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I would second [@Colleen253] 's recommendation that you ask Airbnb to remove the responses you wrote to those reviews. Without your responses, they come across as perfectly positive reviews, but your responses ruin them by adding unnecessary negativity.
I then called CS and they confirmed that, once it’s published, the response - like the review itself - can’t be changed.
I asked hoping I could remove my huffy response to a (mostly) justifiable, slightly negative comment. Just as well, seeing that comment is an excellent reminder to hit the pause button.
The other thing these two hosts mentioned that I didn’t know: the guest doesn’t see our public response to their review. I have been painstakingly responding to each review from day one. My reasoning? If I responded to Special guest 1, Extra-special guest 2 will feel slighted.
I’m not sure what this means. The public response is public, so of course the guest can see it. Literally everybody can see it. There isn’t any notification generated when you post the response, though, so they would have to manually find the review and read the response.
Just my opinion, but that’s a complete waste of your time. Miss a response just once and you’ll look bad. Look at TripAdvisor where this happens a lot. The hotel/attraction/whatever starts enthusiastically when they’re first listed and then they just tail off. This looks unprofessional.
Or worse, they argue with guests about the reviews. Again, unprofessional - probably because they gave the job to an intern.
Most hosts’ responses on Airbnb show more about the host - and usually in a poor light - than they do the guest.
When I respond to a review it’s only to correct a misconception or error. So when my Italian guest thought he got a whole apartment with kitchen for $40 a night and said so in the review, I responded. And that’s even though the review was in Italian.
Otherwise I respond to reviews privately. If it’s a guest I liked and would like to host again, especially if they have some reason to be returning like family here or living in a small nearby town, then I message via Airbnb or sometimes via SMS. I’ll say something like “Thanks for the prompt and kind review. If you’d ever like to return and see that a date you want doesn’t appear to be available please check with me. I block a lot of dates due to covid or having a large number of dog boarding clients.”
I totally get it now, and appreciate your response. Now, back to my most embarrassing response to a review from a year ago - is it possible to have it removed?
The review itself was mildly criticizing a lack of clarity in house rules- not a problem. My response reveals the carping school marm I prefer to keep closeted.
