I think the issue is for a host hovering near the line. If you’ve got 1000 ratings but at 4.7 something hoping to get your SH rating back then along comes a vindictive guest who gives you 1 star and you’re screwed again for the rest of that quarter.
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Dyson Animal does wonders for me. The place is left squeaky clean.
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Orange cone but friendly message. Good move!
September 25
Caroline_Bradbeer:
How did you fix it?
I’ve also had this issue and could write write a comical account of all the places guests have parked (I’m in home host, only two spots that “Y” at the end of my non-paved driveway in the countryside. I had one man park his rental minivan on a freshly trimmed flower garden on the edge of my drive which is surrounded by a stone border (very curved, irregular shape, so no way looks like a parking spot, filled with greenery, etc.). He pulled on top of a trimmed down forsythia bush and I heard a loud bang from inside the house. Blew a tire. Another pulled right up on my stone block patio, right along the the chairs.
Anyway, I purchased an orange traffic cone and a sleeve to slide over that says “Welcome Guests” from Myparkingsign.com. Is it attractive? No! Does it do the job? Yes! My initial welcome/check in message now instructs guests to park at the orange traffic cone. No issues since, and I can more it around to mow, shovel/snow blow/etc.
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Yes my favorite guests are bald as well.
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My apologies. Thanx. I will edit.
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Liking your moxie, MHG., However Air can still cling to their veil of purported authenticity of client experience, and their Terms of Service. We signed off on this. However, reviews of this nature are not delivered to businesses, They are delivered to sole proprietorships that generally post at least part of the host’s name.
More than likely looking at a discreet removal of the review, and an out of court settlement.
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Now I’ve read Mandi’s reply and I guess I don’t know what I’m talking about. I should re-read the thread I suppose but I’m not going to . 
In that instance, it would be the guest who could be sued, rather than Airbnb. An instance where a guest slanders a host and the defamation results in measurable financial loss, then a very good case could be made. Airbnb would likely just be subpoenaed and would cling to their [agreed to} TOS. Business owners all over the country are suing customers for much less; many for damaging reviews. It is a bit shocking, but pursuing litigious action is almost normal in the States. Of course filing a lawsuit is very expensive if you don’t have an attorney in the family…
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Interesting! Very interesting! I like your attitude!
Here in the land of polar bears, you don’t necessarily need to prove loss of revenue to sue in civil court. You can sue for damage to reputation against an individual.
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It’s very hard to provide evidence that a reputation has been damaged when you are an individual. Loss of revenue, like going from 80% booked to 5% booked after a malicious review would be one way of providing that evidence. Simply saying things like “that review hurt my feelings” isn’t going to cut it. In the US the standard is generally it has to be false, malicious in purpose and damaging. So if a guest argues that they weren’t being malicious, they were simply “stating their truth,” then that makes it harder to win. OTOH if the guest says something like “I’ve heard a bad review can really hurt an airbnb. You might want to reconsider your stance on my refund,” then you’ve got malice.
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The loss of SH status due to a one star review is hard evidence of impact on a business having lost elite status as a result of a punitive review that can be quantified.
The punitive review is directed to a sole proprietorship most likely bearing at least part of the host’s name.
I am not proposing compensation. I was thinking more along the lines of Taylor Swift and the $1 suit. The leverage lies in the fact that it is possible to initiate a suit against a guest for deliberate malice.
I don’t have the ovarios of PuppyLover, but sometimes the knowledge that you personally can create a real stinko has it’s pleasures.
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We have found that Airbnb has become so guest centric that hosts will end up leaving to host on other platforms that offer the host more appropriate support especially considering the high costs of running a vacation rental.
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One piece of advice, if anyone is in this situation: Sue both Airbnb and the guest as “joint tortfeasors”
two or more persons whose negligence in a single accident or event causes damages to another person. In many cases the joint tortfeasors are jointly and severally liable for the damages, meaning that any of them can be responsible to pay the entire amount, no matter how unequal the negligence of each party was.
… and GO BIG, in your local court, but not the smallest one … at least Circuit Court (in my particular case). Seek $100K or more. When you into a larger court (vs. Small Claims), you can do discovery and get your hands on ALL the internal b.s. correspondence between the guest and Airbnb. That nails down what exactly happened and fences off the guest lying their face off in court.
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Yay Puppylover! Go big or go home.
The point I’m trying to make in all of this is at least as human beings we have some power against the kind of guests who would probably be best suited hauling garbage. There is a limit to what anybody should have to take, and having this knowledge in our back pocket does instill a certain level of confidence.
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Ouch 20202020202020
RR
I think the biggest problem is just that some people are incapable of reading a listing and understanding how it works as a guest.
As a Host, I have found Airbnb very easy and worthwhile to use. The only issue has been guests who don’t read a listing properly, don’t follow the clearly-stated rules, and seem to think that they are entitled to the moon served with organic ice-cream in a crystal chalice, while dancing maidens throw winning lottery tickets at them.
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The only thing I would say more than this is that they choose not to read and understand the listing…the reasons are many: laziness, feeling of entitlement, etc.
I think we are conditioned not to read the small print, so many times you have to click that you read and understand this or the other. People click to get to the next screen. My solution to this is I do not care if they read it or not. I expect people to be decent, and if they did not read the rules and are surprised by them oh well, they still need to clean up or pay up.
RR
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