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I would think saying you are ‘shameless’ and a ‘liar’ are irrelevant, and reviews need to be relevant.
As a prospective guest it does not truly help me to hear only that you are shameless or a liar.
But it would be relevant to read that ‘Host’s listing promised a starter pack of toilet paper. This was not provided and when asked about it the Host refused to provide any.’ That’s shameless and lying behavior but informative in a way that name calling is not.
That’s the approach I would suggest.
yes, I went through 2 different CS people trying to explain that. How is the review relevant? She also issued a warning to people who suffer from pet allergies: the host has dogs and cats so people with allergies should be aware. um, SHE didn’t have allergies, the animals don’t go into the cottage, and they are fully disclosed on the listing! honestly, that type of woman is how the “Karen” persona is still a thing.
And now we do have a TV (I thought that the summer of cricket and tennis and cycling was very important to some, so I bought a cheapie smart tv, and turns out this year no one has cared about the tv at all, ugh). I don’t want a TV in my listings, it’s just a hassle with the wifi (our internet is not great here in the country). I actually had a guest ask me about that review, even though it must be buried 10 deep by now. Well I tried to get it removed thinking that when Chesky announced there was an easy pathway to having retaliatory reviews removed, there might have been an opening for reasonable requests to have stupid reviews removed too.
N O P E
Thx HostAirbnbVRBO, its been on my mind to reply to your comment, the entire scenario has been stress inducing. I tried many times with different CSRs to get the guest review ‘reviewed’ but no deal. The final CSR I tried checked with someone else while I was on hold, and clarified - name calling is not allowed but the guest wrote that I lied, not that I was a liar, so it is OK.
I said this is just semantics and what about civility and civil behaviour etc, but didnt get anywhere then so gave up.
Its been a tough gig and as I open up my calendar again with ‘eyes wide open’ … hopefully…and with gratitude to the community info available on this forum, I have come to a less idealistic understanding of the Airbnb ethos.
I read their holocracy organisational structure is something akin to a pod or section and it made me wonder if the CSR pods (if they exist) have an ability to close ranks on hosts raising certain issues. In my case it was puzzling that the initial CSR telling me wrong information did not appear accountable later on and could have been instrumental in wrongfully advising the guest as well, but I was the one ending up holding the responsibility.
This is conjecture on my part. I realised with some shock how easily a disgruntled guest can dismantle a host’s rating and hosting status, so the few months with a closed calendar has been soothing and a reflective time for me.
I’m sorry about the stress that some guests can cause. I’ve felt it myself. Not to be Polyannish about it but the experience has deepened my commitment to be fair and nice with others, and to help me focus on what’s most important to grow my Host’s business – get repeat stays.
All of us are going to get our share of unfair guests. We haven’t had ours yet, but when/if we do I hope I will first re-examine everything I did/said/wrote and ask myself whether I could have done better, make any changes and then move on.
Someone here – @lagunafairway – and someone else recently wrote here about ‘how’ we go about things matters, that ‘charm’ can go a LONG and surprising way. This is not to ‘blame the victim’ but just to explore whether we could somehow have been more skillful in the situation. I certainly know that I have room to grow. I’ve rarely been accused of being charming, so there’s that.
So a lot depends on the exact facts, the exact words of the review. If you are willing to post it here the review, redacting any personal identifying info, along with a draft of what you are saying to the CS reps at Airbnb (any any written responses from them), I bet we could come up with a cogent written communication you could send to the CS Rep.
I usually favor written communications rather than calls because in a writing you can say exactly what you mean, citing Airbnb policies, PLUS if you challenge the CS response there is a written record for Airbnb to review if they’re so inclined.
Anecdotally, we’ve read here many situations where the first CS Rep said ‘no’ but then another agreed. I think a written communication furthers that possibility.
Let us help you. [Or try.]
So kind of you to compliment my post! On written versus verbal communication, my take on this is to play to your strengths and go with what you are best at. Verbal communication can be more effective, especially for those of us from a consulting/client service/hospitality background who do this for living. You just have to accept that there are some people in this world who are real tough nuts to crack, and see this as part of the game.
Yes you should put shovels, water buckets and fire extinguishers around the fire pit… but most guests don’t know how to use them.
I would remove fire pits altogether and put “open fire is forbidden” signs (in text and picture) all over the place.
The average human these days is a borderline idiot when it comes to common sense and basic daily tasks in the real life. Even something simple like closing the entrance door behind you should be told and explained so dealing with open fire is waaay over the average guest’s capability.
LOL!! we say this often. our farmstay has internal fireplaces as the main source of heating (and we have fire pits too, we are a farm and a bonfire is divine - “bush TV” we call it) and the amount of people who cannot light a fire is amazing. if for some reason we suddenly got plunged back into the 1800s, I swear the majority of people would not survive. The community leaders would be those who could milk a cow, and start a fire, bake bread, grow potatoes…
2nd LOL for your door closing comment. I actually have something in my manual about why propping the self closing open is a bad idea (we made it self closing for a reason). But still, I had one guest complain about bugs, and when I looked at the camera footage, i saw they’d propped the door open. 
(and my other reason is that the dogs have no shame and will invite themselves in, and invite themselves to your food too)
Maybe the problem is that building a fire hasn’t been a real life basic daily task in urban areas in decades. I’m 65 and if not for Girl Scouts I never would have learned how to manage fire. The only fire I saw daily in any of my homes were pilot lights on gas stoves.
Every time I walk out of the cell phone store I imagine the employees are shaking their head at what idiots old people are, unable to do real life basic tasks with their phones.