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I posted my review: “Guest never showed up for his stay, and although he was eligible for a partial refund–including the cleaning fee–he chose not to cancel.”
His review: “Terrible communication skills. Poor timing Does not honor his words. I would have giving his professionalism a -5 if that exist. Said he has a business to run but this is not how you respond to customers. If my customers were not happy I would assist them. I never receive a bad issue from any of my clients within my last 14 years of business I guess not everyone is perfect”
I was actually willing to let him change his dates to sometime in the future, something that Jaquo above pointed out as a mistake since he could’ve just changed to a future date and then cancelled outside the cancellation policy.
So, I called Airbnb, and they said they need to confirm with the guest that he never checked in or showed up.
Hopefully the guest does not lie (and/or you have cameras; mine are motion activated and date/timestamped w/ interval stills so I can prove no activity).
BUT…I would have argued that one. The issue is that the guest threatened extortion by “bad review” if you did not refund him and they CAN and HAVE confirmed that.
I’m curious to know how this turns out. I had a guest threaten me once for a refund, but I negotiated a 50% refund and the guest could not leave a review as it was canceled a couple of days before check-in.
Yes, you are mistaken. If a cancellation is made within 24 hrs of check-in time, reviews are prompted, and the same with no cancellation no-shows. Airbnb has no way of knowing if the guest checked in or not. It’s the guest’s word against the host’s.
Issue Resolved! I had to keep pushing on Airbnb, but they finally deleted his review, stating that it “goes against Airbnb review policy.”
I still don’t get why the guy didn’t just cancel and get refunded 1 night and the cleaning fee. Just so he could leave a negative review? Seems like a lot to pay for a negative review–especially when it was entirely his fault.
But I do appreciate all the feedback from you all. This was the first time I felt like I needed outside support, and is why I posted this thread, and you all responded quickly with solid guidance. Much appreciated!
Just one of those guys who can’t handle not getting exactly what he wants and thinks trying to strong arm is the how to to get his way or let you know what he’s capable of if you don’t capitulate.
I’m sorry your going through this as this happened to me! It was a nightmare to say the least. I had a guest try to cancel the day before the trip. I told her that my cancellation policy was strict and that I was sorry about her having to cancel. She didn’t like my response and thus kept the reservation. She then left an unfounded review stating I had bed bugs which is like dropping a bomb in the airbnb review world! Mind you I have always been a super host and have always had amazing reviews. I went from being booked every weekend to no new reservations. I pleaded with airbnb and they refused to remove the review because they said they need to take every review as serious. I even sent airbnb a form from an exterminator that stated “no bed bugs or evidence of bed bugs found” airbnb still refused to remove the review. Finally ya know what did it? The fact that she mentioned that the beach area was small! I told airbnb that the beach had nothing to do with the home and that saying it was small was a relative comment…they quickly removed it. Overall, it was a horrible situation for me! Best of luck to you on this as I know its stressful.
So, the guest kept the reservation AND stayed in your unit? It was different for me since the guest refused to cancel, threatened me with a negative review, and then never showed up. There was enough evidence for ABB to remove the review. Might’ve been different had they actually showed up and then left the review.
Yes did stay at the home but also threatened via a message on airbnb to leave me a bad review and that she made sure to do! Even before the guest left I sent over all messages to airbnb to warn them of what she might do and they still stood by her terrible review which was up on my listing for about a month during peak season which killed me. When i finally reached out to them with the fact that the beach is not on my listing nor a part of the home they removed it based on that but not based on all her lies!
Good to know. I think I would’ve been in a similar situation had the guest actually stayed. ABB seemed less interested in the threat of a negative review from the guest and based their decision to delete the review on the fact that the guest never stayed in the unit. They didn’t delete the review until they confirmed the guest never showed up, and I might’ve had to live with the negative review even though the guest threatened me beforehand.
Unless the guest cancels or doesn’t show up, it seems Airbnb is reluctant to delete a review–even if there’s clear evidence of extortion prior to check-in.
Wouldn’t it be nice if they actually adhered to their own, WRITTEN, policies consistently. Good grief!
### Extortion or incentivization Any attempt to use reviews or review responses to force a person to do something they aren’t obligated to do is a misuse of reviews, and we don’t allow it.
This policy prohibits:
** Guests threatening to use reviews or ratings in an attempt to force a host to provide refunds, additional compensation, or a reciprocal positive review.*
receive a bad issue from any of my clients within my last 14 years of business I guess not everyone is perfect”