Guests were continually breaking the hot tub. In fact it’s currently broken. So I finally removed it as an amenity. Contacted all reservations. A few cancelled. Most stayed. But one said to ‘consider this my cancellation’, and now won’t cancel and ignored my request that he do so. Hmmm.
Having never had a hot tub… how do you break one?
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Call Airbnb for assistance. You are obligated to provide the amenities listed and now you aren’t/won’t/can’t. You can’t use the hot tub to get reservations and then take it away.
It’s not on him to cancel. It would be reasonable but it’s your listing and non available amenity so you have to deal with it. Hopefully Airbnb will let you cancel without penalty.
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And how is this a problem? If he doesn’t cancel, you get paid, and don’t have to clean or make beds.
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Oh, please. The guest will just call Airbnb to demand a full refund and they’ll give it to him. The host won’t get paid.
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But the guest can leave a review, correct …?
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Not if they didn’t actually stay. We’ve posted the new review guidelines multiple times. You should familiarize yourself with them, especially since this is an area where you’ve had some problems.
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I had a no show 13 days ago, he tried to add GF to reservation so he could cancel on EC .It was canceled by guest day of reservation,I have been staring at the review prompt ever since and the CS person told me that he would have a chance to review me. I am reviewing last minute tomorrow with a neutral , he had to cancel/good communication. I do not want to prompt a review from him complaining about my cancellation policy. The way I read the policy it would be removed it he complained the place was dirty and never set foot, but if he said host would not refund me it would be his experience and the review would stick.
RR
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To clarify, under the new review policy if someone doesn’t stay their review can be removed. So yes, if they review despite not staying, they can review, they aren’t prevented from reviewing.
I have a host friend who used to post here who told me last week that someone booked and then wanted to cancel/change their dates to fewer days. The host refused because she has strict parameters around the holidays for her location. The guest never showed but did review. The review was removed because the guest never actually stayed.
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But they can post a review. Then, we would be forced to call airbnb and try to have it removed after the fact. It seems the OP has the proof in writing from the guest in air’s system so that might actually work out.
I hope this is the case. The new policy seems clear that if the guest doesn’t check-in, but says the couch is dirty, the review will be removed.
However, I can see AirBnB leaving up the review of a non-stay if that review focuses solely on the communication with the host, the cancellation policy, and the reason the guest did not end up staying. I believe this is why hosts/guests are still allowed to review each other if the cancellation occurs on the day of check-in.
The bit I read about removing reviews of non-stays was under the section about trying to rack up fake positive reviews:
At this point I’m just speculating. I’m sure we’ll soon have hosts report here on their success/difficulty with getting such reviews removed.
ETA: I needed to finish reading the thread before posting! Do you know if your friend’s review they got removed solely of the cancellation policy/communication, or did the guest in question include stuff about the listing as well?
I’ve never had a no-show or last-minute cancellation, but just as many things between hosts and guests are often interpreted by Airbnb as he said/she said situations where they usually end up believing the guest’s version, if I did have this situation, I’d contact Airbnb to let them know the guest didn’t show up for their reservation. Because a guest could just claim that they did, and found the place dirty and left, etc. CS might just say okay, well, if they review you can ask to have it removed, but at least it would be on record that you reported a no-show.
I had guests show up 2 hours early and wanted to cancel because we were too rural. There was a clear case of extortion involved. AirBnB removed the review when she wrote it, but warned me if I reviewed her both reviews would stand. Her review was a 1* across the board they informed me. I was really pissed about this, but I did not review her. They sent me an email after 14 days to read her review. LOL there are no pictures of the outside of this house on our listing for security reasons since it can be seen from the road:
“The pictures were misleading. Outside looked like a shack and nowhere near what was posted on site. I refused to even step in due to what the outside looked like. I was charged full price and wasn’t even able to receive a partial refund. Host didn’t respond once I made her aware of her misleading photos”
Here is the next review that was all 5*'s from the person that actually booked a few of her canceled days. What a difference a person makes 
Public review
Most definitely recommend this place. It’s close enough to downtown to see all the attractions but far enough that it’s still peaceful. The house itself is lovely. Cozy and very well equipped. Has a great front and backyard with more than enough for kids to run free without having to worry too much. No complaints and would definitely book again.
Private note
We loved our stay at the cottage. Everything was clean, well equipped, and the location was fantastic. It was our first AirBnB experience and you have set the bar high! Thank you and Happy New Year
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Ok, I am confused. After their stay, did you get a notice during the 14 days that they left a review? Or … did they give you one at the very end of the 14 days?
How did their cancellation work? Or did they stay after all?
She showed up 2 hours early and then left the property within 15 minutes. We’re guessing she booked something elsewhere which is why she showed up early. I have a strict cancellation policy and this was over Christmas. She then proceeded to call and send messages demanding a full refund. She did not actually cancel until 4:07 pm which was 7 minutes after check in, so AirBnB did not even refund her cleaning fee. We had already contacted AirBnB about the issue.
She left her review a few days later when prompted by AirBnB to leave one at which point we contacted AirBnB again and they agreed to remove the review provided we did not review her over the next 14 days. I had a notice to review her this whole time on my dashboard that I ignored per AirBnB’s statement not to review her.
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Wow, that’s harsh. It doesn’t seem right that they didn’t let you review. I think this must one of those things that case managers have discretion on. I had a review from a guest that was intercepted and removed before it could even post (it was ‘extortion’ in addition to inappropriate discriminatory comments) but they did let me review the guest, encouraged it even.
This one was extortion also. She also lied about the photo’s of the outside which we do not have any of. I suggested she be removed and they told use they would handle it. Her profile is still up with her other 5 reviews from the last few months. She joined in October and seems to float from one AirBnB to another. The one we called the police on a few months back, her profile was removed immediately, so I don’t see where they took any action against this woman.
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If the guest never checks in, never steps foot in the rental, how can they say the couch is dirty? If they never check in the review can be removed. If they come in and see it’s dirty and leave without staying and cancel they can review, obviously. I’ve PM’d you additional info.
I recall AirBnB using the dirty couch example in their explanations of the new review policies but now I can’t find it. It did say if the guest doesn’t stay but comments on things like the cleanliness of the listing they never set foot in, Air wil remove it.
I’m glad AirBnB is now removing reviews from people who did not stay, period. I believe the previous policy had been that guests could still review the host if the cancellation occurred the day-of check-in.
Moderating for canceled reservations
Airbnb allows reviews for any reservation canceled after 12:00 AM on the day of check-in. We do this to collect feedback on the most crucial moments of a travel experience, whether that means feedback about communication, house rule violations, issues with listing at the time of check-in, etc.
If you decide to leave a review for a canceled reservation, we ask that you keep your feedback relevant to what you have personally experienced. In cases where Airbnb can confirm that a review was left for a canceled reservation, and the review contains information irrelevant to our community (ex. frustrations about a flight cancellation), the review will be removed.
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