April_Wine

I just rented a 3 bedroom condo in Scottsdale with a 5 star rating. It was a total dump located in an Apartment complex. We walked out of the place! When I tried to give the place a one star rating Air B and B said my review wasn't acceptable. What a scam!!!! Anybody else experience this???

Christina

IN theory, reviews are posted and cannot be removed by hosts just for being negative, if thruthful and they don't violate the standards.

Hard to say without knowing what you wrote, but the most common violations where the host can insist it be reviewed are:
1) you revealed exact location
2) you mentioned a resolution case issue or that you tried to get a refund
3) you didn't stick to the facts and wrote something that could be called slander
4) you said something that wasn't true, can be anything

Anyway, I don't use Airbnb so haven't had that, but I have had a couple reviews removed on other websites for what I consider bogus reasons that are not helpful to actual users. I think Tripadvisor rejected one of mine once just because I said something in reference to some other review mention (ie, by contrast to those who thought it too cold, I thought it was fine --- something innocuous like that) Amazon removed one of my reviews for a product I bought from China (always hit or miss) that was a completely different item than I ordered. I had included photos of what I received to prove it. I think their logic was that they removed it because I had requested and gotten a refund (which is true). Seems like an odd reason to remove a review, I thought others should be warned.

Melnq8

Amazon removed one of my reviews for a product I bought from China (always hit or miss) that was a completely different item than I ordered. I had included photos of what I received to prove it. I think their logic was that they removed it because I had requested and gotten a refund (which is true). Seems like an odd reason to remove a review, I thought others should be warned.

Amazon has pulled that trick on me a few times even though I was just telling it like it was, that I hadn't gotten the correct item. What's up with that?

I haven't had that experience with Air BNB, although I totally get your frustration, April_Wine.

suze

To comment I would need to see the original listing that you rented from. Who exactly gave the 5-star rating? How many reviews were there? Covering what period of time? How many people had stayed there? Were the positive 1st time reviewers or possibly 'fakes'? Was the "host" a super host with a good track record?

I don't use AirBnB because it seems to "iffy" to me for exactly the reasons you encountered. So not sure how their rating system works. I know over on Trip Advisor bad reviews can take a long time, or never be posted.

Macross

I use them often but if something is wrong I communicate directly with the owner and problems are solved. I have never really had a bad rental thankfully. Some have been five star and some just average but the price reflects that normally. I read all the reviews and don't rent unless there are recent ones. I had one that I wasn't crazy about and told them privately why. Just didn't leave a public review. It was ok but they needed to know the cleaner was not doing a good job. The cottage was perfect and loved the location so dealt with it. I know for instance that a place in Paris is going to have an itty bitty bathroom but if it has a washing machine and close to a metro stop it is all good. Quirky is fine with me. I have never had a review taken down. I stayed in a hotel in the UK and omg I left a horrid review but they left it up. My dear husband picked it and he got fired from that job.

StantonHyde

I look at the number of reviews for properties in my search area. So if there are 20 properties with 100 reviews and 10 with 25 or less, I am not booking one of the ones with 10 reviews or less. I also look to see how recent the reviews are. And I look carefully at all of the photos. I will also look on Google maps--satellite view and street view in the area. So far I have only had one bad experience in Rome. The location was awesome. The apartment photos carefully concealed some issues. And then there was the kerfuffle of repairs, heat, etc. that had to be made while we there. That's the only bad review I have ever left on a property.

mlgb

I've only used AirBnB twice and both places were as advertised. To answer whether your review was unfairly rejected and your were "scammed" one would have to dig deeper into the details. If your review was as vague as "it was a dump" no wonder it was rejected. Or if you said it was "an apartment not a condo" that might have been enough reason. There is no physical difference between a "condo" and an "apartment". The difference is in type of ownership. Condominiums are a type of ownership. Some "condominiums" look exactly like "apartments", i.e., multistory buildings with shared passageways, pools and parking units assigned.

Exactly how were you deceived? For example, many real estate listing photos are taken with an exaggerated perspective to make the spaces look larger. Instead I look at the placement of furniture relative to the walls and the ceiling which can be used to judge room size. By the way, these photo techniques aren't unique to AirBnb. Have a look at owner-provided photos on Tripadvisor, Expedia, real estate agent listings, etc. Were the furniture finishes and amenities in the photos and description substantially as advertised? Was there extensive damage or was the place not clean? Did you attempt to contact the host instead of "walking out"?

Those who have never used AirBnB may not realize that Superhost isn't any guarantee of anything. Some are essentially mangement agents acting on behalf of the unit owner(s). I try to avoid that type of "host" who runs more than one place especially if they are using a lockbox for entry. Just my own preference with limited experience. But better than NO experience, I guess.





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