I am a host on airbnb and have received 150+ 5* reviews. I had never received a single 4* or below and I put everything I have into hosting.Last week I had an elderly lady stay who, when reviewing, marked the property as 5* in every category and gave a glowing review, but accidentally clicked 1* instead. Absolutely anyone can see that this was a mistake and she apologised to me.I spoke to airbnb who said that they MUST be contacted by the guest to remove the review. So, I asked the guest and she started to do it via the help centre, but due to the process with the bot and not speaking to an actual person, she closed it.Airbnb even have a record of the help ticket but still say they cannot contact the guest as she has not made it all the way through the process.The guest did not want to call as the American helpline would charge her a fortune on her tariff.Due to the endless faff, she has unfortunately stopped responding and so I am stuck with a 1* review and my listing has fallen from the top of the first page to about page 4. If airbnb had phoned her once the ticket was raised with the bot, she would have answered their questions and the problem would have been solved. As it is, I will lose business due to what is clearly a slip of the finger.As a top host, I feel incredibly frustrated and let down. Surely if a guest marks 5* in all categories and 1* overall, a message should flag up before confirming saying "is this correct?" And afterwards, guests should receive an email to ask WHY they left a 1* review but 5* in other categories with a link to contact airbnb if needed.I expressly use airbnb but will be leaving the site in January for VRBO instead.
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