How to deal with a no-show guest leaving unfair ratings?

Te0
Level 3
Sandy, UT

How to deal with a no-show guest leaving unfair ratings?

My cancellation policy is moderate. A guest contacted me telling me he could not make the stay but he wasn't going to cancel it either as it was a last minute decision. I appreciated him and gave him a 40% price drop as it made me personally feel better. I also mentioned to him along with the message that on a weekend day like this my place was usually booked. He did not respond but accepted the price change.
 
After the trip completed. I sent a message to him asking if he would like to leave a positive review for me and I would do the same. He went ahead and left 4-star ratings to almost all categories. Wow that hurt me a lot as I had been doing great with my ratings and I didn't have too many reviews to cover these 4-stars he gave.
 
Well if this was the end I would live with it as my own mistakes. But the bigger problem revealed is when I contacted Airbnb to see if there was any chance that they could help remove/revise the ratings since the guest did not show up, I was told that:
 
    1) They can help if the guest did not show up;
    2) But they can't remove reviews and ratings if they have been published on both sides;
    3) However, they can hide reviews but not ratings if the circumstances meet the requiments.
 
That said, in my case, they can't help at all, which I don't think that makes sense: What if a host accidentally chose "Not recommended" for a guest? What if the ratings were accidentally left as 1-star? Isn't Airbnb really able to do anything about this when it happens?
 
Also how should the host and the guest rate each other if the gues didn't show up but didn't cancel the trip either? Leaving all 5-star seems not quite true. Shouldn't there be some options like "Guest did not show up" and only have the rating for Communication available to choose?

4 Replies 4
Oomesh-Kumarsingh0
Level 10
Pamplemousses, Mauritius

@Te0 You shouldnt have left a review now you cannot argue because you posted a review for the guest. Airbnb isnt to be blame here you knew what you were doing never repeat this if you want to be a good flourishing business. Good luck!!!

Thanks. What would you do if this was you? Just ignore the review/ratings? I don't like this way and I think Airbnb should provide an option to choose if the guest didn't show up so that both hosts/guests aren't confused and this kind of issue can be avoided. My guest did want to give me a positive feedback but he just couldn't convince himself to rate me 5-stars as he was not there.

 

Furthermore, what if a guest leave you a 1-star review by mistake? What if you accidentally leave a "Not recommended" review? Should we just live with these?

You should have never asked for a review because the guest never stayed in your listing. And you should not have reviewed the guest either for the same reason. 

Joanna85
Level 10
Las Vegas, NV

I had a guest message me once like five minutes before he originally said he would show up saying he wasn't going to be in town after all.  He didn't cancel because I have a strict cancel policy..so the review deal came up.  I said nothing to him when he cancelled except thanks for letting me know he wasn't coming.  I also did not leave a review and he did not either.  I have learned if you don't first leave a review, most people don't review back.  I don't know if that's across the board how it goes, but my review once I get the prompt usually gets the guest to review me back.  If I don't do it, I don't get a review.  One time I did, which surprised me because he wasn't the best guest I have ever had but he left me a great review...he reviewed me so I reviewed him.  I waited on that one because I needed time to put something in words that was not  bothered but objective lol.

You never know how people will review you.  When I first started hosting I was thinking it'd be awesome if I got 4 stars....I had no ldea 4 stars was bad in airbnbland!!!  I think most guests think the same way- four stars is great.  We hosts know better...but don't poke the bear, as they say, because you may not get what you are seeking review-wise.