The Truth About Removing Airbnb Reviews

Getting a negative Airbnb review stings. And I know it can also feel impossible to have it removed. We had a last minute reservation. The reservation was actually made after the check in time. Now Airbnb flagged this one and they actually canceled it before we could do anything. That guest left us a one star review. He never checked into the property. He never saw it, he never stayed there. He left a review saying that he had really bad check in experience. Of course he did because he never actually checked in. Luckily, with proof of timestamped messages from Airbnb system, we were easily able to get this one removed. But isn't that just kind of crazy? Like Airbnb can cancel review on your behalf unless you actually go in there and want to get it removed yourself. It could end up staying on your profile. But there are still some very good actionable strategies that you can take to help you get unfair reviews removed from your listing. The Airbnb dispute process isn't broken, it's just not based off emotional arguments. And anymore you need to attach platform proof actual messages. You need to match that with specific policies that are being broken by the guest. You can use terms like the guest lied about XYZ or the guest was pressuring us to xyz. If that doesn't make it through, then it's very likely your second attempt won't either. And that is one thing that we've changed in our strategy over the years. There is a smarter way and a right way to dispute reviews on Airbnb. The reality is that today Airbnb does not care about your side of the story unless you know how to speak their language.