Woke up to an IB reservation message.
“… my friends Jack and Jill (not their real names, message paraphrased) recently stayed and they loved it! Excited to be able to stay there ourselves!”
Surprised because my IB requirements are the strictest possible such that ususally they send an inquiry.
Doubly surprised when one of the guest’s multiple positive reviews is from… ME!!!
Call Air. They look into it and tell me that she was with Jack during his recent stay. I said, no, she wasn’t. Even her message indicates she wasn’t. Well, Jack says she was. I say, no, she wasn’t.
What I learned is that Jack linked her as a guest during his stay, for whatever reason, and so my 5 star review extended to her profile. I protested, this isn’t right!
And, I continued, this is a trust and safety issue for my fellow hosts! You are telling me that anyone can say their friend stayed, to get (dupe) other hosts to trust and accept people who have potentially never even stayed in an Airbnb? That is just contrary to what the review system is all about! I don’t want her to have my review of HIM when she, implicit in her own words, never even stayed with me! I want it gone. She can get her review from me when she stays, based on her actual stay.
I hold a minute after he listens sympathetically, puts me on a brief hold while he consults on what can be done. The answer is that they can remove my review of her, by removing it from Jack’s profile. That is the only way. Well, Jack caused this problem whether through honest error, change in plans, I don’t know but Jack has no review from me, nor any other hosts, now.
Shame because his friend has multiple other great reviews from hosts that use her first name so they are clearly legit. Jack needed my five stars way worse than she did. Sorry, guy.