A guest just left me a bad reviews that contained falsehoods - no counter space, only a burner for cooking, unit was a garage - not a guest house (it is a converted garage as the listing clearly states). I contacted Airbbnb and they would not remove it. I’ve been hosting for 7 years and have a 4.9 average rating. I have never a bad review out of over 250. Do I have any other recourse??
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Why did he give you a bad review that contained falsehoods?
Good question. I have no idea why a person would do that. In pasted in her review is a list of the issues I sent to Airbnb
The host, Marilyn was friendly and responsive. The place was described as a guest house, but was just a converted garage. The shower was extremely small, no sink in the bathroom, poor lighting, and no mirror large enough to do makeup or hair. There were only 2 towels provided for our 3 night stay (2 guests) and no bath mat, even though she noticed when we checked in she never brought one. The only sink was in the “kitchen” where we had to do dishes, brush teeth, wash hands, and make coffee. No counter space. The beds were extremely uncomfortable, very mushy, soft and caved in. No facial tissues provided anywhere. She did provide a few amenities like soda and a few pieces of fruit in the fridge, coffee, creamer and sugar, along with a few dishes. If you wanted to cook you had to go outside around the back of the garage and use a propane burner or BBQ. Definitely not convenient and dusty. We would not choose to return for sure. Couldn’t wait to leave to get to a comfortable bed to sleep.
My response to airbnb about her issues:
In this review Tammie was unhappy with (1) The place is a renovated garage. The listing clearly states that the unit is in a detached garage. (2) she said the shower was small - the listing clearly states it is a small shower and even includes a photo (3) the lighting was poor and no place to do makeup - The listing clearly shows the great lighting and two mirrors to do makeup. It is 400 sq ft and has tons of lighting. (4) Only had 2 towels - they had two complete sets of bath towels, hand towels, and wash clothes (5) no bath mat - I did apologize to her partner as theyh were leaving that I neglected to put in a bath mat and he said it was not a problem, they used one of the hand towels (6) She said the only sink was in the “kitchen”, meaning the mini inside kitchen, I think, and no counter space - there are two sinks, one is in the outdoor kitchen with a 15’ counter and a double sink for cleaning fish/clams/doing dishes and both are clearly shown in the listing photos (7) the beds were mushy and uncomfortable - the listing clearly states there are foam toppers on both beds (8) She said I left a few small pieces of fruit - I left a big bowl with oranges, apples, grape as well as Starbucks coffee, ingredients for s’mores, hot chocolate, tea, a six pack of coca cola, filtered water, maps, a guidebook, and told them to not hesitate to contact me if they needed anything at all. (9) She said you had to go outside to cook - the listing clearly states there is an outdoor kitchen as well as the mini kitchen inside. (10) She said the outside kitchen was dusty - all the counters, stove and BBQ were wiped and clean. It is outdoors! I also have a map of the layout of the unit on my listing to make the setup clear. Please remove this deceptive review as soon as possible. This is very upsetting.
I’m sorry, I could see why you’re upset, but you’re seeing your Airbnb through a different light than the guest. The guest is describing accurately what they found. As usual buried in here is a few host fails like lack of a bathmat that was promised. The lack of tissues is simply poor Hosting - and putting tissues in going forward is going to make your airbnb better, so thanks to this guest…
I would suggest that you use their review as a shopping list to make sure you fix what a guest noticed as fails - such as needing more than two towels per person. In our Airbnb, we provide two bath towels per person per day, but that’s just us. And confidentially, you can’t count washcloths and hand towels as bath towels. I recommend 4 bath towels for two guests.
A guest mentioning that the shower is small is accurate if it is, and if the make up area was “good enough” for you it was apparently too small and poorly lit for this guest. One thought might be to expand your counter space where the makeup is being applied… that might be why they think it was too small. If the outside kitchen was dusty, then it was apparently also accurate - things can get dusty and if the guest is pointing out that it’s dusty, it’s up to you to mitigate this. One possible solution would be to have covers over the outdoor things to be removed when used to prevent dust settling on their cooking serfaces. And the comment about it being a garage will only be helpful to you, as it will temper expectations of the next guests.
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@Oceanpark Most of her review isn’t “bad”, as it just reiterates what you already state in your listing. She’s probably either one of those people who likes to focus on all the things she doesn’t like or else she just failed to read the listing info thoroughly.
One thing I don’t understand:
That there are foam toppers does not really have anything to do with how comfortable the bed is. If the mattresses are worn out and uncomfortable, a foam topper isn’t going to correct that. Have you tried sleeping on them yourself lately? (Maybe they are fine and she is just being a fusspot, but not necessarily)
I had a review recently where the guest wrote a similar review, stating things clearly mentioned in my listing, as if they were complaints. He never should have booked my place, because all the “complaints” centered around things that were difficult for him, due to his mobility and vision issues, and he left my first 4 star review, after total 5 star reviews since I opened in 2016.
As you have so many good reviews, I would not fret about this one. Airbnb has recently turned over their review ajudication to AI, which is reportedly rejecting pretty much all review removals. You’ll just be wasting your valuable time to try to get it removed.
Just leave a review response, clarifying the comments this guest made for future guests. Keep it brief, unemotional and factual, and at the end, say “Please refer to our other reviews for an accurate picture of what to expect when you book with us.”
(And it isn’t necessary to respond to each thing she said)
One review like this among 250 good ones is not going to damage your business- guests can distinguish an outlier review and aren’t going to believe that one over all the others.
Thank you for replying, Muddy.
The mattresses are a year old with wonderful foam toppers. Guests love them and often say how comfy they are. This lady lied about numerous things and was mean about it too. I did reply with a god bless you and nicely suggested she read descriptions prior to booking. i work hard to please guests and I know this review won’t make me lose my status but I do not like a liar. Airbnb needs to drop the AI and the only thing we can do is continue to complain to them.
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It’s just one of “those” guests where you can’t it right - no matter what you do.
They clearly didn’t possess the correct reading skills nor common sense to understand that this might not be the right place for them. Perhaps they even considered it as a free stay if something worse could have been found by them…
Complaints like “shower too small” or “beds extremely uncomfortable” are just a few expressions that show that this guest was a fluke, based on your previous reviews.
Anyway, you cannot make it right for 100% of the guests. We see it happen all the time, that some guests just want to have everything like at home where they live and also didn’t bother to fully read and understand the listing description and/or not looking at the photos which should document EVERYTHING that your listing has to offer.
It sucks. It happens. Move on. Better times are ahead.
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Hosterer,
Thank you for correctly assessing this situation and your kind advice. I appreciate your insights.
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In addition to the excellent advice above, I’d like to add that reviews are in the eye of the beholder and it’s easy for an unhappy host to interpret reviews in different ways.
For example the guest wrote:
Whereas the host refers to that comment as:
I’m not splitting hairs here - the ‘small’ makes a lot of difference to anyone reading. (To me, ‘small’ implies ‘cheap’).
It’s not actually a bad review - it’s the guest’s remarks about her stay so I suspect that’s what Airbnb would say and as such, not remove it. It’ll be buried by new reviews in no time anway.
And as @Rolf says, it’s a blueprint to help you improve your listing and your offering. For example, is ‘garage conversion’ at the top of your listing or buried below the fold?
It might be that the guest was disappointed on arrival as the property isn’t the ‘guest house’ she was expecting so can your listing be adjusted to give potential guests accurate expectations?
It’s a bummer, I know. Recently we had guests who simply didn’t read that we do not have a kitchen in their studio. It’s clearly written and visible in the photos. It didn’t stop them from giving us 5 out of 10 on BDC just because they couldn’t cook. I would have given them a 5 out of 10 because they couldn’t read…
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Jaquo, thank you for your input.
The fruit was in a big crytal bowl and was heirloom oranges, Ambrosia apples, and grapes. That was not a big deal on its own but it was more of her just being nasty.
In the listing description I clearly state:
The guest quarters are private and separate in a detached garage adjacent to the main house. There is a nice private outdoor area with a firepit and covered outdoor kitchen and dining area.
It is a bad review because she LIED in it. I did learn a few things though, I just ordered a ton more towels and will keep 8 sets in there for a two-day stay. I will check to see if the last guest used all the tissues.
This stinker though, I always tell guests, “I want you to have a good time so please contact me through Airbnb or call me if there is anything you want or need”. I was feet away while she was over there fussing and would have galloped out there with anything she wanted.
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Yeah, there needs to be a column for the inability to read. I was shocked recently when a guest had read everything and even knew the names and breeds of my dogs in the adjacent yard. All my guests have been just wonderful - with a few exceptions - and this poor lady makes me appreciate them more.
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I understand so very much because I say exactly the same to my guests. I show them where I live and tell them to knock on my door if they need anything at all.
Some guests do so (too much sometimes) and others never do - but it balances out in the end.
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Why would you leave 8 sets of towels for a 2 night stay? That just encourages guests to create a ton of unnecessary laundry.
I only host one guest at a time and give them 2 bath towels, a hand towel and a washcloth once a week. I do tell them when they check in to let me know if they need more. But not only have they never asked for more, when I’ve offered more after a week, some say they don’t need them, that they haven’t even used the second bath towel yet.
I can understand leaving extra towels in an entire house listing where the host is off-site, but for an on-site host it’s easy enough to drop off clean towels when necessary.
I do think you should provide 2 bath towels per person, though- women with long hair tend to wrap one around their wet hair and use one for their body, or one towel may still be damp when they shower again.
It isn’t really necessary to change your practices that there have been no complaints about before just because you got one major complainer.
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It is a bad review when guests lie. You have to call the kid by its name.
When guests start throwing lies around that (according to OP) are flat out wrong, then the guest’s review cannot be good.
Either be factual and trustworthy or lie and lose all your credibility.
We had guests asking for additional blankets one time, when I explained during the check-in tour that there are more blankets underneath the beds in the drawers. They kept asking for more. I provided them more blankets - to make our guests happy. On check-out day I just wanted to make sure that they found the blankets below the beds and THEN they said they couldn’t find any. 
They were at my front door and I said: “You will come with me right now to check on that because I must be losing my mind”. I went into the bedroom, moved the beds apart (which they had moved together" to access the drawers and show it to them. I was truly happy to see how embarrassed they were because the whole time they thought I was some careless host, who lies about amenities that were not there.
We always tell the guests to reach out to us if they have questions or need anything. Then I repeat that again. And then they usually say: “Don’t worry we will let you know” and then I respond “Please understand that we want to make your stay as pleasant as possible, we really want you to give us a shout whatever it may be, we work from home, there is always someone home”. It’s like living in the Twilight Zone.
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I’ve found that reading their reviews can help hosts to improve their listing and in doing do, set guests’ expectations realistically.
And guests being people, rather than superguests, it’s a good idea to make things as easy as possible.
For example, where did the OP’s guest get the ‘guest cottage’ from in her review? Could the listing be amended to ensure that guests know it’s a converted garage?
Over the years, I’ve changed many things including for example, the house tour. I had a guest who said in the review that he wished there was a coffee maker in the apartment. There was. And still is. (This is similar to your disappearing blankets, @Hosterer )
And it’s the only appliance on the kitchen counter. How could he miss it? But he had.
So now, when I’m showing people the kitchen I’ll say casually “I’m sure you know how to operate the coffee maker but just in case, the manual is in the drawer…”
I don’t want anyone else thinking that I neglected to consider their coffee needs.
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This is all fine an dandy but seriously? Now I have to show guests how drawers work?
In all those years you had this one guest who couldn’t notice the coffee maker on the counter and now all other guests have to “suffer” 5 more seconds just because you need to mention this to avoid an off-chance review from an oblivious guest?
I know what you’re doing but I also try to reflect and evaluate what I can do better especially when welcoming guests to strike a balance of a warm welcome and useful information instead of being perceived as overbearing, stalky and boring.
I think some things have to be left to the guests - also not to make them actually feel like they’re children. It’s a bit delicate to find that sweet spot to make guests understand that “it is ok to ask” and not make them feel like they’re idiots.
I was actually happy when guests called me to check on the coffee machine as they said it was broken and I showed them how the Nespresso capsule has to be inserted into the hole that matches the shape of the capsule. Idiocracy vibes right there.
The OP seems to be upset that the guest “lied”. I don’t see evidence of lying in the review. Picky? yes. Didn’t read the listing details? For sure. But a liar? What did she lie about? That the beds were uncomfortable? That is super subjective, as is the lighting to some extent. Take the advice of the people on this forum: fix the things you can, and be as clear as possible in your listing, in your welcome message, etc about the idiosyncrasies of your property. Then move on to the next guest.
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Really?
Looks like a fact to me.
Taking this into consideration and looking at the other remarks by the guest - the majority is hard to argue with facts but if the guests complains about a small shower but the host wrote in the listing that there is a small shower, then it should not be in the review.
Same goes for the lighting and this is a very subjective matter. I for one like it very bright in the room, I don’t care whether it is natural light or artificial. My parents have a tendency to keep the lighting very dim. So this is also a personal preference. We hosts, simply cannot get it right for everyone. Bear in mind that OP stated that there is tons of lighting. So if a guest is missing natural lighting then this should be specified. When a host makes the effort to provide ample lighting to completely illuminate the place, it’s no their fault if the guest insists on natural lighting.
The list goes on and on (converted garage etc.). IMO, OP did his/her due diligence by describing precisely what the guest can expect. We hosts cannot fix the inability to read and comprehend what is written.
It is unprofessional and disrespectful to complain about things that are addressed in the listing. Because if any of these things “could” pose a discomfort to the guest - they should have chosen a different accommodation. As simple as that.
We know that there are terrible hosts out there. But the same applies to guests. And being picky something else. That would be a guest who keeps reaching out to the host to adjust things to their liking, hence giving the host an opportunity to improve their stay.
This here is just one of “those” guests.
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