Airbnb lack of support in removing a false guest review

[Rachel1620]

I had a guest leave a review that violated Airbnb's code of conduct, and contained a false and slanderous statement.  I contacted Airbnb support immediately after the review was made, and after 4 days I have still not been able to resolve this issue.  I have messaged Airbnb support every day through their chat, and I have called every day for the last three days.  Each day I was on hold for over 1.5 hours, and today I have had to call three separate times because I keep getting disconnected after 45 minutes on hold.  Yesterday I was told that the case was being referred to their Legal team, and that I should hear back from someone within 24 hours.  I still have not heard back from anyone, and the review is still posted.  I am so utterly frustrated at this point, and don't feel that I have received any support, urgency or any decent level of customer service from Airbnb support. Does anyone know of another way to get help with this issue?  

[Gordon0]

Wowzer, that's some review they left you, @Rachel1620. Perhaps try tweeting Airbnb. 

[Rachel1620]

It’s crazy, right? Not only does it violate Airbnb’s code of conduct, it’s false and slanderous. We haven’t had a single inquiry since it was posted, and I have been trying to work with Airbnb to have it reviewed and removed since then. 

Airbnb supposedly has a team monitoring posts for content that violates their code of conduct. If that is truly the case, why haven’t they flagged this one?  It’s going on 5 days now being posted.....

@Gordon0 I’ll have to create a Twitter account (I don’t use Twitter) but I’ll try tweeting them - anything to get this situation resolved! Thanks!

[Anonymous]

@Rachel1620   Wow, as sorry as I am that your business has suffered from this defamatory review, I have to say it was quite the read as a work of fiction. This Captain Geno character sounds like a blast, like half Hemingway half Hunter S Thompson.

But even if the story were true, it violates the content policy on several counts (chiefly, defamation re: illegal drugs and profanity) so as long as you keep hassling CS about it they'll almost certainly remove it.

As a new host, you might not have learned all the secret codes yet, but when Airbnb says "we have a team of specialists dedicated to:  ______ "  you can be certain that this team is non-existent and that the function is at best in the lowest-priority docket of whichever contractor they've outsourced it to.

[Rachel1620]

@Anonymous Isn't it an amazing work of fiction?  I love your description of a Hemingway/Hunter Thompson.  My first thoughts were of a modern day Jack Sparrow - maybe I should use this for the plot of a book or a screenplay? 🙂 

Seriously, though, this is definitely where my lack of experience of a host has set expectations that Airbnb is failing to meet.  The "team of specialists" is completely missing the mark.  I expected at least a little bit of concern, not the complete lack of action that I'm experiencing, or to constantly have to hassle them.  At this point, I have called Airbnb support every day (and have been on hold for at least 30-60 minutes each time, plus have sent written requests every day.  It's absurd, and it's costing us - we have not had a single inquiry since this review went up, and prior we were getting 1-2 inquiries a day.  

[Roberta2]

Hello @Rachel1620 

Maybe because of this review, I believe they suspended your listing, as does not show on your Airbnb profile?

Could you kindly post the link?

Thanks!

[Rachel1620]

Hi @Roberta2, my apologies - I actually snoozed the listing for one week so that I would not continue to have negative impressions by anyone who visited it, while I'm waiting for Airbnb support to actually take action.  I didn't realize that would prevent you all from seeing it.  I'll post the screenshot that I took of the review so that you can see it.

[Anonymous]

@Rachel1620  Your listing being snoozed explains the lack of inquiries. 

[Rachel1620]

@Anonymous I only snoozed the listing this morning.  For the 5 days between when the review was posted, and when I snoozed the listing, there was absolutely no activity.  I appreciate that new listings probably benefit from an algorithm of some sort, but to have absolutely no activity?  This review amounts to slander and defamation of character, and has created an impediment to our listing. 

[Helen350]

Hi @Rachel1620 - The guest's nasty, malicious review IS visible on your profile page, even tho' you've snoozed your listing. And clicking nasty guest's pic lets me see your review of her....

Please, please write honest reviews in future, to warn other hosts!

Yes, we all want to be nice, especially when we start hosting, but the extra info you wrote here would be useful to future hosts. 

- It's a common problem in shared spaces that some guests fail to read, then get upset when they realise the place is shared. Their fault! You could save an introductory message to guests who book, so your welcome message reads "Just checking that you understand my husband lives on the boat, & that you only have access to ..."

[Rachel1620]

@Helen350 you are absolutely right.  I should have been more honest with my review of them.  Chalk it up to being new (and to be honest I don't like confrontation), but I will not make that mistake again in next time. 

Thank you for the suggestion on the welcome message - I'll make that change right away.  

[Anonymous]

@Rachel1620   There is no active listing attached to your profile; are you the primary host or co-host?

Aside from the review, there's also the fact that new listings get a temporary boost in the search formula for their first few weeks online. It's normal to see a drop in inquiries when that period expires. Given how much the pandemic has impacted travel, it's hard to know what the "normal" level of interest should be at the moment. I'd be even more concerned about the review drawing too much interest from the wrong people - who might be disappointed to find that you're not offering free steak, weed, and cocaine while assessing their genitalia.

[Rachel1620]

Haha!! @Anonymous I hadn't thought of the untapped clientele who would enjoy free steak, apparently an assortment of drugs and alcohol, all while being assessed and graded on genetalia - what a gold mine! 🙂

[Helen3]

Hi Rachel

What a horrible situation. Any idea what made the guest say these things about your partner?

Can you share your review of these guests?

Post your concerns on their two FB pages and when you post on twitter l-  copy in the  owner. Make sure you include a hashtag for Airbnb 

good luck and do let us know what happens.

[Rachel1620]

@Helen3 Unfortunately they were not polite guests.  They were upset that they were sharing the boat with my husband, Gino, even though I was extremely careful to stress in the listing that he lives in the owners cabin on one side of the boat, and that the rental is for private use of the 2 cabins on the other side of the boat plus shared use of the kitchen, galley and deck area.  They tried to tell him to leave the galley area, and he calmly reminded them that he lives on the boat, and the galley area is shared.  They also did not take care of their 4-year-old son - he started standing on top of the tables (which would have broken them), took all of the covers off of our navigation instruments at the helm, and was starting to kick the navigation instruments (which would cost thousands of dollars to repair or replace).  That's actually why Gino was staying up in the galley was to make sure their son was supervised, and didn't break anything on the boat.  The steaks that they mention were actually Gino's dinner for the next evening, but when he went to bed they took the steaks and cooked them, plus went through all of our storage areas and helped themselves to a bottle of wine, I don't know how many beers, and a ton of other food.  None of that was included in the Airbnb, which Gino stressed when he went through the house rules at the beginning of their stay.  After they left the next day, they messaged me to request a refund, but before I could reply to them they started calling Gino on his cell phone (they must have called at least a dozen times) and then berated him over the phone.  When we both politely refused to refund them, that's when they left this review.  We were just going to chalk it up as a learning experience and make a mental note to try and screen guests a little better next time, but now I have to deal with getting this false review taken down.