Does a host have the option to post a review response if they didn't leave a review for the guest?

1

I had heard this was true, but can anyone confirm?

I have a continuing weird situation with a guest I posted about in the Lounge, who was extremely difficult to deal with in pre-arrival messages, then cancelled her booking 4 hours before check-in, that had blocked my calendar for a month.

I messaged CS, saying for them to please disable the ability to review for this booking, as they could see the guest cancelled hours before check-in.

I just got a message from a CS rep saying the guest has left a review, but I never got any notification, as I always do, saying the guest had left a review. And the notification for me to review her has disappeared.

I’d be really surprised if this guest hasn’t left a bad review, even though she never stepped foot on the property. I don’t really want to leave a review for her, but I would like to be able to respond if she left a bad review which Airbnb won’t remove.

2

I have had guests who did not review me respond to the review I left them.

RR

3

Okay, thanks for that. Wonder if it works the same in reverse. It’s very weird- there is no notification that this guest has left a review, although the CS rep says she did, no “pending review” notice on my dashboard, but there is a little “Write a review” notice at the bottom of my Inbox message stream with this guest.

4

Also, the Airbnb instructions for posting a response to are to go to “Profile”, then click on “Reviews about you”, but there is no “Reviews about you” there to click on.

5

I was able to respond to a guests review even though I had not written a review for them. This was back in May of this year, so probably the same.

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6

Thanks, @Justarock. I guess when I’ve read on other forums some hosts claiming you have to leave a review in order to respond, it’s just false info, like “If you don’t leave a review, the guest’s review won’t be published.”

7

Well, I have to commend Airbnb. It took a couple days to get a response to my message to CS, asking why this guest, who cancelled 4 hours before arrival, was able to leave a review (I got a notification that she had), but I just got a response, saying they have removed her review for violating review policy, specifically that it wasn’t relevant as she never stayed.

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