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Basically had a woman who booked my studio last minute (10:20pm) for same day arrival. Honestly I don’t even know how she was able to book that late. She basically just arrived and no phone call, message or anything. She was upset that she couldn’t go in the property with the lock box code ( which I provide privately on their day of arrival). She came with a man. But she only booked for ONE person. She called and I talked to her and told her that my co-host will be there and arrived 10 minutes later to let her in.
She checks out early next morning. Provided a crappy hostile review with insults. She stated that i did not even called her and I took a long time to let her in and my place was full of bugs (which is not true). Its a hawaii property and there are some that can come in - but nothing the way she expressed it on her review that my place was swarmed with them.
At this moment - I was upset. Because I followed up with her that same late night, emailed and called her the next morning and she did not return any of my messages or calls and insults my place and how i run my business.
I reached out to Airbnb about the bad review and they said they will not take it down because it does not violate their rules. I responded with them that what kind of protection does the host have when the review is mostly false?
There’s no protection from false reviews at the moment. Has this guest tried to request a refund via the resolution centre? Something smacks of ‘scam’ to me… late booking and huge complaining the next day = free nights stay.
You might want to consider changing your Availability preferences. I would never want to be booked for that night at 10:20PM. Just too late. And what kind of person hasn’t made plans for where they will sleep by then?
The only time I have changed that preference is for days where the nearby airport is closing for snow to give travelers a place to stay. Snow and my slower period are, not coincidently, at the same time.
She ignored any of my communications. She never asked for a refund nor tried to resolve an issue. Which I didnt realize there was an issue until i saw the review.
Yes, my talk at the Airbnb Open was about Reviews and I spoke about how a guest actually lied and stated that I went into their unit and snooped around.
Why did he say this? Because they smoke pot and I knew it and I called Airbnb. So they retaliated by lying in their review. The review on my listing stating that I searched through their stuff. One of the worst things anyone can say about a host. Airbnb didn’t take it down.
Here is a link to my Airbnb Open talk. And I speak about when I respond to a negative review and when I don’t… And also how to use reviews to your advantage. Airbnb asked me to do the talk in 2016 as well. And yes, I mentioned how Airbnb will not take down a review where a guest lies. Just because I speak at their conference it doesn’t mean I don’t state my truth.
I did provide her the same exact service I provide all my guests. The late night booking was not the issue. The issue started that she didnt even tell me about her arrival time. She just showed up - unannounced. Then was upset because she didnt have cell phone coverage. It is stated on my listing that cell service is very spotty to none in the area. I also mention we are semi off grid and everything else. She blamed me for the cell service and how dark it is in the area. Which is also describe in my listing. And it went down from there… but I didnt know anything about it til I saw the review. The review was so hostile. She insulted me for having a higher cleaning fee. She insulted me about everything - she was completely unhappy.
Anyways - I called airbnb about this issue and showed them proofs of my calls and messages to this guest. I tried to communicate as much as possible and even offered her for a later check out since I heard her frustration the night before. The guest ignored all my attempts to make her stay pleasant. Then 2 weeks later - i read her review and it isn’t pretty and down right exaggeration and twist of lies. The worst part - airbnb just emails me and tells me that it wont be taken down since she didnt break the rules. Even though the guest conduct is a fraud if she has to make up things on her review.
Hmmm. If she waited two weeks to submit the review at the ninth hour, then it sounds like she knows how to play the game. Did you check her other reviews? Has she slammed hosts before?
You know how you can’t see the review unless you provide a review. I try not to do negative reviews - specially when they are only there for 1 night. Barely 8 hours… she only had 2 reviews since 2013.
Guest respective:
I wear different hats. Im a host and also guest when traveling.
When Im traveling with my brother I see an aparment that is for 2-3 people. I usually book and not always mention my brother. I see clearly that the apartment is for 2-3 people so what is the big deal. My brother is my responsibility (im booking from my account, bad/good reveiws affect my profile, damage and else is on my Mastercard). Just let it be.
@ZeroZ welcome to the forum. As a gentle suggestion, please take note of the age of the threads on which you post. When you post on an old thread, like this one which is over 2 years old, it bumps it to the top of the results. Then new members don’t notice and comment on it thinking it is new. And in many cases people who don’t post here any longer are the ones being addressed. Sometimes we moderators even get angry emails from people telling us to remove their profiles and quit sending them messages (because they don’t know how to set their notifications or to turn off the email). Since this is an old post I’ve closed it to further replies. If you’d like to make a new post debating whether hosts should be able to require that a guest book for the proper number of people I’m sure you’ll get a lively response.
