Pissed! Our first bad experience just a month after starting

Oh, I was a school teacher for 28 years. When I say I’m surprised it’s a figure of speech.

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Well, we heard back from AirBnB and they are willing to pay for the extra cleaning (except that my husband and I did it, so we have no bill) but not for the use of the second room even though legally it’s theft of services. Also they refused to take down the negative review even though it was posted 5 min after I requested money for damages and clearly retaliatory. BTW AirBnB TOLD me to ask for the money, which I did against my instincts.

They said that they never take down reviews. I have seen it posted here that you can get a review taken down sometimes. Is that not true? If it is true, how do I do it?

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It seems that the secret is to keep asking and perhaps tweeting your displeasure.

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Reviews do get taken down. You can search the forum for stories. Tweet at Airbnb, but again - it is key to be factual and firm, but not insulting. Getting to YES is the goal. The guest was clearly not factual - (stalking? I wish! If you had you might have been spared the damage) and clearly retaliatory in their review.

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Again, I can’t stress this enough - in the future photograph everything. Do not touch a thing until it is documented. There were a lot of things in this whole episode that could have been done differently including the post-checkout. The extra cleaning is a grey area, too, again because you do it yourself. In the post-mortem here I hope there has been some valuable insight.

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@CatskillsGrrl Absolutely - many learnings to be had from this experience.

Are you using Airbnb Help Centre, to help you find out more about the basics around how Airbnb works?

In this case, it would have been useful a) because if you read about host reviews you would have know not to mention an open case and b) it would have given you an understanding of the grounds under which you can ask for a guest review to be removed.

It does cover most of the basics so well worth a read through to help you become familiar with how airbnb works.

See this thread. It is not the same facts, but … good to be aware.

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How do you update a review?

@Helsi No I haven’t been doing that, but I will start. thanks.

Oh, only edit before posting. She had posted a draft review here before they asked for payment.

@KKC Oh I see. Thanks for clarifying!!

OK, so now I have another dilemma. Because the room in question only has 4 reviews the guest we have been talking about gave 1 star, we have an overall score of 4 stars. I got a message saying that the listing is at risk. I checked the help section but can’t find any information on what the rules are exactly. How much time do we have to get the rating back up? I dropped the price a bit to hopefully get a new reservation but am worried that because of the 4 star rating it will be tough to get bookings. Suggestions?

Ignore their “warnings.” There are plenty of listings including those of regular posters here who are consistently 4 star. And if push comes to shove you you can delist it and relist with some changes. As I already advised, rather than lower the price that will get you loser guests, talk to upcoming guests about how you need the good reviews. Make it organic (as the kids say). Like you are chatting over wine and telling the story of the stoners who need to grow up and now you’ve got 4 stars. Your guests, charmed by your honesty, generosity and view will be happy to help you out.

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Just to reiterate from another host - please don’t lower your price! You’ll soon get your rating up by giving your guests value for money, not necessarily cheap-as-chips prices that will attract cheapo guests. Have pride in what you offer and price it accordingly :slight_smile:

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We definitely learned that lesson early on. Our starting price was $26 for up to 10 guests in our private room listing. Most of the really bad guests that we’ve had came when the price was super cheap. Now that we’ve raised it we don’t get as many problem guests.

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@KKC I like that approach. Thanks!

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It is definitely long but, like a train wreck, one can’t look away, and I think it makes the point required perfectly well. Hopefully these infantile amateur fratboys are unable to book from ABB again, ever.

I was quoted earlier and have to say, I got a review removed (stars as well) by posting on ABB’s FB and Twitter page. I got a response in less than a couple hours. I don’t think the negative press pleases them? I only tried this once and was new at the time (I think some asshats prey on new hosts) but, thankfully, it worked.

My situation was familiar as in I asked for compensation for damages thru the resolution center and got a severely negative review 3 minutes later. Jackass was probably STILL drunk from his hoser at my house. :angry:

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Not sure I understand. You had a price for 10 people 26$? In one private room?

No @Yana . That has to be $26 per person!