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I agree that this would be the first place to start. Guests are asked to review based on specific things. A 1-star review would mean everything was as bad as it could get, and it simply is not true, even if he has a complaint about one thing. It’s obviously a revenge review and maybe Airbnb would remove it as the easiest way forward.
If they don’t remove it, then I’d give a review incorporating all of the great suggestions, but I would add: “Thank you for pointing out that our description of the acreage might be clarified. The listing has been updated to show that you can expect to be at least 200+ feet from other sites”. Stating this shows that you listen to guests and are being reasonable despite his rant.
Though I think you should have responded quickly to the guest who was trying to find you, he wasn’t following your directions so he needs to share the blame. Nevertheless, he has made so many assumptions that anyone reading it would question his statements. I wouldn’t make mention of that portion of this review at all.
I would also note in the review: to potential hosts: this guest put the comforter on the ground and trampled it with muddy shoes and his greasy dishes were put back into the “clean tub” unwashed. I would not host again.
you will need to try it with Airbnb. Go through these two in detail and make your arguments in writing to Airbnb. If that doesn’t work call them.
If they don’t remove the review, you may consider deleting the listing. Even if you delete the listing, the review will remain on your profile, so you need to think about whether responding to that review is worth it.
Responding to a single review makes that review stand out if you don’t respond to other positive reviews as well. The length of your response also needs to be the length of your response to other reviews. Otherwise, future guests will notice that review before they notice others.
This jerk is gone, but he may continue to do more damage if respond to his review in a defensive and aggressive manner.
I did write him a review, but I kept it short, I wish I had been more detailed and I did not want to be petty.
I wrote:
Houserules were not followed and we had to clean up a very big mess the next morning.
He replied:
“na your tripping you were the worst host ever knows nigh ignoring our calls and text for hours when we were lost i didn’t even wanna clean after ourselves but we did all you had to do was wash the sheets which you didnt cause when we woke up and had light our pillows was covered in white hair i wanted to try the bigger bungalows you had but after that experience you deserve to be taken down from being a host”
Is that on the review you left to him or on in messages to you?
If he did that on the review left to him, he inflicted unnecessary damage on himself. A host who reads his response in the future may not want to host him. But then again Airbnb’s business model is to force such scummy guests on hosts, so it might not even affect him.
That was his response to the review I left for him. Only someone who clicks on his profile would see that, and I think that is pretty good news for future hosts.
Here is my draft email to Air for asking the review be removed.
I’m curious what you think. I’m also curious if you think I should call or email?
DEAR AIR…
I believe this review violates the your review policy
On the basis of:
Slander – guest accuses me of lying “I highly doubt she was in any call” – I was and I can prove it, but the point is that this false accusation slanders and damages my reputation and causes actual damage to my hosting activities. Also not accurate is his statement of me taking over an hour to respond.
Irrelevant, Unrelated and not helpful to others – a guest who is a self-admitted weed smoker (see last line of his review) got confused trying to find the property in spite of clear directions. He ignored 3 trespassing signs, drove over the neighbor’s property damaging their vegetation and boxed himself between bushes. When I tried to help him out his likely impaired driving made him look bad in front of his girlfriend and he got very angry at me. I remained calm and continued to help him until he arrived at the tent. He then took his anger out on the listing property, dumping cooked greasy food into the clean storage bin of kitchen items, dragged the comforter onto the floor and stepped all over it with muddy shoes and then wrote what I believe is a revenge review that is not helpful to future guests. While this is only the second review on this (our third) tent, you can see from the reviews of our other tent guests, that many guests reference how helpful the directions where in them finding the property and that noone complained about a dirty kitchen or no privacy.
I am respectfully asking that you remove this review.
Thanks
It would be libel, not slander, but either way, it’s not against the review policy or the content policy. It is what Airbnb typically labels as “the guest’s subjective experience”. They specifically state that they don’t mediate disputes concerning the truth of reviews.
I’m sorry but it is relevant to the guest experience because it describes the listing, the location and the interaction with the host. For the same reasons, it is related and could be helpful to others (depending on what they are looking for or aren’t looking for).
Here is how they moderate for relevance (including whether or not it is related or helpful):
Some stuff is not relevant like whether or not the guest smokes pot (since he wasn’t smoking it in your listing). Neither is you thinking you know how he felt about his own driving skills in front of his girlfriend.
I am sorry, but I truly think that sending that letter to Airbnb will only do you a disservice. Is there some reason you don’t just start over with that one listing, since you only have one other review on it anyway?
I don’t know whether they will entertain the idea of removing the review, but your draft to Airbnb is not the type of message that will generally result in any action.
You have to communicate with CS in the simplest, most concise manner. Long paragraphs don’t work. Short sentences in bullet point form, in chronological order is how to word things to CS.
"Guest was sent clear instructions for property access.
Guest ignored the instructions as well as signs on the property.
Guest drove through neighbor’s property, crushing their garden plantings."
The reason I thought of going with trying to get it taken down as plan A, was house_plants 's comment that the sentence “I highly doubt she was in any call” could be cause to get it taken down. To me it is like the example above, and under “irrelevant” that starts with “guest is a liar” but maybe I don’t completely understand the policy.
I do agree with muddy that a long paragraph is not a good idea.
Plan B is starting over.
Ask air bnb to delete it as all irrelevant
Send air bnb the post you first made to us. They are real people too and get some guests are just liars and troublesome
Real rural glamping is not for everyone - Please read our description carefully and very important follow our detailed direction. This will insure that you arrive without any problem and have an enjoyable stay.
