Looking for feedback before I respond to 1st negative of 100+ 5 star reviews.
Guest said there are homeless & questionable people in my neighborhood.
And she felt unsafe so she checked out.
Questionable? No homeless
= diverse neighbors who are brown, black, Guatemalan, Honduran, Venezuelan, Nicaraguan, African American.
I live in a City.
Diversity? Homelessness? Surely you know that it is the host’s responsibility to make sure their city and town have none of this.
Questionable people? If they are wearing red caps, then at least they are easy to spot.
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Why respond? Chances are it will simply make you look defensive. Let potential guests decide for themselves. As long as your listing blurb and photographs are correct, there’s no problem. You might want to search this forum as this has been discussed many times.
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Contact Airbnb about removing the review. They have a new policy and perhaps her review can be removed.
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Greatly appreciate everyone’s prompt and thorough feedback. I thought about ignoring the review, but I’ve been a host since 2009 and this is my first negative review. Since hers is so lengthy, I need to address all of her observations of my diverse neighborhood so that future guests will appreciate what they are getting when they book. The description is thorough but articles say that guests focus more on reviews than listing description.
She also left the door unlocked which is not okay in the city.
I contacted Airbnb yesterday re: new review policy/ irrelevance as she focuses on area vs. interior - but they have not responded.
She says there are a lot of homeless people here.
This section of the city consists of a great blend of people of color who identify as Hispanic (15% - Honduran, Nicaraguan, Guatemalan and Venezuelan) and African American (48%) but not homeless.
That has nothing to do with it.
‘Articles’ can say that people pay more attention to reviews but in fact they rarely read any further than the first page - page two if they are very diligent. The review will soon be buried on page two or three.
As you’ve been a host for a few years you know that a) responding to a review will make it stand out b) it makes no business sense to spend any time on this and c) potential guests are not stupid and one weird review in the hundreds you already have will obviously be seen as being irrelevant.
Relax and forget it.
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I usually say ignore a review but in this case I probably would respond. I have a low tolerance for the racist nonsense that’s crawled out from under it’s rock lately so this would have to be an exception. And on second thought I don’t know if I’d want it removed either because I don’t want to host this woman in my 85% Hispanic city. So with AirReview I can see all the reviews she leaves and can respond accordingly.
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Before replying (you have time for that), it seems that the first step is to call airbnb and leverage the updated Review Policy: https://www.airbnb.com/help/article/2673/airbnbs-review-policy
People in the neighborhood “has nothing to do with your listing” and “is entirely outside your control”.
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Agreed. It’s my personal home/ my primary residence and I am not interested in sharing my private space with people who are not accepting of my diverse neighborhood.
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Reminder: $$$s do not make a neighborhood ‘less questionable’. Jeffrey Epstein lived in a very upscale one.
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I would tell Airbnb that you believe your guest made a racist comment by characterizing a diverse population as “questionable people” and “homeless people,” in addition to the fact that her review focuses on external enviro.
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Totally concur with Jaquo; don’t enter the public response sphere with this as future guests with any sense will see it for what it is. Utter racism in a pure form. But what I would do is call ln their review/report it to Airbnb directly as being against their anti-discrimination/pro-diversity agenda, particularly in comparison with the rest of your reviews.
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This guest is a real piece of work. Complains about homeless and “questionable people”, yet leaves the door unlocked. You’d think if she was so fearful of the neighborhood, she’d be making sure everything was locked up well.
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Muddy you’re a much better reader than me, I’d missed that. The host has his / her review of the guest to demonstrate to Airbnb that the guest obviously didn’t mean what she wrote in the review or she wouldn’t have left the door open. Perfect.
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DO NOT RESPOND TO A REVIEW. It wastes your time…
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It was suggested to me recently, after admitting to guests that we frequented the noisy tabanco across the road, that we could be considered “questionable persons”. That wasn’t the phrase used, but it equated to the same.
After a night there themselves, they felt proud to be categorised as similar.
Job done 
One man’s “questionable person” is another man’s hermano (brother).
The likelihood is that you can have the review removed, but if you can’t, don’t respond. Let it go and it’ll drop down the list. Perceptive potential guests will see it for the blatant racism it is.
JF
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