A bad Airbnb review in Marrakech: reply, or have it removed

A bad review is not removed because it is unfair: it is removed when it breaks a rule, and it almost always deserves a reply. That reply is not written for its author. It is written for the next guest — the one deciding between your villa and the one next door.

Can you get a bad review removed from Airbnb?

Rarely, and never because it is negative. Neither the host nor their concierge company can delete a review: they can only ask Airbnb to remove it, and Airbnb agrees only when the review breaches its reviews policy. An opinion, however harsh, stays up. “The kitchen was cramped” is the very example the platform gives of what it will not take down.

The last line is the one that surprises owners most. A review complaining about the dawn call to prayer or the building site next door may stay — it informs. That one is handled through the reply, and above all through the listing, which should have said so. For everything else, the table shows what an owner can ask for; the decision rests with Airbnb, which examines each request on its merits and guarantees nothing.

Should you reply to a bad review of your villa?

Yes, almost always — and not on the same day. A public response is published immediately and sits beneath the original review; it erases nothing, it adds to it. Its reader is not the unhappy guest, who has left. It is the person reading your reviews before booking, who judges for themselves how the house deals with a problem.

A reply written in anger reads as an argument, and an argument puts off more guests than the review itself. A reply does not have to go out within the hour. So we take the time to rebuild the facts before writing a word: the messages exchanged during the stay, the visit report, dated photographs, the technician’s call-out.

There is one exception: the review that breaks the policy. That one is reported first, with evidence, and the reply waits for the decision, which usually comes within 48 hours. If the review stays up, the reply goes out that same day, without mentioning the request.

How do you reply to a bad review without making it worse?

Three sentences are often enough: acknowledge the fact, say what was done, say what has changed. A guest writes that there was no hot water on the second evening. The reply does not argue with the rating; it says the water heater’s element was replaced the next morning, and that the house has a second tank. The next reader remembers a fault that was fixed.

What does not go in: the guest’s surname, anything about their private life, the amount of a goodwill gesture, any hint that they acted in bad faith. The reply is bound by the same policy as the review. Nor does it promise what the house cannot keep — “this will never happen again” commits you for every season to come.

When the review is wrong on a verifiable point, the reply corrects it once, with a fact: the arrival time confirmed in writing, a listing that states the pool is not heated in winter. No adjectives. The reader will decide.

What is a retaliatory review, and how do you get one removed?

It is a biased review left by a guest because the host reported a violation on their part: damage, overstaying, an unauthorised party, house rules ignored. Airbnb removes it on two conditions, both required. The violation must be clear and documented, and reporting it — to the platform or to the guest — must have likely led to the review. A guest who simply recounts the facts of a claim is not, on that basis alone, retaliating.

The request goes through the Resolution Centre: choose the review, give the reason, explain, attach supporting documents. No more than two requests for the same review; the decision comes by email, usually within 48 hours.

So everything is settled before the review is written. Conversations stay in the platform’s messaging, which support can read; an agreement made over the phone does not exist for them. Damage is photographed on the day of departure. A party is witnessed on site, not taken on a neighbour’s word.

Why does a first bad review weigh so heavily on a villa?

Because a villa receives few reviews. A studio in Guéliz let two nights at a time builds them up with every turnover; a villa let by the week, to groups, gets far fewer, and each one carries more weight in the average. A group of eight is a single review — from the person who booked.

Airbnb only displays a listing’s rating once it has three reviews. On a recent listing, the first bad review is a third of the rating that will appear.

Timing matters too. Guest and host each have fourteen days after checkout to write, and nothing is published until both have done so or the window closes. The host therefore writes without knowing what the guest has said. That review sticks to the facts: it appears on the guest’s profile, not beneath their review, so it defends nothing.

A group’s satisfaction is won during the stay, at the first problem reported.

What do we ask before replying to a review?

The questions that show whether a review describes a fact, an opinion or a violation, because each calls for a different reply. Before writing, we want six answers:

• what exactly the review says, sentence by sentence, and what can be checked;
• whether the problem was reported during the stay, and through which channel;
• what we did, at what time, and what remains of it in writing;
• whether the guest broke a rule, and whether we reported it;
• whether the listing described what the guest found;
• what changes in the house, or in the listing, after this review.

The fifth question is the one least often asked, and the most useful. On the villas we take over, bad reviews often describe a gap between the page and the house: a pool nobody said would be cold in January, a dirt track the photographs never showed. That review is not removed. It is corrected in the listing, and it stops repeating itself.

Who handles reviews when the owner lives abroad?

Whoever knows what happened in the house, and has the permissions to act. A removal request can be filed by the listing owner, by a co-host with full access or by an authorised member of a concierge team. An owner living in France or the UK can therefore delegate — provided those permissions apply to their own listing.

As part of our Airbnb property management in Marrakech, we reply to every review, including the bad ones, and we tell you what caused them. The reports and dated photographs from our property management are also the evidence a removal request calls for.

Several causes can be dealt with in advance: the start-up before the first stays, a backup internet connection. And when a stay goes wrong, the refund rules apply before any review does — see our article on the cancellation policy for a rented villa.

Would you like to know what your villa’s reviews say about how it is managed? We provide a free, no-commitment assessment within 48 hours.