A simpler way to dispute retaliatory reviews

We know Hosts are often concerned about the possibility of a retaliatory review. These are biased reviews guests might leave after you’ve reported that they’ve violated one of your house rules, damaged your property, or committed another serious policy violation.

Our review system enables you to learn about other Hosts’ reviews of guests and dispute any retaliatory reviews.

You should feel comfortable hosting guests without worrying about the possibility of receiving a retaliatory review. You can dispute a retaliatory review—no matter when it was posted—from guests who commit a serious violation of policies, such as: 

• Damaging your property

• Overstaying their reservation

• Violating your standard house rules 

• Having an unauthorized party or event at your place 

Disputing a review doesn’t guarantee it’ll be removed. When you dispute a review, we’ll ask you to provide evidence, such as photos or message threads with guests. 

Your evidence will need to demonstrate that a serious policy violation happened. It must be clear that reporting the policy violation to Airbnb and/or the guest likely led to the retaliatory review. 

It’s a good idea to keep all your communication with guests in your Airbnb inbox, so our customer service team can easily review any evidence. Keep in mind that only primary Hosts and primary guests can dispute reviews. 

Get more info about our reviews policy

Let’s say a guest smokes in your home, against your house rules. You tell your guest that you found cigarette butts in the living room, and submit a reimbursement request for deep cleaning. In response, your guest refuses to pay and leaves an angry review. You can dispute this review, and we’ll investigate to determine if it qualifies for removal. 

Hosts have told us our updated policy around retaliatory reviews has helped them to host with confidence. Host Leanne says a retaliatory review on her listing “was promptly assessed and removed when I made the request. I really felt Airbnb had my back.” 

Host Daniel also “dealt with a review that I deemed to be unfair,” he says. “I can say that [Airbnb support] was very helpful in resolving my request.” 

Hosts can leave details of guests in reviews, which are helpful to other Hosts. Along with finding a guest’s ratings on cleanliness, communication, and following house rules, you’ll find their average rating for these categories across all stays. Your reviews help enforce ground rules for guests. You can leave a low star rating to report any guest who doesn't follow these rules. 

The same process applies to the reviews guests leave for you. Guests choose one to five stars for their overall stay. They can also add a star rating—and specify what went well or could have gone better—in several categories. 

For example, if your place is super clean, a guest might choose five stars and select “squeaky-clean bathroom.” The star ratings and feedback in specific categories don’t impact Superhost status.

In January 2023, we introduced an upgrade to our chatbot to make it easier for you to dispute a review without having to contact Airbnb support directly. You’ll be guided through a process to submit evidence on your dispute. 

We updated the way reviews work as a direct result of your feedback. Please keep sharing your thoughts with us, so we can continue improving the reviews system for our community.

Information contained in this article may have changed since publication.