some gauge to what a host expects from a guest, reading THEIR responses.

It was funny, the very 1st place we stayed, I warned my husband these hosts are SO CLEAN, all of their reviews mention how clean the guests left, the only bad one was the hosts telling the guests they should be ashamed leaving the house the way they did, mentioning how dirty the toilet was, etc.   Here this house was SO CLEAN (which I expected), my kids kept their shoes outside the house, and didn't want to use the dishes/ pans, the dishes had paper towels between them, our friend said we could have ate off the floor.  

And on the money, the review left for us was how CLEAN we were.   All was good.  We had some idea what to expect, it's very comforting.   And honestly I WANT TO SEE HOSTS come down on Partying or breaking the rules, if that means leaving a bad review for GUESTS, do it.. I would not want to stay at a Partying house for instance, so good to know the hosts are against this also.   Just my 2 cents.  All prospective guests should read both sides, in such situations  .. I would see no negatives at all from- regardless of what a few BAD guests said.     

[Dave52]

@Renee472   It's not about a bad review.  It's about what led up to the bad review.  Let's say a host needs to contact a guest about a 2AM out of control party (neighbors complaining) and nicely asks them to be respectful and quiet.  Let's say it is all documented in the airbnb portal.  Let's say the guest gives a 1 star review and brings up all sorts of stuff no other guest has mentioned (guaranteed they won't mention the party).  Somebody at airbnb should be able to look at the situation, figure out what really happened, and remove the review.  If they don't, that host will probably never contact a guest about their 2 AM out of control party again.  This is one example, there are others.

[Renee472]

It would be very helpful if AirBnB could put their 2 cents into such situations to warn readers such reviews were NOT DESERVED, at the very least.   I feel for Hosts in such situations, it would be HIGHLY frustrating.  Like I said, I dont think I could ever be a host - as I would be IRATE if I had to deal with situations like this...in this cancel culture society, I suppose anything could get out of hand.     

I just wanted to comment as I tend to look for bad  reviews when reviewing anything and I always look at both sides, many times I totally ignore a bad one due to -likely the character of who wrote it to begin with, if 90% of your guests are loving your place, felt welcomed, and wanting to come back -then you get 1  or 2 totally out of character- and we get to read your responses to those, it speaks volumes.  It nearly speaks for itself...even if it is truly UNFAIR -which I understand it is.. 

 Beings AirBnb doesn't seem to help in these situations, could you possibly write something up in your opening page to cover some of the situations ...   I think I came across one host who wrote something up like that ....don't know, some may find that tacky... but others would apprecaite understanding more of the story if we read a very harsh review from a guest. Just a thought.

[Sarah977]

@Renee472  It's nice to hear a guest say they take any bad reviews in context of the rest of a host's reviews. I do that when reading guest reviews, as well.

I also think my fellow hosts fret too much about guests taking all bad reviews seriously. The problem for hosts, though is not so much the written reviews as the ratings. If some mean-spirited guest leaves a 1* rating, in retaliation for being taken to task for ignoring house rules or sneaking in extra people, that 1* rating can tank a host. There are hosts with great ratings, and that 1* rating is all it takes to lose them the Superhost status they've held for years.

As for "I don't think I could ever be a host", not all hosts have these bad experiences. I've been lucky to get very lovely guests who all have left nice reviews. So I really like hosting and quite enjoy my guests.

But I host a private room in my home. It's much easier for guests to take advantage when they have an entire house to themselves. No one could throw a party, or sneak in a dog, or trash the place when the host also lives in the home. Personally, I wouldn't want to host an entire house listing unless I lived right next door.