Hi there, i haven’t visited this site for a few years so I apologize in advance if this topic has been beaten into the ground. I have over 100 reviews on my current listing across various platforms and have never received less than 4 stars on any overall rating or individual category. My current overall ranking in 4.97. My last guest left a 3 star overall review with a 1 star for cleanliness. I guess she was set off by condiments left in the refrigerator and tissue boxes left out that were already opened. In my experience neither of these things are uncommon and i wonder if there is any way to ask for the review to be pulled.
I doubt you would be successful trying to get the review removed, as cleanliness is a matter of opinion (this will be Airbnb’s stance) and unless the review wording clearly violated one of their stated review policies, it will just be a waste of your time. (Airbnb has turned its review removal requests over to AI bots and according to many host posts, it seems to reject all removal requests, even when the review clearly is retaliatory or violates review policy)
It’s an outlier review, and the fact that you have over 100 good reviews makes that clear. It sounds like the guest didn’t mention in the written review why she gave the low cleanliness and overall rating, you are just guessing it is because of the condiments and tissue boxes? (If a guest mentions the reason for a low stars in their review, and it is either a lie or you need to clarify it for the benefit of future guests, you can leave a review response, but you should never leave a response based on pure speculation as to the reason for a guests’ rating.)
While an opened tissue box seems a ridiculous cause for complaint, I think that while you may never have had any expressed aversion to used condiments before, and providing them may have been appreciated by other guests, it seems that it could be perceived as having been left by previous guests and the fridge not having been cleaned out.
So if you want to leave these for your guests, I would make sure to leave a note explaining that these are provided by you, so they don’t have to, for instance, go out and buy a whole bottle of ketchup if they are just there for a few days- that they weren’t left by previous guests and the fridge is definitely cleaned between guests.
I am a homeshare host whose guests share my kitchen, so of course my own food is in the fridge and I tell guests they are welcome to use my oil, spices, etc.
But if I were hosting an entire home, and wanted to provide some condiments to guests as an amenity, I would make sure to top up bottles of oil, etc. for each new booking, so it doesn’t seem like someone else’s leftovers. And while I can see guests having no qualms about using an unsealed bottle of soy sauce or a squeeze bottle of ketchup, things like mayo, mustard, etc., that a previous guest could have stuck a knife or spoon into, that they could have even licked off of, I would stay away from.
Also make sure any condiments that are used by multiple guest groups are thoroughly and hygenically cleaned around the openings. Flipping open the top of a squeeze bottle and encountering dried up, messy product under it would be a turn-off for most people. (Teenage boys might be an exception. 
)
I have a basket of toiletries in the guest bathroom, most of which are things guests leave behind, like half full containers of sunscreen or lotion or shampoo. I tell guests when they check in that they are things other guests haven’t wanted to pack and take with them, that they are welcome to use if needed, and that I wipe everything down with sterilizing wipes between bookings, which I do.
Thanks for the response. I’ll probably edit language in my welcome guide to point out what you mentioned about certain food and condiments being provided by the host. I think the majority of my guests have appreciated these items being available and since the unit is also listed on Home Exchange where guests tend to expect these types of items, it seems like an overreaction to change a policy that over 99% of my guests have not had a problem with.
I realize that Airbnb likely won’t take any action, but I wish that if they insisted on publishing every review that they would maybe change the algorithm to mute the effect that an outlier review has on my rating. Since I only rent my unit out on occasion, one three star review will probably knock me out of Superhost status that I’ve maintained for several years. Here is her review by the way since you mentioned it:
The place clearly looked lived in. There was trash around the apartment, used tissue left in night tables, clothes left in all the closets, half-consumed food left in the refrigerator, used soap in the bathrooms, lack of trash cans in bathrooms and bedrooms. I myself am a 69-year-old woman, and I had to get on my knees to gain access to my clothes in the only closet available to me in my bedroom. There was excessive clutter throughout the entire apartment. We did appreciate the fireplaces and the location of the apartment, which was in a safe and convenient part of the city. In addition, James responded promptly to our queries, which was very much appreciated.
What part of their review was inaccurate?
Most of her complaints were misleading such as referring to condiments provided for guests as “half-consumed food”; but there are trash cans in every bathroom, there wasn’t trash around the apartment based on the pictures my cleaners took, there aren’t clothes in every closet.
Well, misleading, outright lying, and personal perception are all different things. While I think you’d be wasting your time trying to get the review removed, and it’s a drag that it brought your overall rating down, you could leave a response that clarifies things she said in her review that you think are misleading. For instance, depending on what the situation actually is, which I don’t know (if there are clothes in some closets, do you live there part of the time?) you could say, if true, “There are clothes in some of the closets because we stay here ourselves some of the time. But there are completely empty closets for guest use.”
But it sounds like you don’t really know if there were used tissues left in drawers, used soap left in the bathrooms, and if there was, that is unacceptable and those are legitimate complaints you need to discuss with your cleaner. Cleaners can be slack when there’s no host or co-host checking to make sure they’ve done a thorough job. And just one thing, like finding used tissues in a drawer, can color a guest’s experience and lead them to notice other things they otherwise might not notice or complain about.
To me, it sounds like a pretty balanced review, as she also mentioned positives, it doesn’t come across to me as a review by a guest who just looks for things to complain about. “Cluttered” and clothes in closets sounds like you live there sometimes, and you might consider packing some of your personal items away when you are hosting guests. Guests who rent an entire place, as opposed to a homeshare, usually expect it to be set up for guests, rather than feel like they are visiting friends or family in their home, with all their stuff around.
That said, you may be perfectly clear in your listing info that the house is also used by you and there are personal items there, it’s not just an “Airbnb house”, and this guest may not have read or understood that meant the place would seem “lived in”. And if you aren’t clear about that, you need to be.
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Also, @dwormer don’t worry too much about losing Superhost status. Airbnb eliminated the Superhost filter when they introduced the “Guest Favorite” badge, which seems to carry more weight now, although it is determined not by your stats, but by some mysterious algorithm.
And while a few experienced guests may look for Superhosts, knowing that one of the criteria is that the host hasn’t cancelled bookings, which puts the guest more at ease, those of us who have had Superhost, lost it for some reason, and gained it back again, can attest to it not seeming to make any difference as far as getting bookings.
Superhost was always more of a carrot Airbnb dangled to keep hosts stressed out, afraid to call out a guest for unacceptable behavior during their stay in terror of prompting a retaliation review, or rushing around trying to please entitled, demanding guests, or afraid to turn off their phone ringer during the night lest a guest have to wait a few hours (the horror!) for a reply to a request or message sent, etc.