Rather than leave a negative review, or be subject to one if you think one is coming, can one just not post a review either before or after the guest does? It is our understanding that the first party (and everyone else) can’t see the first review until the second party posts — so by not posting does that ensure there will be no reviews for this stay? Does it hurt one’s standing with AirBnB?
14 days and all is revealed!
why would you not post a negative review? Reviews are for future hosts - without a negative review we do not have the tools to decide whether to accept a guest.
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No. You and your guest each have the chance to review and after 14 days the review becomes visible on your listing. If you don’t review it doesn’t prevent the guest from reviewing. However, when you review your guest gets a notification and that might provoke them to review. So if you think a bad review is coming it’s best to wait until the last minute of the last day in hopes that your review will post and theirs won’t. But it can go the other way too. They post theirs of you and you miss out getting to review them
More reviews equal higher search rank. Also a certain review rate is necessary for superhost status. But skipping a review occasionally shouldn’t hurt your status. It has more effect when first starting out but so does the bad review you are trying to avoid.
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ALWAYS post a negative review – be factual and unemotional but tell your fellow hosts what this guest did wrong.
Do not worry about an occasional bad review. Unless you have been getting a lot of bad reviews, in which case you should seriously look at the negative things guests are saying – and FIX the things you are doing wrong.
And of course no one can see your review until they also post their review. So the idea of a retaliatory review does not exist
Unless you ask them for compensation for damages/cleaning, etc. before they give you a review.
The idea certainly does exist. I’ve seen many reviews that are in anticipation and reaction to the review they know is coming, or at least that’s what they claim. Just today I read a terrible review of a place with overall good reviews. The host responded to the review by saying it was a fabrication and the guest was doing it in anticipation of the bad review coming. The guest was loud and violated rules including the no smoking rule. They were caught and warned so they made up a bunch of complaints about the host. Or so it seems.
I know what you’re saying but that’s not really retaliatory. That is anticipation of a bad review and trying to downplay it even though many do not read both the host and guest reviews. The host may readthe review of the guest that I left last week that was really bad but not necessarily the review that they left me and vice versa. That guest didnt give me 5 stars but if any future host read her other reviews and even mine- they can easily see that she was the problem and not me. People just need to be honest in their reviews because they help travelers and hosts make their decisions. If a host chooses to not leave a review because they have nothing good to say it does not mean that they will not be left a scathing review buy the gift in anticipation that they will also receive a bad review
I now review every guest, whether they were good, bad, or just mediocre. If I am anticipating a bad review, I review the guest on the last day, just before the review window closes. If the guest hasn’t reviewed me yet, the review window is closed and I’ve now warned future hosts.
If I had a truly awful guest who was on an extended tour, I’d review them sooner to immediately warn hosts.
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