As a business that has worked with…
As a business that has worked with multiple booking platforms, Airbnb has provided the poorest supplier support we have experienced. A guest repeatedly requested a refund for two members of their group who did not attend our Airbnb Experience. Before declining the refund, we contacted Airbnb because we believed a retaliatory review would follow if we enforced the booking terms. We were instructed to follow Airbnb's procedures and were assured that retaliatory reviews would be handled under Airbnb's Reviews Policy. After we declined the refund, a negative review was posted by the booking holder's wife. Airbnb later acknowledged that we had acted correctly in refusing the refund and confirmed that we had not violated any Airbnb policies. Despite this, Airbnb refused to remove the review. Their explanation was that because the refund request came from the husband and the review was submitted by the wife, they could not conclude that the review was retaliatory. They failed to explain why a review submitted by the spouse of the guest involved in the refund dispute, and travelling as part of the same booking group, would somehow fall outside their Reviews Policy. We supplied extensive evidence, including two screenshots, photographs, video evidence, witness statements and evidence of property damage. The review form itself would not accept video files, so those were submitted separately by email. The review claimed our group of 14 friends was seated at "a tiny table with a cheap bottle of tequila." Our evidence clearly shows multiple reserved tables with multiple bottles as part of our standard bottle service. The review also claimed we failed to help the group "mingle," despite the booking being a private group of fourteen friends attending together. These are factual claims, not subjective opinions, and they are directly contradicted by the evidence we provided. Airbnb never explained how this evidence was assessed or why it was rejected. Instead, they repeatedly responded that the review represented the guest's opinion while ignoring the factual inaccuracies we demonstrated. The matter also involved property damage caused during the experience. Airbnb's refusal to deal appropriately with the retaliatory review has complicated our ability to pursue recovery of those damages, as we are now exposed to the risk of further retaliatory reviews from members of the same booking party. When we requested that the contractual dispute be escalated to a manager, the support ambassador simply closed the case without responding to the escalation request. Only after we challenged that conduct was the matter assigned to a Senior Case Manager. As a result of Airbnb's handling of this matter, we have removed all of our experiences from Airbnb and are pursuing the matter through external legal channels. Our issue is not with guests leaving honest negative reviews. Our issue is with Airbnb instructing suppliers to rely on its Reviews Policy, acknowledging that we acted correctly, then refusing to apply that policy to a review submitted immediately after a refund dispute, despite extensive evidence contradicting its factual claims. Suppliers should not be expected to enforce Airbnb's policies if Airbnb will not enforce its own.