I generally do not care a low star review once in a while as I understand expectations are different and I just could not make everyone happy. But I recently got a low star review on check in, the reason the guest put is “Was not able to check in earlier.” Well, they requested morning check in, which I obvious can’t satisfy as I have guests the previous night. They booked my place anyway and agreed to check in on my standard time. I don’t think this is a valid reason to rate me lower based on the fact it was a special request that was not fulfilled. They also put something like, “no stove top, no dishwasher, away from downtown” in the main review, which I never said I have them or near downtown. So I feel I have a good base to appeal this one, and I want to do a test trial on this process and see what happens. Anyone one know how to start?
The response will be so sad too bad as this was the guest experience and that is how they reviewed.
Good luck and please come back and let us know the results.
Yep Airbnb are obsessed with the idea of guests’ personal experience even if it’s factually wrong, on drugs or on another planet. I hope I am wrong in thinking you’ll not have much luck.
To be honest, I don’t think AirBnb will remove it. If I were you, I would simp!y respond to the review.
If you respond to the review publicly keep it cool, factual and concise.
I was able to appeal, and have a review removed, but I had a documented case opened prior to the review against that PITA guest.
The case manager said they wouldn’t remove any review, even with the existing case, BUT what I think saved us was the jerk lied his butt off in his review and I was able to prove it.
After his review posted, I contacted ABB and explained the situation and the lies. They said they would review. I trusted them (newbie mistake) and nothing changed. The next day I hit FB and Twitter (thank you forum advice) and the review was removed in very short order.
I don’t know if it was luck or bad-press for ABB, but it worked. Next time (God forbid there is one…) I might not be so lucky. But for now, I’m grateful for them having common sense.
Good luck!
I personally would not respond publicly. The guest sounds like an idiot for complaining about features obviously disclosed by the listing. And it will set expectations for guests who read reviews but not listings.
I never respond to reviews.
There is another way to look at it if you get a bad, non-factual review. Imagine that a potential guest reads your hundreds of great reviews, then reads a bad one. The guest decides not to stay with you on the strength of that one erroneous review. Would you REALLY have wanted that guest to stay with you???
I use Airbnb as a guest whenever I travel and typically read all/most of the reviews before I book. It’s usually very easy to read between the lines and recognize when a previous guest is/was an entitled asshole, whether or not the host writes a response.
How many stars did they give you overall and did they mention any of this in the public review? If they only mentioned the stovetop, dishwasher and location publicly, I would just let it be. I don’t mind if people mention things like that as it might prevent the next person from rating me lower for them.
It’s not a good idea to respond to negative review. Just let it slide. Other positive reviews will do their part to fix the issue.
I once booked a place and then before my stay read an emotional host’s response to negative review. It was agressive enough that I was going to cancel my stay. Eventually I decided not to cancel my booking.
This was my best Airbnb stay ever. I extended my stay for one more week. The hosts were an abosolutely amazing couple.
After my stay I ré-read that response and found it “too soft”… 
However, even though the negative review was very unfair it was better for the hosts to ignore it and not to respond. I’m quite sure their response cost them a few lost bookings.
I wrote a very long 10-star review to help those wondeful hosts mitigate that crappy review.
Okay, I will take the advice from you guys, just let it slide. Thank you so much for all your input!
Out of interest, when you hit them on social media, we’re your messages directed at Airbnb or did you simply cc Airbnb using hash tags for example? I’d love to read your messages.
I’ll message you, thx!