Has any host gotten a “low” review," notice from AirBnB only to be told by a customer service rep that we are not allowed to know what was said? I don’t mean which guest, just what the complaint was. How can that possibly further the interests of AirBnB or help hosts do a better job?
I’m in my second year of hosting, and was delighted to be made a Superhost. I rent out the lower floor of my house near Yosemite as it’s nearly a complete apartment with two bedrooms, a common room w/kitchenette, and two large decks with panoramic forest views plus a completely private hot tub… I always have more requests to book than I can accept, I’ve been told by seasoned guests that they have never experienced a rental that was so thoughtfully stocked and presented.
I’m over 60, and doing this takes every ounce of my energy and time. I spend at least $65 with every booking buying food and drink staples and other goodies, and that doesn’t include the cost of paying someone to help me clean. My PG&E bill has doubled since I’ve become a host, from $160/mo. to $325/mo. I’ve gotten only wonderful reviews, except one of my earliest guests who was clearly mentally ill and wrote a laundry list of things that needed fixing, including changing all my switchplate covers (?) and letting him look into the “secret room” which I kept telling him led, into the basement and nothing was there but spiders and bats (true). His number one complaint was "dirt on the floor behind the toilet, which turned out to be the place where the glaze had worn off the tile a few years ago due to a little leak I didn’t know was there.
I have met people who are now friends and we correspond regularly. So when I got AirBnB’s monthly view for July, telling me that I have “two low reviews.” I was stunned and upset. I knew who one of them was – a tall, handsome young man who was completely full of himself – just graduated from an Ivy-League college – imagined that I was his personal servant during their stay. He wrote that he had dinged me a star “because of the traffic” from my home to Yosemite, which just happened to be same weekend that President Obama was visiting our beautiful National Park. Since my close friend* Barak* didn’t call me like he usually does when he’s in my literal neck of the woods, I thought this complaint was ridiculous, petty and hateful.
But what was the complaint put forth in the second mystery review? I called ABnB customer service and the young man told me that we’re not allowed to know that information. I don’t think that can be right – how can a host fix a problem that could conceivably cause more “low” reviews and loss of Superhost status – if ABnB won’t tell us what the guest complained about?
I thanked the rep but asked to speak to a supervisor, and he refused to transfer me. Some reps are better and/or more experienced than others. If what he said is true, that would make the review system one big witch hunt, and it simply defies logic. I never asked which guest left the review, only what the complaint was, because it sure isn’t in any review that I’m allowed to read, and ALL my guests have left me sweet little notes thanking me, and I never ask them for that.
Has any host gotten a “low” review but then was told by AB&B reps that hosts are not allowed to know what the complaint is about? How can that possibly further the interests of AirBnB, who write on their site that reviews are a way hosts and guests learn how to be better hosts and guests? How can I fix something if I don’t know it’s broken? I don’t know where to go from here and it’s driving me nuts.
Any response from other hosts would be appreciated. And Barak Obama is not really a close personal friend.