--- title: "How to respond to Airbnb reviews, including bad ones" url: https://reviewnudge.app/guides/how-to-respond-to-airbnb-reviews/ published: 2026-10-01 updated: 2026-10-01 author: "Jack Stovell" author_profile: https://i.hilyt.it/jack publisher: "Adapt Progress Evolve Limited" summary: "Go to Profile, Reviews, Reviews about you, then Leave public response. It posts at once under the review. Reply briefly for future guests, and ask Airbnb to remove only policy breaches." language: en-GB --- # How to respond to Airbnb reviews, including bad ones > Go to Profile, Reviews, Reviews about you, then Leave public response. It posts at once under the review. Reply briefly for future guests, and ask Airbnb to remove only policy breaches. To reply to a review on Airbnb, go to Profile, then Reviews, then Reviews about you, find the review, select Leave public response, write your reply and Submit. It goes live straight away, sits under the guest's review, and every future guest can read both. That's the short version. The rest of this is about what to write when the review stings, and when to ask Airbnb to remove it instead. ## How to post a public response on Airbnb The steps: open your Profile, head into Reviews, then Reviews about you. Find the one you want, click Leave public response, type, Submit. Done. There's another route too: Insights. All your reviews live there, and you can leave public replies from that page, which is handy if you're working through a few at once. The response is posted immediately. Future hosts and guests see it on your listing page right alongside the original review, so whatever you write is going to be read next to the thing that annoyed you. Worth remembering before you hit that button while you're still feeling a bit raw about it. Guests can reply publicly too, by the way, to a review their host left for them. It runs both ways. One thing you can't do on your own is remove a review. You can reply to it, and you can ask Airbnb to consider it for removal if it breaks the Reviews Policy, but you can't just delete it. More on that below. ## Is there a time limit? Airbnb's help article on responding to reviews doesn't state a deadline for a host response. That's all it says, so we won't dress it up with a number. What does matter is timing on the other side. Both host and guest get 14 days after checkout to leave a review, and reviews post when both have submitted or when the 14 days end, whichever comes first. You can only respond once the review is published, so you can't reply to something that isn't live yet. Also, Airbnb doesn't moderate reviews before they go up. Whatever the guest wrote is what appears, which is exactly why the reply matters. ## How to respond to a bad Airbnb review The bit everyone actually wants. Airbnb's own advice is that a public response shows guests you're open to suggestions, and that a short, friendly reply can reassure other guests. Notice who that's for. The next person scrolling your listing at eleven at night deciding whether to book. So the job is simple. Stay calm. Keep it brief. Thank them, acknowledge the specific point they raised, say what you've changed (if you've changed something), and stop. Leave out the guest's personal details. Don't argue, even when you're certain you're right, and don't offer refunds or compensation in public. Anything like that belongs in a private message, not under a review where everyone can read it. Airbnb's own example is a good one: a guest found the beds uncomfortable, so the suggested reply says sorry and mentions that mattress toppers have been added. That's the whole formula really. Feedback in, fix out. Here are two made-up ones to show the tone. *Fictional example.* A guest leaves a review saying the flat wasn't clean, mentioning dust on the shelves and a dirty hob. The facts: the host did a standard turnaround, but the cleaning checklist didn't cover the hob or high shelves. > Thank you for staying with us, and for flagging this. Dust on the shelves and a grubby hob aren't the standard we want, and we're sorry that was your first impression. We've added both to our turnaround checklist and now check them before every arrival. Thanks again for the feedback. Priya Short. No excuses. Says what changed. For more wording on this kind of review, see [replying to a review about cleanliness or hygiene](/replies/review-about-cleanliness-or-hygiene/). *Fictional example.* A guest says the street was noisy at night and they slept badly. The facts: the listing is on a busy road, and the host has since started providing earplugs and mentions the road in the description. > Thanks for your review, and sorry the night was disturbed. The flat is on a busy road, and we know that won't suit everyone. We've now added earplugs for every guest and made the street noise clearer in the listing description so people know what to expect. We appreciate you taking the time to tell us. Sam That one leans on Airbnb's advice to be transparent: keep your photos and description up to date, and explain how you handle drawbacks, like earplugs if the street is noisy. Airbnb treats noise from the area as something that can be relevant to future guests, so there's no point fighting it. Just be honest about it. If you'd rather not start from a blank box, there's a [review reply writer](/tools/review-reply-generator/) and a bigger set of [review response examples](/guides/review-response-examples/) to borrow from. ## Reviews Airbnb will remove Now the part hosts get hopeful about. Airbnb removes reviews only in limited circumstances (it says its policy is informed by consumer laws that apply to online reviews), and the list is fairly specific. A review can come down if it's irrelevant, meaning it isn't based on first-hand experience. Say the guest never arrived, or cancelled for reasons unrelated to the listing. It can come down if it's fake, with no real reservation behind it. It can come down if it involves bias, deception, extortion, incentivisation or pressure, including someone threatening a negative review to get an unwarranted refund or compensation. If that's what happened to you, there's a page on [replying to a review that threatens a bad review](/replies/review-threatening-bad-review/). Reviews from affiliated or competing listings can go. So can retaliatory reviews, though that one is narrower than it sounds: the reviewer must have committed a policy violation, been notified, and then left a biased review because it was reported. A review discussing a Resolution Centre or AirCover claim isn't automatically retaliatory. And reviews breaking the Content Policy (explicit, discriminatory, harmful or illegal content) are out too. When Airbnb does act, it can remove the review along with its ratings, and removed reviews are excluded from listing and host ratings. Depending on the violation, it may also restrict, suspend or remove the associated listing or account. ## Reviews Airbnb won't remove This is the list that stings. Airbnb generally doesn't mediate disputes about whether a review is accurate. Users can post responses instead, as long as those responses follow the policy. So you can't get a review taken down because you disagree with the star rating. Airbnb's example is "Nice home and great stay" with three stars. Odd, yes. Still stays. Factors outside your control, like a noisy neighbourhood, can be relevant to future guests, so those generally stay too. And subjective opinions, like "The kitchen was small and cramped", are just opinions. Frustrating, yes. But that's where your public response does the heavy lifting. ## How to ask Airbnb to remove a review If a review does break the policy, ask for removal rather than arguing it out in your reply. You can make a request at any time for a review you've received. The steps: Get started, select the review, select the reason, give details, upload supporting documents, then Submit. Don't include sensitive personal information such as government IDs, health data, details about children or criminal history, because it won't be considered. A tip from Airbnb: search for the review using words from it, since searching by reviewer name may not work. Airbnb emails its decision, usually within 48 hours. If the review is removed, the reviewer is told why and can contact Airbnb if they think it's a mistake. You can submit a removal request for the same review up to two times, so make the first one count. Only certain people can dispute a review: the listing owner, a full-access co-host, the team owner and certain team roles. And if it stays? Reply calmly, briefly, for the next guest. Which, funnily enough, is where we started. ## Questions people ask ### How long do I have to reply to a review on Airbnb? Airbnb's help article on responding to reviews doesn't give a deadline for a host's public response. What it does say is that you can respond once a review is published, and reviews publish when both host and guest have submitted, or when the 14 days after checkout end, whichever comes first. Your response is posted immediately. ### Can I reply to the private note a guest left? Airbnb's response feature covers published public reviews. Notes to the host, and the category star ratings, are only visible to the host and Airbnb, so there's nothing public to reply to. If a private note raises something worth answering, the booking's message thread in Airbnb Messages is the natural place to pick it up with the guest. ### Will Airbnb remove a review because the star rating doesn't match the text? No. Airbnb's Reviews Policy says a review won't be removed just because of disagreement with the star rating, and its example is a review saying "Nice home and great stay" with 3 stars. Subjective opinions and comments about things outside your control, like a noisy area, usually stay up too. A calm public response is the tool for those. ### How quickly does Airbnb decide on a removal request? Airbnb says it emails its decision, usually within 48 hours. If the review complies with the Reviews Policy it stays; if it doesn't, Airbnb removes it and tells the reviewer why. You can submit a removal request for the same review up to two times, so give the full details and any supporting documents the first time. ## Sources - [Airbnb Help Centre: Responding to a review](https://www.airbnb.co.uk/help/article/32) - [Airbnb Help Centre: Reviews for homes](https://www.airbnb.co.uk/help/article/13) - [Airbnb Help Centre: Authentic and trustworthy reviews (Reviews Policy)](https://www.airbnb.co.uk/help/article/2673) - [Airbnb Help Centre: Remove or dispute a review](https://www.airbnb.co.uk/help/article/3582) - [Airbnb Resource Centre: How to handle a bad review](https://www.airbnb.co.uk/resources/hosting-homes/a/376) - [Airbnb Resource Centre: Why reviews matter](https://www.airbnb.co.uk/resources/hosting-homes/a/41)