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We filled up the last thread topic so much that it is hard for me to determine what is new and what is old. Please use this forum to answer new questions. If I see a question that has been previously answered I will not respond to it. This is not me ignoring anyone, it’s just being efficient for the forum community.
I’m here to help so ask away guys! It’s great to see quite a few hosts full of good questions to better themselves as Host’s and the Air community as a whole!
I’ll bite! And thank you for answering all of our questions!
In past Airbnb emails, there’s been mention of “throwing out” outlier reviews. I am a super host with 200 reviews and a 5 star average in all categories. Last year we got a one-star review that was completely false and from a guest who made no complaints or had any communication with us whatsoever during her five day stay, despite my messages to her (we live upstairs, as noted, so any complaints would have been easy fixes). I called Airbnb and asked if there was anything they could do re: the review and of course the answer was no.
Thankfully, it hasn’t affected anything for me personally, and the person just looks like a nut, so, whatever. But is the “throwing out outliers” thing actually happening? And if so, is it just on a star basis only, leaving the written review still on the page? Because my awful review is still there, albeit obviously ignored by subsequent guests.
Thanks for the insight! 
short and sweet answer “we may, in the future, be able to disregard this review from your history as long as other reviews are not similar to the “negative” review in question. As long as you have good reviews moving forward, we will contact you if we remove some lower-rated reviews in the future.” is literally what I’ve overheard agents I manage say on the phone. This is not policy, it is entirely false, misleading, sets hosts up for unreasonable expectations from support, and those agents ultimately will be disciplined and/or terminated. Reviews are not edited unless it is a transexual user needing a name change or the review violates Airbnb’s review content policy.
I fully realize that in your work, as many jobs, you tend to use various shortcut terms or abbreviations but even having been a host on Air since 2011, on that last thread, there were some of your responses that I had real trouble understanding what was being said - so- how about posting a mini-cheat sheet for us who don’t follow all the lingo, ok? Maybe as a “bulleted list” or such? Thanks!
Thanks, I figured as much.
If you’re curious, I took the review here to this forum to see what people here thought: Need help with response for a review
Along those lines, her first message to me should have tipped me off. As though it was somehow my fault: “It took me over an hour to book usinf airbnb app. I wonder if people give up and look elsewhere.”
So my second question (questions?) is: does Airbnb plan to do any further “educating” of guests re: reviews, and do they explain where the process starts and ends with Airbnb and the host? As in, what each entity is responsible for so we aren’t getting credit card questions and verification questions and whatever else we just can’t help with that casts us (as hosts) in a dim light to what will be our future guests…who will ultimately review us on their entire experience with Airbnb?
List of abbreviations I may use here:
CBH - cancel by host
CBG - cancel by guest
CBA - cancel by admin
G- guest
H- host
reso - reservation
cxl- cancel
CXL - cancellation specialist agent (pilot program)
NT - non-trip agent (related to non trip issues/general questions/trip issues that are not due to check-in within the next 14 days)
T- trip agent
CM- case manager
T&S- trust and safety
Ghosted- user removed from platform
As far as education for guests, Air will most likely not devote more time to educating them on what is and isn’t the host’s responsibility. Air can only do so much until it’s up to the user to have some basic navigation skills and common sense which some guests lack severely. The help center has almost all topics addressed, yet agents get calls all day long from hosts and guests alike with questions that even a new host with a week experience or a guest with one reservation behind them should know.
Mods can this be pinned somewhere ???
Thanks! I looked back at other monster thread and saw “EC” also which I worked backwards to see someone said “extenuating circumstances” which I don’t think i have ever used/needed/dealt with so thus while i knew the two words, didn’t make the connection while reading the other posts.
When I worked in IT and people asked for features that were not scheduled we’d say: “we’ll put that down in the to do list for Phase II”. Hint: Phase II never happened. Also called kicking the can down the road or kicking it into the long grass.
Are we allowed to “discriminate” against locals.
In other words, can I flat out say in the listing, NO LOCALS.
no, don’t do that. You may get removed from the platform in extreme cases (and with some CM) or you’ll get an educational email. If you want to closely monitor something like this, IMO, I would only do request to book on your listing so you can filter as you please and deny locals. Also, IMO, I get travel credits every 6 months as part of my benefits package where my wife and I will simply find a nice place downtown to go out for the weekend, go up north to a cabin, or just find a large enough home even a few blocks from our home in order to better host family that is visiting from out of town. Not all locals are bad and not all out-of-town guests are good.
This sort of discriminating, and it doesn’t need to be in quotations because it is discrimination, is also the reason hosts can no longer see guest profile picture prior to accepting a booking. A study was done (and a lawsuit) that showed a group of guests in one race were denied the same booking with same details as another race. Air realized the problem after paying out some nice pocket change and adjusted that policy.
Couldn’t agree with you more, @pleasantforestshores. I hate abbreviated words, or acronyms, even if some medical ones are really too funny. It’s a writing style that can make some people feel excluded or stupid.
Following so I don’t misplace this thread
Insider how do we calculate when to leave an 11th hour review for a guest thereby preventing a public reply from the guest. Is it calculated by check-in day or check-out day? In 6 years of hosting this will only be my 2nd negative review I have left for a guest and I don’t do it lightly. Once again - thanks so much for lending everyone a hand.
14 days from check-out time. Once you both leave reviews, both will be published at same time. You could potentially wait until 245pm on last day of the 14 (assuming a 3pm checkin) to write your review if you believe it’ll help you prevent a public reply.
There is also a bookmark feature on the forum. Click on the three dots to open the rest of the tool menu and you’ll see a bookmark. Click on your profile to find your bookmarks list. 
Thanks! I did not realize this. Appreciated!
Does AirBnB have a double standard about payments outside the platform?
In my Area there is a huge amount of listings that require payments (deposit, cleaning, tourist tax, bedding, towels etc etc) outside AirBnB.
These listings are all run by property management companies, and they seem to get away with it, because reporting does not result in the listing being changed or taken down.
Look at the listings of this “host”: https://www.airbnb.nl/users/show/101614744
He even gets “Superstrict - 30” cancelation policies for standard listings, things a normal hosts can never get.
It’s not that locals are bad. It’s that I have to ask myself, why would a local book?
If they have a home in the area, what do they want to do in my house that they can’t do in theirs?
Do they even have a home? Are they transients?
It sounds like you live in the suburbs of some city and occasionally book a place in town so you and your wife can enjoy city life for a weekend. To me that’s different than what I’m talking about.
My listing is in the suburbs of New York. I can understand why someone from New York would want to visit here to see the local college, historic sites and get away from the city for a weekend.
What I don’t see is a good reason for someone who lives one town over in a similar suburb to book my place. My house is just a basic, small house. It’s not like a spa or resort.
I’ve had to decline several requests from young locals who wanted to “hang out” at my place or throw a birthday party. Not worth the risk.
The issue is that we are penalized for declining too many guests. That’s why I was wondering about putting “no locals” in the listing, so I don’t have to decline them.
There is huge difference between discrimination against people who live locally and appear to be planning a party and discrimination based on race, religion etc.