Thank you! I knew I’d read that, but the “review policies” pages just take me in circles so I have trouble finding it again. Based on what is written here, I’d assume they’d leave reviews up that amount to, “I never ended up staying because I didn’t like the host’s attitude/cancellation policy etc.” However, I’m glad in practice they’re removing such reviews based on your friend’s experience.
Hey it only took them a decade … 
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So did air tell you to not submit a review when you first called them when the guest left your property? Or did they only bring this up after you already got the automated “guest left you a review” msg.
I’m curious as to when air actually told you “don’t submit a review or else get stuck with their nasty one” - was Air proactive about it - or could this easily have gone wrong - if you did only found out “the deal” after calling them the 2nd time - after already getting the automated emails?
Thanks!!!
It was casually mentioned to us on the second call we made to AirBnB the day she left and we claimed extortion after she actually canceled. When we were notified she left her review we called again and we were told not to review her or both reviews would stand if we also left one. I was so mad I wanted to scream.
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Not matter what a guest says in the review text, the star rating for check-in, cleanliness, and accuracy cannot possibly be relevant, so you could argue that the review is not relevant.
It’s worth a shot next time you call them, anyway.
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Thank you very much for the clarification. This is the kind of really important thing we should have in some sort of “pinned post” and expert knowledge base.
Why? I don’t understand.
It’s just one of many ways that this same scenario has played out. It’s not policy. It’s luck of the draw really. I was in a similar situation and the case manager encouraged me to write a review after telling me the extorionist guest review would never be published.
I know it would feel better if there was something you could expect, something you could count on, some consistency in the decisions that are made by CS, but it’s just not like that. If this was pinned in some sort of knowledge base, it would imply that when A happens, B happens, but it’s just not how it works 
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Regardless of whether this is “luck of draw” or whatever. There are MANY such pearls of wisdom here. They are scattered across 11,000 posts.
What I am trying to actually say is we should have several pinned posts, organized by category - compiling best practices.
@tom2 - heads-up …
I’m all for that, and sorry that I don’t have time to do it.
You’re missing @JJD’s point.
With regard to Airbnb there is no “best practise”. When you factor in the inconsistencies within the (current) system, and the fact that CS decisions vary dramatically, what works for one host may not for another.
In fact, the course of action taken to resolve an issue by one host, can be detrimental to another.
JF
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There may certainly be areas where it depends on the CS agent and how one handles them.
It is just silly to say “there are no best practices at all”. Sorry but … no. There are many wonderful nuggets of wisdom here and all I am saying is they are more useful in an organised place than “all over”.
You can disagree if you like - and state that it is “advantageous” for all info here to be as widely distributed as possible but that’s just silly.
No one is going to organize them and put them in one place so forget it. And even if some unpaid volunteer here did so, people would still skip the pinned posts and submit questions. Back to square one.
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Just use the search bar, geez.
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I have a question/problem related to this but am new to the forum so can’t post it as a new topic.
I offer a hot tub as an amenity. It’s a great source of stress as it breaks regularly but I am usually able to fix it in short order myself and remain up-and-running. A couple of days ago it had a problem again and after spending 3 or 4 hours on it determined that it would require a part that has to be ordered and shipped and will take a few days. I offer the then current guest a 30% discount on the stay for lack of use of the expected amenity. I then also contacted the next guest that was to arrive in two days to inform them that the hot tub was broken and likely would not be able to be fixed before their arrival and offered that they could cancel and get their full refund back if they wanted to try to book elsewhere or I could offer the same 30% discount. This guest was very upset (understandable if you’re looking forward to a hot tub) and rather than trying to work something out with me called AIrbnb and asked them to give her a full refund and a discount on a rescheduled future stay. Airbnb informed me of what she was asking and I of course agreed to refund on the stay (+/-$400 loss) but not to a future discount. In fact, the original stay was already discounted 15% because I discount open weekdays when they are still unbooked only a week out and I offered to give the same 15% discount on the future stay. The guest declined because I assume they felt they deserved a bigger discount on the future stay for their trouble. Airbnb then said they would cancel the reservation “on my behalf” and now the original dates are blocked so I can’t try to get a last-minute booking for someone who may not care about he hot tub being unfunctional.
I kind of understand that policy but now the cancellation and whatever negatives associated with that are levied against my account in addition to the significant loss of income and the record will show " canceled by host 1 day before arrival" which makes it sounds much worse than what actually happened. I can’t control a hot tub breaking down and did and am still doing everything I possible can to get it working again as soon as possible. The Airbnb case manager said I can try to get the cancellation penalty removed if I submit “documentation” and there’s extenuating circumstances. I’ve asked the case manager 3 times now what " documentation" means and what I should submit - a repair invoice from a spa technician or what but no answer. They’re telling me I have 48 hours to submit ‘documentation’ but the part is on order so there’s no way I can really document anything yet until the part is received and someone puts it on which will not happen within 48 hours and I have no idea if that’s enough to help me avoid the cancellation penalty because the case manager won’t elaborate on what they need.
Am I just getting the run-around from this case manager and am wasting my time trying to avoid cancellation penalty? I’m worried if we can’t get it fixed prior to arrival of next guest we’re going to be back in the same boat. I thought Airbnb would consider it a neutral cancellation given that it’s something out of my control that broke and does not effect the essential ability of someone to stay and otherwise enjoy the property. Would I be wasting my time trying to get a different answer out of a higher-up case manage? Am I just forced to suck up these hits despite my best efforts? Any feedback would be appreciated
My gosh this needs paragraph breaks. I’m going to edit it for you and maybe someone will read it and help you.
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He did not use the hot tub to get reservations and then take it away. In fact there was no such volition on his part; it simply broke. And as for the suggestion that he contact AirBNB for assistance, well isn’t that what he just finished telling you he did to no avail? The gravamen of the host’s complaint is that he isn’t being sufficiently supported by AirBNB. Period.
Sorry this was an overly long description and probably could be said more succinctly but thought all the details are important to understand the situation. Thanks
No the details are fine but it posted as one very long paragraph which makes it hard to read. When posts are hard to read some of the more active members just skip it.
Can this be moved to a new post somehow? If people see that it’s a topic that’s already been discussed and replied to a bunch then maybe they’re less apt to look at it??