What would you reply or not reply to such an "amazing" one star review?

Research
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Yes, 2.5 years ago I did significant remodeling to my home. I added about 110 sq ft to the front to make a separate entrance and bathroom for the guest room. At first I was not able to raise my price due to competition growing faster than the customer base. But over the past two months I’ve noticed I was able to raise my price a little.

No. There are several factors for me that are different than for you. I live in my house, I don’t depend on the income to live, it’s supplemental; since it is my house the increase in value of the home made it a worthwhile investment. I also thought my elderly and ill sister might have to move in with me but she passed away just as the work was completed so I never had to use it for that.

The big difference for me is that I was able to rent it much more often by making the renovations. Also no one else goes in there or uses the bathroom so keeping it clean is not a struggle as it was when guests used the same bathroom as visitors to my home. Everything in the bathoom was new so I have no water stained tiles. If it looks dirty guest will think it’s dirty no matter how clean it is.

After I did renovations my ratings went from about 92-94% 5 star to 98-99% 5 star. In under two years I made as much as I’d spent on the renovations so I consider it paid for and now it’s all profit. If not for Airbnb I wouldn’t be making money on the room at all so I consider it all profit. If I weren’t cleaning the room or on the computer handling bookings I’d be sitting around so I don’t consider that I have to “pay” myself. It’s all extra except for my additional expenses of improvements, utilities and upkeep and those costs can be deducted from my income under US tax law.

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@KKC is airbnb your main source of income or something you combine with your other job?

i understand our situation is different as most of my rooms are 110 sqft

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have you actually visited your Airbnb? could it have someone not been cleaned and was actually dirty? are there animals there?

it seems strange to write in all that very specific detail for no reason. did they try get money back or anything?

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people lie all the time and some are very skilled . I had 2 girls coming in and when they realises it’s not a separate house they rented for 49$ but just a room they made up all kind of reasons and left. Their refund was not given to them so they left me horrible review with so many details that a reader. Would imagine it was very true.

Then I had a one night standers who realized wild nightwill not happen for them.as they rented a room with shared bathroom and 3 more guests in the house. Same thing , bad review but this one was removed because he threatened me.

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@Cocoanouk i actually personally met them at the unit. maid cleaned it for two hours. and guest paid like 14 usd per night. he was sending me like 20 messages a day complains, never asked for refund (i would not give one anyway as nothing was broken)

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@Yana Thanks a lot for your reply, i finally feel like i am not alone with this struggle. So you had no luck with removing review with two girls?

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so weird! If you have all other good reviews don’t worry about it.

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No… the girls used language like : nasty people, stinky house etc. So asked Airbnb is it even allowed to insult hosts in reviews.
The problem with this I see that his review will scare some people off. Hope it’s not going to effect you that much.
Also since they now want everyone.to have 4.7 score or else… these 1* reviews drop rating very low and very fast. Especially if you don’t have many reviews total. This review put me in 4.6 despite the fact that rest of my reviews are 5* and just few 4*

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If the insane guest I had a few months ago hadn’t motivated me to get out of the Air business, the 4.7 requirement would. The crazy woman brought one room’s score down to 4.7 but because she gave a 1 on cleanliness (false!) they notified me that my listing ‘could be at risk.’
The other room has 4.6 average and is ‘at risk.’
If all goes well I’ll be living alone in an efficiency by the end of the year.

My rooms are simple, practical rooms in a blue collar neighborhood, serving a niche market of people who need to be in the area for just a few months. Renting an apartment would require a longer lease and buying furniture, and a hotel for 2-3 months would cost a lot more.