I recently hosted a guest who was disgruntled from the start then left a 3-star review and said the the house “smelled strongly of cats” in her review. I feel that this is patently untrue. There haven’t been cats in the house since it has been under my control, no guest has ever mentioned odors. I went to the house after her visit and smelled no such thing. It is nearly a 100 year old house so maybe it’s slightly musty. I responded to her review saying that it is a cat-free house and that she is the first guest to mention it, but I feel that this is a booking-killer. Since it is the most recent review, it comes up first when someone looks at the listing. Airbnb says it doesn’t violate their policies. Anyone have any advice for me? Should I just get over it? Should I ask her to have mercy and ask that it be removed?
Yup. Move on and hopefully your next batch of reviews will push that’un down the page.
JF
Airbnb won’t remove the review even if the guest asks Airbnb to remove it. They want to prevent the problem where where hosts incentivize guests to remove bad reviews (e.g. one of the problems with Amazon reviews).
That isn’t true. Users can ask that their own review be removed and as far as I know, Airbnb will do that.
@JAS You responded, so that’s about all you can do. Don’t be too sure it will be a booking killer. Guests aren’t so gullible as to believe everything they read, especially if no other reviews mention such a thing.
If this is an entire house listing, are you sure no past guest snuck a cat in? Some neighborhood cat may have sprayed near the front or back door, too.
This is a booking killer and you are only a good host by worrying a lot about it. In fact, it’s the only thing I would be thinking about if I were you. No joke.
See if you can get in the head of the guest somehow. Start by sending something on the message thread (sounds like you have already). See if the guest will allow you to chat with them on the phone. Be kind, be patient, explain what this review will mean for your little business. See if you can get them to sympathize with you. Show grace at all times. There is no place for being defensive. Then ask, graciously, if they would consider taking the review down in order to help you out. This is a delicate balance and it is not easy. Stay kind!
If you have the right stuff and you can somehow jive with the guest at the same time, you can pull it off. You MUST try. This is a very big deal. A 3-star review will pulverize a listing.
Good luck!
Absolutely. Before long the review will be buried in good reviews. Don’t stress over one poor review. If your other reviews are great, there’s no reason at all to be worried - guests aren’t stupid.
Definitely not . Why should it be?
I would try to sort that out as soon as possible. My current rentals are 70 years old with no musty smell. In the UK I hosted in a Victorian house again with no musty smells.
Fear-mongering. 202020
Show me a case of this happening. Every case I’ve ever heard of, even when the guest entered something by accident, Airbnb refused to remove the review.
I have a single one star review. It didn’t come close to hurting me because I had many reviews at the time. I’m not going to look it up, let’s just say I had 300 at the time on my single listing. So 1/300 isn’t a big deal. 1/5 is a big deal.
So my one star was given by a guest by accident. It was accompanied by a very nice written review. I asked her to contact Airbnb and she said she did. It wasn’t removed and it didn’t hurt my business. It wasn’t worth my time to pursue it. She immediately booked her return trip and I did make it clear to her that I wouldn’t tolerate another 1 star mistake.
My guest made a serious mistake in her review. She asked Airbnb to remove it. They said NO because it was already posted.
May depend on the Customer Service rep you get.
@Brian_R170 Yes, that was my experience with an accidental 4-star review. The guest tried hard to remedy it, to no avail.
No it is not. I lived through a 1 star review & continued to get bookings. Any guest with a brain will read more than one review and decide. If someone has 10 good & 1 bad, the bad review is an outlier and will be ignored. The guest may be on high alert for smells but will book.
It’s too late. The guest cannot change the review.
Hmmm. I know very little about if a host can change their response to a review. This may be too late to include:
My new standard if I respond to a negative review is to ask people to read prior reviews for an accurate and complete idea of the quality and comfort of the rental
Post the entire review. Is there anything in it that is “Not Relevant”? THAT is usually the leverage to get a review pulled. Like some remark over an amenity that is not in the listing, or something about the neighborhood, etc.
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Bear in mind that Guests do not see the 3 stars - only your total #s. Hopefully, you have enough overall reviews that the one 3 does not overly affect your total.
You can’t change a response, just like you can’t change a review.
I agree, often all that’s needed in a response is to point out the facts, very briefly, (there’s no cats here) maybe express some confusion, and just advise future guests to read your other reviews, (assuming theey are good, of course) for an accurate picture.
I don’t think it a particularly good idea for a host to say that no guest has ever mentioned something before. It sort of comes across as belittling a complaint in a defensive way- just because no one else ever mentioned something before doesn’t necessarily mean it’s not valid, and guests reading the reviews can see for themselves that no one else has mentioned it, anyway.
Well, I can’t give you an example, I’ve just read of it happening before. I know they won’t change a star rating even if the guest says they fat fingered it, and it’s obvious, because the written review is glowing and the star ratings are 1*. Which is absurd.
I also read a post by a host who asked that his own review be removed, because he had said something like “John and Mary were great guests”, and the guest messaged him all upset, because in fact he was married, but Mary didn’t happen to be his wife- he was having an affair.
What Airbnb did was remove both the host’s and guest’s review, which was a drag for the host, as John had left a really good review.
That brings up a good point. I often wonder if I should direct the review to just the single account holder, rather than mention their - whatever, if it isn’t obviously a significant other? I’ve done both, sometimes reading previous reviews to confirm the name.
I’ll see if anyone responds here and, if not, start a new thread.
Guys: if a guest calls into CS and they express their desire to take down a review, they can remove the review. We’ve had it happen at our listings multiple times.
The guest can’t change the review, but they can remove it.
Yes, unless it’s obvious that a couple is a couple, like their account says Phil and Julie, or you can just tell they’ve been together forever, or they arrive with the kids, I’d refrain from mentioning anyone but the account holder in a review. If it’s a group, nothing wrong with saying “XX and her group”, but I’d be a bit cautious with “couples” if there’s any doubt.