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For the last 2 weeks, I have been having a “discussion” with Airbnb customer service about the fact that a guest requested to have her review of her stay removed (5 starts) after she read my review (very noisy and messy guest). I did not recommend her for other hosts.
I was under the impression that once both reviews are posted or 14 days, whichever comes first, you can not change or remove your reviews.
BUT
Airbnb customer service says that the guest ALWAYS has the right to request that a review they wrote be removed with no reason or time constraint.
I have repeatedly requested a supervisor but none has contacted me and it’s been 4 days since I was told I would hear from one within 24 hours.
Anyone have this happen to them? Is this a new policy? Or is this Customer service not understand their own policies?
My understanding is that it’s 14 days or when both reviews are posted whichever one comes first. Customer service is saying that guests always have the option no matter how long.
This guest had her review removed of me (host) after my review posted.
It’s not a new policy nor is it CS not knowing policy. In fact, I’m not sure there is anything in any official policy on it, but I know it’s been thus for years.
Reviews can never be changed once posted, but both hosts and guests can ask for a review they posted to be removed entirely. And it doesn’t have to be within the 14 day review period- the 14 days only applies to editing before both reviews are published.
It’s not that bad a thing- it just means a guest could withdraw a good review vengefully if they see the host didn’t review them well, so you just have one less review- not such a big deal.
But it also means if a host left a good review for a guest, only to discover later that they’d broken a bunch of stuff and hidden it in the back of a closet, or that they’d stolen something you didn’t notice on an initial walk-though, you could also ask to have your good review removed.
A few years ago, we had a guest remove their review long after the 14 days had passed. I think I embarrassed them in my response to their review (they complained about being asked to conserve water while the area, which depends on rainfall for the water supply, was in a severe drought).
It’s such a childish thing to do, to write an honest, good review and then want to take “backsies” on it just because the other party called you out for something you did or gave you a bad review.
There are hosts who do that, too and I find it just as undeserving of respect as when guests do it. If a host has left a positive, honest review of the guest’s stay, to want it removed just because you didn’t like the review and rating the guest left you is so junior high school.
Like an 8th grade boy telling his friends he thinks some girl is cute, then when she doesn’t show interest in him when he tries to chat her up, he turns around and starts telling everyone what a b***h she is.
I met them - they were entitled professionals.
I wanted future guests to know there were extenuating circumstances, so I thanked them for taking quick showers to help us conserve water due to the drought. I guess they thought I made them look bad.
Yes. They did the “three good things and three bad things” and the unexpected “bad thing” was that they were asked to keep their showers short since we were in the middle of a drought. But they never mentioned the drought in their review - just that they were asked to keep showers short.
I’m so glad I have never gotten entitled guests like that. I’ve gotten really low on water before when I had guests, but they were so understanding about it. One even volunteered to help me attach 3 heavy hoses together to reach to my neighbor’s faucet, who is on an endless big well, to fill my system.
And I’ve been out of propane for my hot water tank for a week, and the delivery guy keeps telling me he’ll come and then doesn’t. The guest I just had for 6 days was so chill about it- the weather is still quite hot and humid, and he said no worries- the cool shower feels just fine.
We have a high price so that goes with the territory, as they say. And the vast majority of our guests are wonderful and understand when things don’t go perfectly, especially if they are out of our control.
I would not have minded if they had said “we were asked to take short showers because of the drought and the villa is off-the-grid on their water supply” (or something that explained it)
The really odd part was that were were having troubles with the internet during their stay - the provider had a configuration error and we didn’t have internet for a day or so, and then the whole island had an outage for a few hours. They were in a panic about that. But they didn’t say a peep about that in the review.
I’ve never had entitled guests either. Well, I did have one young woman who I suspected had lived under a rock all her life because she was so dense about everything (notably that ovens and hot water heaters need time to warm up and that dimmer switches exist).
I’ve had plenty of guests who have had to cope with various unexpected things - no water at all for 24 hours, no power for several hours, unexpected and noisy roadworks, internet going down, construction going on right next door etc, but they’ve all been fine about it.
Like @PitonView we are at the higher end pricewise but even when I was in the UK and my prices were a bit more cheap-and-cheerful I’ve very rarely had any problems with guests.
I have not heard of a guest being able to remove a review. As hosts we can’t get a review removed!!
We need to challenge this as a group, simply NOT RIGHT!
This thread isn’t about guests being able to have the review the host wrote of the guest removed, but about having the review they themselves wrote removed.
And yes, the same option is available for hosts, which was clarified upthread. As a host you can get your review of a guest removed, so nothing to get outraged about.
Just as with social media, you can delete your own content. That may even be some regulation when it comes to online content.
But, as a matter of fact, guests have been able to get Airbnb to remove a bad review a host gave them. One host on another forum saw that her review of a bad guest had been removed, she called Airbnb, asking why- there was nothing in the review that violated review policy. They reinstated it, the guest called them asking for it to be removed again, it disappeared again, etc. I don’t know what the final outcome was, but it got removed and reposted several times.
And while it isn’t easy, hosts have also been able to get a bad review removed, if they can convince Airbnb it violates review policies.
I have recently broken my right arm! I have a cast and find so many things difficult to do with my left! Didn’t want to turn down mum and 3 boys going to a University open day. They were fantastic! Helped in so many ways! I have however blocked all November!!
I had a guest remove her 5 star review recently about my place after she read my review about her. She messaged me intensively saying “seems very petty to have you write a nasty and terrible review without addressing this with me directly so we can resolve it”… my review was : Our experience hosting Annabella was a blend of positives and disappointments. While her adherence to house rules was ok, we were left dismayed by the unreported damages, which were handled without a hint of guilt or responsibility. The previously flawless fridge now sports a dent and scratch, and a costly kitchen faucet was broken and had to be replaced. Honest communication is key for a successful host-guest relationship, and we hope for improved transparency from future guests.
I had recently asked a couple to remove their review because they did not really seem to understand the process -this was my fault. They gave us a 4 star review several months ago … our first in 350+ reviews. They were nice and happy to remove it. This might keep you from getting a “guest favorite” -which goes with the host and not just the property. This seems wrong to me. It should be the property. If you had ten properties and one bad review, it can taint your host status.
I don’t really understand what you are getting at. As far as I’m aware, “Guest Favorite” does relate to the property, rather than the host. In that respect, it is different from Superhost, which takes into account a host’s reviews on all their listings. For instance, if you have 2 properties, and one has a 4.4 star average, and one has a 4.9, you wouldn’t be eligible for Superhost, but the 4.9 property would be eligible for “Guest Favorite”.
