Once I have made a review on a guest, can that be removed?? This is in regards to a bad review I gave a guest as they did not follow any rules, left the house a total mess, dirty diapers, soda spilled all over cabinets and on floors, etc… Perhaps I should have just addressed personally and not put in review but I would want to know if someone had a bad experience so as to know not to rent to them depending on what it says.
1 Like
That’s exactly why we should all write honest reviews - so that other hosts in future know what the guests are like.
You say that you should have addressed it at the time, suggests that you’re an in-home host. Those of us whose rentals are separate apartments have no way of knowing what guests are like until they’ve left. So we need other hosts to warn us.
6 Likes
no perhaps I worded it wrong, it is not an in home guest… separate house. I meant I should have voiced my opinion to her the way we communicate through AirBnB. After I placed the review she messaged me asking me to take down and basically my answer was that I don’t think I can and that I was just being honest as I feel I have an obligation to the AirBnb community to be honest.
4 Likes
You cannot remove it. I’m pretty sure she contacted Airbnb and requested it removed. When they told her “no” then she tried asking you. Let it be a lesson for her so that next time she will not be a slob in someone’s home. You did the right thing by writing an honest review. She’s the one at fault, not you.
12 Likes
Ah, I see. No, I would leave it if it’s truthful. She might be more careful next time.
You are 100% right that you have to warn the community. That’s what the whole Airbnb system is based on.
5 Likes
Thank you for making me feel better… I don’t know why I felt bad… I don’t like to be negative. I have been fortunate with all my guests. Of course the house is not going to be perfect but this was a mess…
3 Likes
Obviously this is the first bad review I have had to make!
But I promise you, your fellow hosts all thank you 
7 Likes
@Josie0811 - thank you for being honest and supporting the ABB system the way it should be handled. Feeling bad comes with the territory (for some of us). I hate to leave negative reviews as well. It sounds like you did the right thing. If the guest isn’t happy with the review, that isn’t on you. It’s on them for not respecting your home.
5 Likes
Strengthen that spine and don’t let a crappy guest walk all over you, your property and all the other hosts!
5 Likes
I know… I am just a super sensitive person myself so I try and respect how others may feel but you are right, it is not on me.
2 Likes
She wasn’t showing you any respect when she treated your home so badly. You did the right thing.
4 Likes
I have never had to write negative things about a guest either. Not because I shy away from doing so, but because all of my guests so far have been pretty lovely people. But try to think of reviews as neither negative nor positive, but simply honest. If you have to mention negative things, there’s usually something you can also say that’s positive- maybe the guest had good communication pre-booking, maybe they were friendly and easy to talk to. If there’s nothing positive you can find t say about a guest, just say what you have to say briefly and professionally. Don’t think of it as a personal attack, although it’s human nature to react to a bad review as such. You aren’t reviewing them as a person, but as to their suitability as a guest.
If all reviews were simply positive, glowing testaments to how wonderful everyone is, there wouldn’t really be any point to leaving reviews at all.
3 Likes
We had our first bad experience and were honest in our review. We stated the positives but had to mention our negative experience for the next host to see. Our guest had asked for a later check out. With it being new years day a d we didnt have anyone booked in the following evening we said yes. We gave then an extra two hours, I stead of a 10 am we said 12 noon. At 12 40 they had shown no sign of leaving so my husband knocked on the door of the apartment and the man appeared with just a towel around him a d was told he should have checked out 45 mins ago, he said he was unaware of that yet he had thanked me via messaging for the extension. 30 mins later they still hadn’t left so we knocked on the door again this time the woman came to the door and shouted if we couldnt comminicate then we shouldn’t be running an Airbnb. When they came down we went to show her a print out of our messaging but pushed last saying in an aggressive manner “i’ve read it and I appologise”. She then started screaming that we had been hostile. My husband moved quickly up the stairs to make sure they hadn’t left any damage which enraged her more and she started punching herself around the head saying she had anxiety issues and it’s situations like this that make it worse. I asked her to come into our sitting room so she could calm down and we get possative closure. Having been a counselor I understand the importance for discusion and closure in circumstances like this however she was having none of it and ran off shouting with partner in tow. Our review suggested that checking g out time be made clear to this guest when checking in. She had written to me twice now still blaming us for the situation a d how angry she is regarding our review. We have had 100% possative reviews up until this guest all with star ratings. She made several silly complaints one being she was unable to see the TV from the bed, we have a two seater sofa in front of the tv. I just hope her poor rating doesn’t effect our future bookings. We were honest with our review yet diplomatic. We didn’t go I to details about her behaviour but just said that there maybe a need fo clarify checkout time. It’s left me feeling nervous about hosting, I know I’ll get over it but I feel a bit battered.
1 Like
Sorry you had such a disturbing experience. You will get over it, I’m sure.
You say you left an honest revew, but as a fellow host, I would say you were dishonest by omission. There needed to be more about this guest’s behavior in the review in order to warn other hosts so they don’t get saddled with her. It’s certainly not appropriate to mention anything about a guest’s mental state or psychological issues, but “clarifying check-out time” makes it sound like this is simply a matter of being firm with the guest about when they are required to check-out, which doesn’t sound like the case to me. I would have liked to see something more along the lines of “Guest ignored check-out time, despite a reminder and an extension, and became extremely aggressive, both verbally and physically, when it was pointed out that they were supposed to have checked out earlier. Her behavior was quite disturbing to us. I cannot in good conscience recommend this guest.”
7 Likes
I agree with you, @muddy.
1 Like
Sorry for your experience. Please consider for the future that we hosts should be careful in our reviews - and try to keep them 100% factual (nothing subjective). It seems that subjective statements / reviews can possibly be removed by airbnb.
An example
Would Not Host Again. Carol and her husband Mark disregarded several house rules and ignored the checkout time.
As unpleasant as it was, their behavior (screaming, rude, hostile, etc) is still subjective.
On the flip side - if you LIKED them, it seems to be fine to write "we really enjoyed hosting Carol and Mark. They were lovely guests. Though it is still better to keep it factual.
Many of the hosts here are VERY experienced - feel free to post a draft of any review and you will get great feedback.
2 Likes
Muddy,
On reflection I agree we should have clarified the encounter. I had looked at her previous reviews and there was nothing that suggested anything like this happening . I think that made me lenient on my review however I di make it clear there was a problem. Here is what I said.
(L*** and her partner were quiet and unobtrusive during their stay and left the premises in a perfectly acceptable state. Hower, if hosting L***,breat care should be taken to c,arify checkout times. A free extension of our nor al ti e to midday can apparenty be taken by some people to mean some random time in the afternoon rather than 12 noon as we thought. L*** and her guest eventually left at 1.20pm after two remi ders and some altercation.) I hope this review sends alarm bells ringing for other hosts.
That should read our normal time, these phones have small keypads 
Just a couple of points here.
Although reviews should be concise rather than wordy, it’s a good idea if the host can let us know what house rules the guests broke. House rules vary so much from host to host and what is unforgivable to some is of no consequence to others.
For example, if I see a review that says that the guest didn’t remove their trash when they left (despite it being a house rule) that wouldn’t bother me at all. However if a review said that the guests were noisy after the start of quiet hours then I’d definitely be concerned. We all have different criteria. So a little detail can go a long way.
Sometimes reviews can say as much about the host as they do about the guest. If I saw ‘ignored check out time’ I would see that as being the host’s fault. Most of us only have a 4 hour (or thereabouts) turnover window so guests must leave on time. It’s up to us to manage them properly.
No host should ever feel bad about writing an honest review that will help their fellow hosts in the future - that’s how the system works.
3 Likes