Investor · Raleigh, NC · Member since 2024 · 17 posts · 15 votes
Hello, this has been our first STR and we started in an upcoming urban area. I think we've done a good job updating our property and making the experience great, but I had two recent reviews that I don't want up. One customer said they were uncomfortable with the neighborhood and didn't like seeing the other home so close to ours. Another said they were verbally assaulted on the street away from our home; they still gave us 5 stars but the content posted is bad.
both aren’t in our control but Airbnb isn’t taking them down. we asked them to take down the 5 star because what she said in the review was awful, but they said it didn’t violate their policy. We are still at 4.85. She I keep trying to take it down? Avery’s books said keep calling.
Contractor/Investor/Consultant · San Diego / Phoenix · Member since 2021 · 12k+ posts · 15k+ votes
2y
When this happened to me in the past, I would just respond to their comments with an honest comment showing the other point of view. "I'm so sorry that you had an unpleasant experience and had someone be so rude - this has never happened before in this neighborhood to the best of my knowledge, please come back and stay again"
Rental Property Investor · Phoenix, AZ and Rehoboth Beach DE · Member since 2019 · 1k+ posts · 1k+ votes
2y
You could try getting it removed due to relevance. The verbal assault did not happen at your house, therefore it is not relevant to a review of your house. It is not under your control. From their site on disputing reviews:
Reviews should be relevant
Reviews must provide relevant information about the reviewer’s experience with the Host, guest, stay, or Experience that would help other community members make informed booking and hosting decisions.
Contractor/Investor/Consultant · San Diego / Phoenix · Member since 2021 · 12k+ posts · 15k+ votes
2y
When this happened to me in the past, I would just respond to their comments with an honest comment showing the other point of view. "I'm so sorry that you had an unpleasant experience and had someone be so rude - this has never happened before in this neighborhood to the best of my knowledge, please come back and stay again"
Sucks but it happens. If you get another similar complaint you may want to post some photos of the surrounding area or mention the "eclectic transitional neighborhood with tons of character" in the description in order to frontload the expectation a bit.
Otherwise I agree with the above comments about keeping after customer service. If it's not too late you do have a window where you can ask the guest to change their review. Either way, from this point forward provide the best experience possible to your guests so that you can bury the bad reviews with more good ones- most guests won't bother to search back that far.
Investor · West Palm Beach, FL · Member since 2024 · 90 posts · 47 votes
2y
This is great advice. I also recommending pointing out the positives of their review first if there were any. Reviews absolutely matter and how you respond can attract potential guests.
When this happened to me in the past, I would just respond to their comments with an honest comment showing the other point of view. "I'm so sorry that you had an unpleasant experience and had someone be so rude - this has never happened before in this neighborhood to the best of my knowledge, please come back and stay again"
Tampa, FL · Member since 2022 · 3k+ posts · 3k+ votes
2y
As a traveler if I saw 4.85 I would be satisfied and move on. You can keep trying as it is possible to get different results depending on who you talk to, however I do not think it is worth the energy. I would write a professional response and move on.
Real Estate Consultant · OH · Member since 2023 · 2k+ posts · 1k+ votes
2y
If it's a 4- or 5-star review just give a professional but decent reply, that helps to curtail any future guests that think twice before booking your property.
Investor · Raleigh, NC · Member since 2024 · 17 posts · 15 votes
2y
Quick update…we ended up calling multiple times and got the review taken down. We did reach out to this guest before their stay and explained the area, which they said didn’t bother them. They had an excellent stay in the property but then they reported how terrible the area was and they were verbally assaulted on the street (not in the property).
We couldn’t move on with it so after multiple cal to Airbnb they took it down because we told them about the area before hand. They gave us a 5 star but the comment she made about being verbally assaulted didn’t sit well with us. It worked out in the end and we’ve made some changes to our automatic messaging.
thanks for the advice! It definitely helped us game plan how to fix this.