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How to Handle Bad Airbnb Reviews and Protect Your Reputation
Many Airbnb hosts live in fear of receiving bad Airbnb reviews. It's perfectly understandable when your business relies on a good reputation.
Bad reviews are simply a fact of being in business. Even Superhosts have to deal with Airbnb host complaints and negative feedback occasionally. A negative review does not make you a bad host, but it might bring down your overall host rating.
In the same way that one or two positive reviews won't make you a Superhost, one negative review won't make your business fail.
Here are the best ways to deal with bad Airbnb reviews, examples from trenches of how to respond appropriately to any bad review, and turn the ones you can’t remove into your secret marketing weapon.
What Really Triggers Negative Guest Reviews (Examples)
This is quite a complex question and one with many possible answers. Some of the most common disagreements we've heard about hinder on things like house rules, check-in and check-out times, Airbnb's terms and expectations based on Superhost status.
These are the most common reasons for individuals leaving poor Airbnb reviews and some real examples from unsatisfied guests:
Misleading property descriptions
Never include something in your property description that you don't have or isn't working.
Here's what one enraged Reddit user was upset about: she had no access to the fireplace:
"When I was planning this trip to celebrate my anniversary with my boyfriend, I specifically applied the "fireplace" filter for the romantic ambiance. So, you can imagine my disappointment when I asked you how to use it (twice!)....It's okay to have amenities that guests can't use, but you can't include them in the listing."
Issues with property cleanliness
Ensure your property is spotless, always. Since guests are already paying a cleaning fee, they expect hotel-level standards:
"Upon arrival, we were asked to pay an additional €110 cleaning fee before even seeing the apartment. Unfortunately, when we entered, we found the apartment in an unacceptable condition—it had not been cleaned for months, with dirt and grease everywhere."
Concerns for safety and security
Your property needs to be safe and secure for your guests. All exterior doors should have a lock, and all possible safety features like fire alarms should be installed and maintained.
Poor communication
If they contact you with a question about how to access or use something in your rental, reply to them in a timely fashion.
This guest review directly calls out bad communication from the host:
“Each time we messaged her about the Wi Fi not working, she took a while to respond. Then the next morning we were having internet issues, and she took almost 2 hrs to respond. She kept saying ‘the internet has never not worked or has any issues’.”
Maintenance problems
Simply put, you cannot expect your visitors to pay top dollar for a property that has maintenance issues like peeling paint, broken taps, clogged drains, and broken lights.
Overall disappointment
If your property doesn't resemble your pictures, you're in for a few poor reviews. Ensure your property and the images you post on your listing page match, so you never get this type of comment:
"Run! The pics shown in the ad are NOT of the offered room or even of the same house. We arrived to a tiny, run down room with super old, worn furniture, totally different than shown in pics."
Noise issues
While you cannot control your neighbors, you can ensure that the appliances in your home are quiet and that any dripping taps or pipes are promptly fixed to ensure a relaxing stay for your guests.
Unfulfilled promises
Be sure to deliver any promises that you make to your future guests. If you've promised your guests stay would be perfect, then you have to deliver perfection.
“I sent that we would get there around 3. I was told well arrival is at 4 pm. I screenshot my reservation where it states it’s 3 pm."
When people leave poor reviews, they are looking for a public response follow-up, a full refund (or a partial one), an apology and some even expect a discount code from the host.
How To Respond to Bad Reviews
Regardless of what the negative review says, you always need to maintain a professional stance. Even though it's easy to take bad reviews personally, try not to. Here's one real example of a bad review.
Meghan left a three-star rating and some criticism for a host in Colorado. Her main issues were that they were locked out for two hours in the middle of the night because they didn’t have a key to the secondary front door lock, and that the bathroom wasn’t thoroughly cleaned.
She thinks the door should be clearly labeled to let guests know not to lock the secondary lock upon leaving. Otherwise, they found the guesthouse as advertised, and liked the location and price.
Bad Response
"Meghan ,
I gave you explicit instructions about locking the door. I went well out of my way to help !
I have since taped over that lock so lesson learned on my part . I gave y’all a good review which I didn’t have to do . So therefore, I guess you can’t make all the people happy all the time.
Katie"
This response is bad because it sounds defensive and blaming. It emphasizes the guest’s mistake, downplays their frustration, and brings up unrelated points like giving a review, which feels dismissive and unprofessional.
Great Response
"Hi Meghan,
Thank you for your feedback. I’m glad you enjoyed the location and overall stay at the guesthouse. I apologize for the confusion with the secondary lock. Even with the instructions provided, I understand it wasn’t completely clear.
We have now labeled it clearly and taped over it to prevent future issues. Your comments have been noted, and we are taking extra care to ensure our property meets our high standards going forward.
I appreciate your patience during the lock situation and hope we have the opportunity to host you again.
Warm regards,
Katie"
This response is excellent because a host stays polite, professional, takes responsibility for the confusion, explains the steps taken to prevent future issues, acknowledges the guest’s experience, and ends on a positive note. It focuses on resolution and not blame.
Four Strategies to Deal With Bad Airbnb Reviews
You will often find that an Airbnb guest reviews a property in one of two scenarios.
Either they were so overjoyed with your property that they want to leave a 5-star review, or they were so unsatisfied that they wrote a bad review and wanted to warn other people.
Getting 5 stars from a guest is a great feeling and Airbnb guests like to feel heard. A bad review is not the worst thing in the world so, to deal with bad Airbnb reviews effectively, use one of the following four strategies:
1. Ask Your Guest to Change the Rating
This is the most direct way to change a bad Airbnb review into a positive review. You can simply ask the guest to change their rating. However, if their stay ended on a negative note, this probably won’t work. But if there’s any hope, you’ll need to act fast and think carefully about how to word your request.
Explain to the guest how important Airbnb reviews are to your business. While the content of the review won’t get removed if the guest changes the rating, at least the higher star rating will help you stay in good standing with Airbnb.
A bad review from other guests sounds like your property is not a good choice for another guest's holiday, but by handling the bad review head-on, you may be able to offer something in exchange for an alteration.
You could apologise, and offer the guest in question a discounted second booking. Of course, this depends on whether the bad review was fair and honest, rather than just an angry guest trying for a partial refund.
2. Contact Airbnb to Request the Removal
If you’ve received a bad review that is in clear violation of Airbnb’s Content Policy, which governs reviews as well, you’re in luck! In this case, you can simply contact Airbnb to have it removed.
However, in order to do this, you’ll need to successfully prove your case. Common causes for the removal of bad Airbnb reviews include spam, extortion, incentivized reviews, and reviews that clearly do not reflect the author’s personal experience.
Make sure that you’ve abided by Airbnb TOS yourself and only communicate with guests via the Airbnb platform. That way, your own behavior on the platform won’t be called into question along with the guest’s review.
3. Delay Leaving a Guest Review
Guests have 14 days to leave a review. If you think there is a chance that the guest was dissatisfied with their stay, don’t leave them a guest review immediately after check out. Some guests think they have 30 days to leave a review and as human nature dictates, they are highly likely to forget anyway.
If you want guests to leave a review, writing your host reviews is a great way to prompt them. However, this is based on the assumption that the review you are chasing is a good review.
This will give the guest a chance to cool down and perhaps leave a less scathing review when they get around to it. It also prevents Airbnb from prompting the guest to leave a review in return because you’ve already submitted yours. Most guests who leave bad reviews are just looking to be heard.
4. Write a Response to Every Review You Receive
Making a point of responding to every review that you receive is a great way to paint yourself as a gracious and involved host. Make sure that every response is polite and professional, even on the bad Airbnb reviews.
This shows your future guests that you are actually a good host to deal with. It also lets guests know that you are willing to accept criticism and resolve Airbnb host complaints.
How to Use Negative Reviews to Your Advantage
Now that you know how to respond to bad Airbnb reviews effectively, here are some ways that you can actually use them to your advantage.
Focus on the Positive Aspects of Their Stay
In your review, tell your side of the story. Try to turn things around by first carefully acknowledging your mistakes. Then use the remainder of the review to point out as many good moments as possible from your experience with the guest.
Leave Long Responses
Leaving a longer response that only focuses on the positive aspects of your guest’s stay goes a long way to hide a particularly negative review. The more you write about the incident the more it will look like you made an effort to resolve the matter.
A response that is longer than the review the guest left will look like a more accurate account of the guest’s stay because your review contains more details.
Share How You Plan to Do Better
Some guests choose to leave bad Airbnb reviews because they simply want their hosts to do better next time. Show potential guests that you understand this by sharing how you’ve resolved the issues mentioned in the review.
Make sure to mention any upgrades or perks that you’ve added since the complaining guest’s stay. This helps future visitors feel confident when they book because they know that you take guests’ feedback seriously.
Show That You’ve Learned From a Negative Review
Use bad Airbnb reviews to learn what matters most to your visitors. Once you’ve made the necessary improvements, announce the updates in your listing description and advertise them on social media.
If you want a good strategy to improve your own reviews, read your competitors’ negative reviews. By doing so, you can identify their weak points to convert them into your strong points.
Recovering From Bad Airbnb Reviews: Final Steps
Bad Airbnb reviews don’t have to damage your reputation as a host if you have a plan to recover from them. Keep on providing a brilliant guest experience so that you can attract as many glowing Airbnb host reviews as possible.
To improve your Airbnb rating faster, consider offering discounts or encouraging shorter stays so that you’ll attract more bookings in a shorter time span than your usual booking rate.
Consider trying out iGMS software to help automate reviews, messages, and so many other hosting tasks, and reduce the chance of getting negative reviews.
