Airbnb host leaving malicious review because she disapproves of the paper DH reads...

[BinDiesel]

NC for this for obvious reasons.

Went to stay at an Airbnb last week. All fine, no problems we were made aware of while we were there. It was a quiet family holiday with children. So no music played, no visitors, no excessive noise or drunkenness etc.

We left a really positive review despite a few niggling concerns like finding a pair of (dirty) boy's underpants left by the previous guests as we thought it was a genuine oversight and didn't want to be petty.

The day after we left we received an absolutely inexplicable review from the owner which basically implied that we had trashed her house and behaved appallingly while staying. She said she would need to do an entire day's cleaning to get her house back in order and that we'd broken all her house rules. In her private feedback she admits that actually we overlooked one dirty pan, left a small ketchup mark on a sheet (which she would have changed anyway) and one or two other minor housekeeping issues. It wasn't ideal, but relatively reasonable after almost a week of three small children. She also said we had broken all her house rules, which included no smoking in the house and no loud music, which we categorically didn't do. She also made some entirely false claims regarding things which we either cleaned thoroughly or never used in the first place being left filthy.

If she'd marked us down a bit for cleaning and left a review accurately reflecting this I would have apologised and accepted it. But instead she's left a malicious and entirely exaggerated review and sent us really unprofessional private feedback which is personally insulting and borderline abusive.

We've contacted Airbnb who've been no help even though they can see from the private feedback that her public review is inaccurate, I've deleted my account with them because they were so useless.

We were absolutely gobsmacked and couldn't understand why she had done this. It just literally came out of nowhere. So, I've done a bit of digging about her today. We knew she was a big Labour supporter, as her house was covered in billboards for them. But I've done some digging today and discovered that she is obsessively opposed to any media which she deems 'right wing', even going as far as buying up all the 'social pornography' (so the Mail, Sun, Express etc) on sale locally and burning them so that she can rescue other people from being polluted by it. She also campaigns to have it banned. And guess what paper DH reads and left in her recycling? Yep. That's right. The Sun.

It's the only possible reason we can think of for her going so psycho on us. She's also probably massively wide of the mark in whatever she thinks that means, as DH is a Marxist Irish Republican. But he also really likes football and thinks The Sun does the best reporting on it by far, so he buys it, reads the back pages and then recycles it away without ever reading the rest.

That's absolutely immaterial anyway, because she simply shouldn't be judging and abusing guests based on what they choose to read anyway unless she is prepared to be upfront about this and specify beforehand that she doesn't want them on her property.

I'm so furious she's got away with this scot free and made money in the process. Given that in her private feedback she basically admits her review isn't accurate WIBU to try to take this further? Would I have any success with a civil claim? I'm tempted just to sign her up for millions of Sun and Daily Mail promotions, but I'd like to do this through the proper channels instead and she'd just use them to get money off the ones she burns.

So WIBU to follow this up? Any suggestions how I might do it?

[raindropstea]

*reviews left by travelers... not guests! Brain fog.

[Lokisglowstickofdestiny]

I think your definition of relatively reasonable after a week with 3 small children is more relaxed than you think. By your own admission you left dirty items, also if you are smokers (?) you will leave a smell of smoke whether you smoke in the place or not. We had a heating engineer in the other day - smoker and he stank the first floor of our house out, only being there an hour. It was a good few hours before the smell went.

[Lessthanaballpark]

I'm quite proud of the fact we live in a country where in theory we respect other people's right to have differing political opinions to our own

Yeah me too. I'm so proud that we live in a country where men can ogle teenage girls' breasts over breakfast but women are considered indecent for feeding their babies in public.

It makes me all warm and fuzzy.

[BigYellowJumper]

raindrop I think if you have had a genuinely good time and the owners were thoughtful, then it is good form to leave a really nice review. If you just say 'it was good' then it doesn't tell other people much. People are understandably nervous about using airbnb because you never really know what you'll get, so for me, leaving a good review with lots of description is a way of letting people know that everything is ok. I do sometimes wonder if the owners get their friends to write reviews though.

I have definitely seen people write bad stuff too though - mostly complaining about noise/cleanliness/lack of wifi.

[Boredbeforeievenbegan]

I don't know anyone that would buy or read the Sun, genuinely shocked you'd admit to it.

[raindropstea]

I agree with what you're saying, BigYellowJumper... it's just that in a lot of reviews I have read, they are overwhelmingly positive with not even a slightly bad thing to say. The negative reviews often get replied with with hostility by the host (at least in the ones I've read).

My partner left a bad review for the horrible experience we had and the host somehow managed to get AirBNB to remove it after they denied his request to keep our deposit.

[BinDiesel]

OH FOR FUCKS SAKE. We don't smoke. We had the radio switched on at a volume so low a baby could sleep thorough it for about two hours mid morning for the whole week. What she was saying WASN'T BLOODY TRUE.

We missed the ONE pan which was unfortunate and a genuine oversight. The only other issue was a finger mark on the bed sheet and a few dirty finger marks on the dining room chair covers. Both of these she specifies in the manual are washed after each visit. If your host specifies these things are washed I don't think it's reasonable to be expected to wash them anyway in addition. Anything else she claimed was made up and either related to something we cleaned (twice!) before we left or something we never used anyway. All the other pots were clean, the bathroom and kitchen were wiped down. We had swept up (although no hoover was provided).

So the additional cleaning she had to do was one pan. And she claimed that it would take her a day and a half to clean that and that all her house rules were broken and the place was trashed. It was just blatant outright lies.

She also seemed to have some sort of irrational anger that we had eaten baked beans in her house. We can't be sure that it was the paper. But she seems to get irrationally angry about them and got irrationally angry at us too. She posted pictures of piles of papers. She buys every single copy of the newspapers she disapproves of that are sold in her village and sets fire to them in her garden. Because she thinks this will stop people voting Tory. It does seem to follow that would be the reason why.

Despite her claim we trashed the house she's made no claim for damages or breakages or specialist cleaning.

She's basically turned having to wash a pan into a trashed cottage destroyed cottage and a quiet week with small children with no complaints to us into a week of appalling behaviour. There must have been some sort of motivation for her to lie and the paper is the only one we can think of.

This is exactly why it upset me so much. People would read it and think 'oh there's no smoke without fire' and assume it was true.

I can't believe so many people seem to think we deserve it because we read the paper too. I suggest you go and pick up a few history books and have a look at what happens in societies where it's seen as acceptable to punish people for reading things you don't approve of or which don't espouse the views you think are correct. People who think like that are no better than bloody Nazis.

[Mulledwine1]

The Daily Heil is worse than the Sun.

Well I guess they're both as bad as each other in different ways. I'll certainly never forgive the Sun for the Hillsborough debacle.

As for AirBNB this just illustrates why I'll stick to hotels and official B&Bs.

[raindropstea]

One thing I did want to point out to the OP, as another poster above mentioned, is that the smell of smoke still comes inside even if you make a point to smoke outside. Third hand smoke is real... I don't smoke and if a smoker came to stay in my home, even if they smoke outside, I will smell it. It comes in on your clothes, hair, etc. There is a residue.

[BinDiesel]

but women are considered indecent for feeding their babies in public.

Er, that would be a country where there is full legal protection for breastfeeding women and they are legally allowed to breastfeed anywhere and can't legally be told to stop? And also Page 3 doesn't exist anymore.

But don't let that stop you making an entirely false comparison eh love?

[hottotrotsky]

Yeah and a bloody Nazi owns the Sun.

[raindropstea]

Sorry, BinDiesel - just now saw your post above. Sorry about your AirBNB experience. Did the owner ever apologize about the boy's underpants you found? That's much worse to have left lying around than a dirty pan imo.

[BinDiesel]

Raindrops. WE DON'T SMOKE. Even if we did, she specifies smoking is fine outdoors.

[pigeondujour]

People who think like that are no better than bloody Nazis.

Big talk from someone married to a Sun reader

[BigYellowJumper]

boredbeforeievenbegan Much as I enjoy your nickname, I can't believe you're actually 'shocked' that someone reads a newspaper. Yes, it's a bit tawdry and shit and right-wing, but he was hardly reading Mein Kampf.

I read the Sun sometimes. The headlines make me laugh. I read the Guardian as well, and sometimes that's just as full of shite, just from the other end of the spectrum.

raindrop I always leave overly effusive reviews. I think I've been really lucky and only stayed in nice, clean places with nice hosts. Maybe I am a bit over-the-top in my praise, but I appreciate the effort the hosts have gone to because they've always left biscuits and tea and stuff for us, and I think that's a really nice gesture. If I had a genuine quibble, I'd say so, but I am not that fussy, and as long as it's clean and as they described, I'm happy to help them out by leaving a good review.

[Pannnn]

If I was doing a review of this OP it would read "as poor as pants and slightly delusional".

[User843022]

Airbnb is a bit like ebay, you hope you are only going to encounter reasonable people, always a shame when you come across a twat. From what you describe , a pan and a few mucky marks it does seem like the owners expectations are ridiculously high.
I doubt it's the Sun. She's probably just a pita generally.

Travel lodges are great, cheap as chips and non of this nonsense.
Also, typical mn frenzy over what your dh reads, no one irl cares which paper people read. Only on mn .

[keeplooking]

I can totally see why the op is indignant about being lied about on a public forum. I would want to get my own back, too.

Op, could you consult a Solicitor about the cost of sending a Solicitor's letter, demanding a retraction from loopy landlady on the air b'n'b site?
Cheaper than court action, but the added weight of a Solicitor's involvement might do the trick?

[WonderLime]

OP, she may have exaggerated the mess you left (by again, by your own admission you said it 'wasn't ideal but relatively reasonable'), however there is zero evidence to support the ridiculous theory that she left a bad review because of a newspaper.

And I find it odd that you then came back snooping around social media to find out more about her instead of just writing a rebuttal to her review on AirBnB.

[0nline]

And the thing about The Sun?? Come on..

We now live in a world where an anti-racist programme includes a talk on Why Asians Are Part of The Problem. A jewish professor, who has a history of taking personal hits for standing up against racist acts, is labelled a fascist for objecting to what is involuntary segregation by the back door.

That is how warped and insane things have become on the "political purity" front.

The "agree with me entirely about issues/politics or you are literally Hitler/Mao" disease was caught by Britain a good while ago. The concept of labelling somebody beyond the pale and the enemy of "right thinking people" for reading wrong-think, or print-crime is not so fringe anymore. The degree of intolerance for different perspectives is rising on a curve that would now require hiking boots.

For most people it is just stuff they say online because... that's what we do now. But others won't get that it is a (unwelcome IMO) style of rhetoric and will paint the people with different opinions/newspapers as beneath contempt, dangerous and feel entirely justified, if not actually morally obliged, to punish them by any means they have at their disposal.

What the OP is saying happened would have been far fetched ten years ago. Today... not so much.

[Boredbeforeievenbegan]

Bigyellowjumper did the Hillsborough "truth" headline make you laugh? How about the pun they published when Muhammed Ali died if you want a more recent example? Or perhaps the gay men they have outed before they were ready?

[prh47bridge]

What she was saying WASN'T BLOODY TRUE

If she has made untrue statements of fact that are defamatory her review is libellous. You probably don't want to take her to court as that would be expensive and time consuming, although it appears you have evidence to prove that she knows her allegations are untrue which would make it easier. You could, however, get a solicitor to send her a letter pointing out that her review is libellous and threatening legal action if she does not take it down or modify it.

Forget about the newspaper. You don't know if that is the reason for her actions and it really doesn't matter. Concentrate on getting the review removed.

[pigeondujour]

Give bloody over. You deserve a good slagging if you read the Sun. Free speech works two ways.

[BigYellowJumper]

bored I never said they have never printed shitty things, but I also don't boycott them.

There are other things that I boycott that you possibly don't. I don't judge you for not boycotting those things. I would hope that you would be graceful enough to understand that the Sun is not something I choose to actively boycott and not to judge me for that.

Everything is swings and roundabouts. I know gay men who read the Sun as well. I know gay men who WORK for the Sun, in fact.

Life is not black and white. It might be easier if it was.

[Roussette]

I've had good experiences apart from one. A totally anal host who had so many rules printed out and plastered about the place that I couldn't keep up with that we could or couldn't do.

It was just me and DH and it was so claustrophobic to adhere to the rules that we were over compensating and when it's like that something happens. It did. I spilt a few spots of tea on the carpet. I was beside myself! I put my suitcase on top of them till I could get my head round what to do.

So.... I surreptiously identified there was some carpet cleaner under the kitchen sink and waited till the host was asleep set my alarm and got up in the middle of the night to clean it. Ridiculous!

We were perfect guests and she couldn't even be arsed to leave us nice feedback. Put me off a bit I have to say