How AirBnb Hosts Should Handle Bad Reviews

No one is a fan of negative reviews. We always try our best to avoid one if we can. Sometimes it can feel desperate — kowtowing to a guest’s every demand if you even get a sniff of a negative review.  However, in Airbnb hosting, bad reviews are inevitable, and it’s not the end of the world. You just need to know how to handle them properly

Here are some ways on how to handle negative reviews in Airbnb:

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1.   Delay Leaving A Guest Review.

Guests are given 14 days to leave a review. And if your gut says that your guests may not be so satisfied with their stay at your place, you may consider not giving them a guest review right away after checking out. Doing so may give your guests more time to cool down and forget to write a review. Also, when you write a review for the guest, Airbnb prompts the guest to write on for you. Avoid this reminder by not leaving a guest review.

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2.  Contact Airbnb To Remove Bad Reviews.

When the bad review you have received violates the content policy of Airbnb, then you can ask them to have it removed for you! However, Airbnb is strict when it comes to reviews, so you need to prove your case. The most common violation is a guest threatening to leave a negative review unless a refund is given. This is against Airbnb’s extortion policy, and their support team should assist you in making sure the review is removed. You’ll want to provide Airbnb’s support team with a screenshot of the relevant guest communication..

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3.   Reply To The Review.

If a review cannot be removed, you’ll want to move on to damage control. Replying to a review is a good next move. However, there are a few things that you need to remember when you decide to respond to that negative review:

• Everyone will see your reply. Thus it would be best if you kept it professional in a friendly tone. Do not let strong emotions guide your response.
• Do not be defensive in your replies. Instead thank the guest for their feedback, and mention what you’ve done to assure that no future guests will experience the same problem. Also, considering mentioning to future guests all of the positive reviews you’ve received in the past.
• Also, get into the habit of replying to positive reviews as well. Avoid just replying to bad reviews, as this may highlight them on your page.

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4.   Learn And Improve.

Negative reviews can provide valuable feedback! Look into the bad reviews and list down the things that you can improve on. Check if you need to work on some aspects of your home. If you can’t remove a bad review, you can always make sure that it will not happen again.

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Summary

If you are an Airbnb host, negative reviews can happen.. There is always that one guest who will be dissatisfied with the home no matter what.. Unfortunately, we cannot please everyone. But that does not mean that we don’t try to improve and be better. Those bad reviews are part of the business. As long as you are responding correctly and focusing on the long term, then the right people will appreciate your efforts and it will show.

At Great Dwellings, we are dedicated to helping you by providing short term rental solutions that are tailored to what you need. We take the hassle out of hosting, helping busy vacation rental owners rent out their homes by optimizing pricing, screening guests, key management, cleaning, guest transportation, maintenance, as well as being available for emergencies 24/7! Our Client Success Team has been dealing with various individual owners and multifamily operators, which gives you the assurance that we are the experts for the job.