retaliatory review policy

[Udeshika0]

How do I get CS to understand that a review falls under this policy?

Just recently, a guest didn’t leave at the agreed-upon check-out time. Our cleaning vendor appeared at the scheduled cleaning time, but the guest was still at the property. Here are some of the facts:

1. Our house rules and rental agreement state that check-out time is 10:00 AM, and our cleaning vendor will arrive at 10:30
2. Cleaning Vendor arrived at 10:30 as scheduled, and the guest was still on the property. Please remember that the cleaning vendor is an outside third-party contractor expected to be on-premise for an allotted time.
3. We waited until 11:00 AM for the guest to leave to begin cleaning the property for a same-day check-in on another Airbnb guest.

In response, that guest left us a 1 star review as retaliation. By her own admission, she overstayed the reservation, created a stressful situation for us as our team is in a rush to prepare the property for the next individual, and we are getting absolutely no satisfactory explanation from Airbnb support aside from the templated response they send to everyone. I've tried multiple times with CS, and all they keep saying is we reviewed it and its staying with no explanation as to why it doesn't follow under this policy. 

[Inna22]

@Udeshika0 Do you have the exchange between you and the guest where you are asking her to leave after the check out time and she is admitting to still being there?

You can ask for reimbursement for late check out, Airbnb rules have a price schedule for that.

I would also recommend getting a Party squasher (no affiliation with the company). This device helped me so many times to prove if the guests were at the property and how many.

None of this answers your question though so let me get to them. I am assuming you have already called and asked for it to be removed and got a no? Call again and ask for another agent. They always send a follow up message after the initial conversation, make sure to post the link to the policy.

Good luck and come back to let us know how it went!

[Udeshika0]

@Inna22 In the guests review, she admits to staying past the check out time. 

Airbnb agrees that the review is harsh, but says that the review is part of the "guest experience." My counter argument was, well lets say the guest is at a concert, everything is going well, the guest decides to throw a water bottle at the musician and is kicked out. In retaliation, that person leaves a 1 star review. A bad experience has now been created because of the actions of the person throwing the water bottle. 

How is this different?

The guest overstayed the reservation, leaves a 1 star review, lies in the review, and yet my listing gets penalized? The guest staying past the scheduled check-out time caused the issue she describes in her review and her rating. In her review she even says its a great property, but gives us a 1 star because the cleaners arrive 30 minutes after the check-out time. 

If the negligence or the actions of the guest consequently causes a bad experience, those review should be removed. 

I tried multiple times escalating this, they've shut me down. The best part, these CS reps keep giving templated responses, and yet they are judge, jury, and executioner and don't seem to have the ability to understand if an "experience" is caused by a host or the actions of a guest.

Funny thing, this property in question, on other channels is getting perfect ratings. 

I've at a lost of words here. 

[Udeshika0]

Had this guest been prepared to leave at the correct time, this wouldn't be an issue. 

Also, that guest only leaves 1 star review or no star for hosts. How is that someone that gives an accurate rating of a property and can impact whether a property is of good quality or not?

[Inna22]

@Udeshika0 

A few things

1. support does not care about your examples even if they make sense. Focus on the policy. There is a policy reason to remove your review (she broke your rules). Call again and focus on that part
2. Even if she stayed past check out (which is my big pet peeve), it does not have to escalate. Saying- hey, my cleaners are on a clock, and we have guests moving in, we are going to go ahead and get started, so sorry to have bothered you and start stripping beds and working on the toilets (and then leave the guest a bad review :)) goes very far. We are in a customer service business and often have to bite our tongues. I am sure you were nice and I know this approach does not always work, some people are just a-holes but worth a try.
3. do not overstress because of one bad review. It will be soon on the second page and forgotten. Make sure to respond calmly and matter of fact. Any normal guest will understand what happened.

[Udeshika0]

1. I've done that tactic, didn't work. 

2. We did something even better, we allowed them to stay for an extra hour, we paid an extra $100 directly to the cleaning vendor to bring someone else to help rush clean the property. 

3. Problem is, no one will book a property with a 3.8 score, this property is now dead on airbnb. 

[Paula]

Hello @Udeshika0, thank you for bringing this topic to our community.

Have you had a chance to read Inna's comment? Have you reached out to the support team as she suggested?

Please keep us updated.