Blatent Airbnb and house rules rulebreaker gets to review

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SOOOO FRUSTRATED WITH AIRBNB’S NON-ACTIONING OF THEIR OWN RULES

I have just sent this. Am I likely to hear back from them?

I had a guest breach both Airbnb’s ‘No Third Party Booking’ Policy AND a host rule (where we have restated that we do not accept Third Party Bookings) and STILL the guest has been given the opportunity to review.

What does it take for someone to lose their right to review? Seriously - I want to know. I just these past few days had a guest give the check-in details (without letting me know) to someone they wanted to have the nights in my property instead of them…the guest then made no effort to add them to the booking when prompted…and then firmly asked…and who turned up at my place of work to argue with me that I was being unreasonable in asking that it be done so that the Airbnb insurance policy could cover the stay (and that as a return guest she is insulted that I would think she would choose someone dodgy to give her nights to- NOT THE POINT - it simply voids the insurance was my on-repeat refrain)

All I have been able to get from Airbnb so far is a promise that once we notice the review she leaves I will be able to apply to have it removed. SERIOUSLY?

I don’t want Third Party Bookings here. For the hundreds of bookings I have had, the only 4 that have ended poorly have been Third Party Bookings we discovered half way through.

  • my family would be destitute if an Airbnb stayer hurt themselves and we had to cover legals while our insurance was voided by them being a Third Party Booking

  • Third Party bookings mean we don’t have a line of communication through the Airbnb system with the guest (only the person that booked for them)

  • The person we get to review at the end (and the one who reviews us) is not the person who stayed in the property

  • We also potentially have people moving around the property that we are not linked to through Airbnb. I live here with my children and I take seriously keeping them safe

Please contact me with regard to why this policy exists this way and how I can appeal for it to be changed,

So far I have been told by Airbnb that it does seem strange that once someone breaks House Rules and Third Party Booking rule that they forfeit their right to review - BUT THEY ARE STILL SENT THE PROMPT TO REVIEW.

I was told it couldn’t be stopped because it is automated.

Surely if Airbnb wanted to stop it they could?

I am not feeling that I am being taken very seriously as a host and am wanting to rectify this so I do not spend hours of my time navigating things once someone breaks the Airbnb Third Party Booking rule (restated in my house rules)

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If you hear back from Air, please tell us, but I suspect it will just disappear into the aether.

BTW – you said "….done so that the Airbnb insurance policy could cover the stay " Are you aware that the “Airbnb insurance policy” does not generally cover guests? If you are operating without your own liability insurance you could be in really serious trouble if you need to make a claim (because Air won’t pay anything, or pay maybe a penny on a dollar…). Read the fine print on that policy…

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Thankyou. We have our own insurance too. It was hard to find. Vero, I think it is called. Not everyone will insure for what we needed.

Ta Ken

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I have the same complaint just this past weekend. The guest cancelled and never even came here but gets to submit a review. How can you review somewhere you’ve never even been to?

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I had it happened once too. Not only that these guests were horrible , the guy who booked left me 3* . I called Air and told them it was 3rd party bookings g and they immediately removed his review.

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Oh dear sorry TuMo. It just feels so unjust

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Great. And fair enough too.

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I just went through this drama! The booking guest admitted to Airbnb that she did not intend to stay and she booked it for her coworkers - innocently, I do believe. (She didn’t realize she was supposed to used an Airbnb Buisness account for this kind of activity.) However, even though Airbnb told me that I was not covered for any damages because she wasn’t staying at the property they wouldn’t deny her the ability to review. How nuts is that? I have to be exposed without liability coverage but she gets to review!?! No freakin’ way! Fortunately, the guest didn’t review. But I was livid.

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The worst possible review is 1, and calling you nasty names. If your metrics from previous hostings keeps you afloat, so be it.

As far as damages are concerned, there’s dirt and filth, there’s reparable things, and then there’s write off. That’s why I have my own Airbnb specific home owners insurance.

I myself would put out a special offer to 5 star guests, and/or run some promotions until the bad review is buried.

If the review is character assassination, you may have a case to have it removed.

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10

If only the stress burnt calories

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11

The livid is exhausting

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How indeed! It feels so poorly managed