Review not Fair, Truthful of Factual? Read this.

[Susan612]

Do you have a review written about you that you can prove not fair, truthful or factual by comparing the review to the message feed between you and the host or guest? I would like to hear your stories. 

[Sarah977]

@Susan612   I have not. But you can write a public response to the guest's review. Keep it brief, professional and factual, and impersonal. Other guests will get it that the guest review is BS and if you have lots of other good reviews it will get buried eventually.

[Susan612]

Thank you @Sarah977 for taking the time to reply. What you are saying may be true in some cases but not in all cases. I have seen in this very community it recommended not to defend oneself.

Just to clarify I did not post to discuss how to respond to a review that is not fair, truthful or factual.  

According to Air Bnb Terms of Service 10.2 a review must be fair, truthful and factual.  I posted this thread solely to hear the stories of those who’s reviews were not fair, truthful or factual and it can be proven so by comparing the review to the Air Bnb message feed between host and guest. 

Is there anyone out there who has a story to tell? 

[Helen427]

hi Susan, see the horrid review in my profile, and yes I have the trail in airbnb and other msg systems to prove it was not truthful or factual.

I felt compelled to respond as it's Reputational Damage (libelous) and as a new user of Airbnb found it very distressing.

My listing was paused as a result which has been very detrimental on top of the toxic dishonest guest/s who I learnt the hard way are very dishonest people with "issues" they need to address of their own.

See other thread today about Reviews for further comments/ suggestions

[Helen3]

Oh dear @Helen427

I am sorry you had an upsetting experience with your first guests. But your response to their review makes it stand out so much more, and will unfortunately put some guests off from staying with you.

It has quite a few spelling/grammar mistakes, is unecessarily long, some matters (such as whether they live in NZ or not) are irrelevant and quite a few of things you complain about are down to your lack of experience as a host (I do accept your guests behaved badly).

For example, it looks strange complaining about two people staying in a room for one, when you were the one who accepted the booking.

As an experienced host I hope you don't mind if I give you a few pointers.

1. You should never have accepted two people for a two week stay in a room clearly only fit for one.

2. I am not sure why Airbnb didn't tell you when you called them but it is incredibly easy to amend a booking from one to two, you just go into the booking confirmation, hit the amend button and change it from one to two.

3. You shouldn't have let the guest check in before paying for the second guest

4. As a host you need to manage your guests. You should have made it clear that their belongings needed to fit in their bedroom not be left around the house and damp towels kept in the bathroom.

5. You should have made expectations clear around cleanliness in the kitchen and clearing up after themselves and asked them to leave if they continued to break your house rules.

I am sure you will learn from this and hope that going forward you get much nicer guests.

[Helen427]

Hi Helen, I did all those things through Airbnb msg systems prior to there booking so they were well aware of it, I also included room measurements.

It's up to Guests to ensure they book places that are suitable for there requirements - e.g use correct search tools for 2 Guests not one when it's for 2 people - I made it very clear all the way through it would be a challenge. This couple I learnt through living with them were not honest or truthful. It disturbed me when I found out his brother was in jail at the time - albeit in the UK.

Re Spelling, it's autocorrect on my phone that does that unfortunately alas I'm not one to judge anyone's grammar or spelling having lived with in excess of 50 plus guests of various nationalities when I previously hosted international students who came to NZ to learn English which was there second language - haha that brings back hilarious memories of our games of playing Scrabble - sit down and play it with those that are beginning to learn English as a second language it's very entertaining.

Thanks for your feedback and suggestions, it's appreciated

[Susan612]

Hi Helen I am sorry to hear your time with Air a Bnb has begun with such a review. I encourage you to reach out to a case manager and state your position regarding the review. Perhaps you can even put that issue into the whole money situation and process the whole thing through the resolution Center. I wish you all the best and feel free to keep us updated as to your progress 

[Helen427]

Thanks Susan, work in progress, I've all the " paper/ electronic" trail and screenshots. I've tweaked my listing to ensure it's very clear not to "try it on" with 2 Guests and paying only for one, or other nonsense behaviours so hopefully that will help, alas I'm fully aware it was done out of retaliation and an attempt to get money refunded as his girlfriend owes her mother for her trip to UK that she hadn't saved for - spent it living up life in Ak - I gave them leeway for been young ones as we were all young once but one must pay ones own way in life when away from the security of parents providing things when living at home.

They did inform me they had financial difficulties but as I explained I to have bills to pay.

keep in touch if you like through PM system.

Kind regards

Helen