I'm an experience a host. I'm asking Airbnb support department to delete a review and ratings from a guest who cancelled his reservation, who did not check-in my apartment in Provence-France but was able to post a review and ratings about cleanliness, value or accuracy.
Just before check-in, I had a huge security concern with the persons that wanted to check-in my apartment: the guest who made the reservation was not there, the other persons were more than expected (the reservation was done for 2 and they were 5, and they were expecting additional friends to stay), they were very young and were clearly planning to organise a party in my apartment.
I contacted Airbnb support 3 times. The 3 agents I had on the phone clearly understood the situation. They all agreed on the fact that this review and ratings were not compliant with Airbnb policies and should be removed, however they are still there and the dedicated department does not seems to understand the situation.
I sent a message Catherine Powell, head of Hosting at Airbnb, but got no answer yet.
I had a closer look at Airbnb Review Policy and especially “Moderating for cancelled reservations” https://www.airbnb.ie/help/article/548/airbnbs-dispute-moderation-for-reviews#canceled
As it is clearly mentioned: “Airbnb allows you to post reviews for any reservation cancelled after 12.00am on the day of check-in”. This reservation has been cancelled at 5:31pm on the day of check-in and this cancellation happened before check-in. Therefore, the guest review is in breach with this Airbnb Policy.
In addition, the same policy https://www.airbnb.ie/help/article/548/airbnbs-dispute-moderation-for-reviews states that “If you decide to leave a review for a cancelled reservation, we do ask that you keep your feedback relevant to what you have personally experienced. In cases where Airbnb can confirm that a review was left for a cancelled reservation, and the review contains information irrelevant to our community (for example, frustrations about a flight cancellation, etc.), the review may be removed.”. The Guest, was not there in person for the check-in process. Therefore, his review is in breach with this Airbnb Policy.
Regarding the comment itself, I cannot accept being called "racist and Avoid like the plague or COVID" in a comment. It's very easy for someone to mention that someone else is a racist without proof. Additionally, this notice is public, so this comment falls under online defamation laws. This review does violate the Airbnb Content Policy.
As this reservation was cancelled before check-in, how can Airbnb justify that the guest was able to review cleanliness, value or accuracy (that evaluate how close to reality my property is described !), and give a 1-star rating? This review has a huge impact on my rating of Superhost evaluation and is a clear violation of Airbnb Policy.
I’m a victim for the second time with this review. The guest friends were extremely aggressive to the point that I almost called the police. The guest confirmed in his messages that he did not respect Airbnb policies or my own house rules about third-party booking, number of guests that will stay in my apartment or organization of parties and events.
Where is the support of Airbnb regarding all these issues ? Should I have waited until my apartment was destroyed ?
I’m asking Airbnb to strictly follow and apply Airbnb policies and remove this irrelevant review and ratings.