Has Airbnb Completely Closed the Door to Removing Negative Reviews?! Only This Method Remains (Part 1)

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Did you know? In 2025, removing a negative review on Airbnb has become far harder than before, with almost no avenues left.

Things were not so bad previously. Even if the platform would not help, there were alternatives: paid review-removal services, for example, or simply creating a new listing to erase the old negative reviews. A bad review was a nuisance, never a death sentence.

Over the past two years, however, Airbnb has closed these routes one by one. You could once call customer service, try a different reason if one failed, hang up and call again to reach another representative. With patience, there was always a chance.

Not anymore: the platform no longer accepts manual handling over the phone. Everything goes through a form, initially reviewed by AI. Although human reviewers now participate, you can try at most twice.

The result: it is hard—really hard.

We have done extensive testing recently. Here is the bad news first: almost every reason that once worked for removing a negative review now fails.

A few examples:

1. Reviews unrelated to the property cannot be removed.

A guest complains about homeless people nearby, noisy neighbors or someone honking on the street late at night. These matters used to be considered outside the host’s control and eligible for removal; now the reviews remain.

2. Even if the guest never checked in, the review cannot be removed.

Previously, smart-lock records proving that the guest never arrived could get a negative review removed. Now, even evidence does not necessarily succeed.

Even more remarkably, guests can leave negative reviews after changing their plans and never staying, or canceling on check-in day. A review may remain even after the host proactively provides a full refund.

3. Retaliatory negative reviews are even harder.

This gives hosts the biggest headaches. In one case, a guest smoked inside the home. We requested compensation and the guest admitted smoking, but then gave a low rating and explicitly wrote that the negative review was because compensation had been requested. Such blatant retaliation could once be removed; now Airbnb no longer handles it.

Hosts consequently hesitate to pursue damage claims for fear of retaliatory reviews. One misstep can ruin a 4.9 rating built over two years of hard work.

These three points show that Airbnb is becoming more lenient toward guests and stricter with hosts. Tactics or persistence could once get negative reviews removed; now almost every path is closed.

Is there any hope left?

Our actual testing found one reason that still offers a chance of success. It accounts for a few of the small number of cases in which we successfully appealed to Airbnb to remove a negative review.

Subscribe to the Snowball Rentals official WeChat account. We will share the full details in the next issue.

Hosts, have you received unreasonable guest reviews this year that Airbnb refused to remove?

Join our WeChat group to share and discuss!

If you:

Hope to increase rental income through short-term rentals;

Cannot spare a great deal of time to handle the small details;

Occasionally need to use the home yourself, making it unsuitable to empty out the furniture for a long-term rental;

Then:

Snowball Rentals’ management team is your best choice.

From pre-launch vacation-rental styling, big-data analysis and online marketing to tenant screening, dynamic pricing, customer service and sales, cleaning and repairs, Snowball Rentals provides everything as one complete service for your home.

This Week’s Booking Results

Through long-standing relationships with insurers, assignment companies and technology companies, Snowball Rentals rents homes for medium- and long-term durations at short-term rates, then gives owners a rebate of 5% in management fees to maximize their income.

As we enter September, Seattle’s peak short-term rental season is drawing toward its close. How have you performed this year? Feel free to share in a private message or the comments. :)

Short-term rentals in peak season; mid-term rentals in low season.

Looking back at earlier large bookings, this strategy has achieved some results, allowing us to retain confidence even in a cold winter!

Although peak season has arrived, we still cannot let our guard down. Policies and broader conditions are full of changes and challenges. Making steady progress will remain the main theme going forward.

For the detached house in Bellevue below, Redfin shows an estimated long-term monthly rent of approximately $8930.

With the owner’s trust and support, we carefully furnished the home and immediately began short-term rental operations. Fortunately, because the home’s condition and location are both good, short- and mid-term bookings have continued to come in.

As shown in the booking screenshot below, a guest recently booked this house from August 22 to September 21, a total of 30 nights, at an average monthly rent of

$13887.

In summary, under Snowball Rentals’ management, this home’s monthly rental income rose from $8930 to $13887, an increase of approximately 56%.

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For homeowners, combining short- and mid-term rentals in this way can earn more in peak season and help them get through low season smoothly. Even if the low-season rental figures look less dramatic, they still outperform long-term rentals and give homeowners a strong sense of financial security.

More importantly, the owner does not have to worry about maintenance or cleaning. When something needs to be discussed with guests, we also help with communication and oversight.

Here, we again thank the owner for placing trust in the Snowball Rentals team!

After nearly two years of Airbnb’s downturn, we at Snowball Rentals hope to help owners make steady progress in low season, navigate the challenges safely and lay a better foundation for next year’s peak season.

Once again, heartfelt thanks to our homeowners for their trust and support. Whether the market is strong or weak, Snowball Rentals will stand with you and look for ways to increase your income!

Some homeowners will surely ask the hard question: was a large booking like this just a stroke of luck? What if the home does not rent? A long-term rental is more stable—even earning less is better than earning nothing!

Our answer is: the outcome depends on what we do.

Vacation-Rental Styling

Competition on Airbnb is becoming increasingly intense. The days of piecing together secondhand furniture, taking phone photos and earning easy money on Airbnb are over. Airbnb hosts have moved toward professional operations.

Careful design and furnishing before launch, followed by professional short-term rental operations, will be the only choice for a rental that continues to generate high income.

Here is another of Snowball Rentals’ core services: vacation-rental styling!

Here is what the detached home described above looks like after our careful furnishing:

When choosing a short-term rental on Airbnb, would this home’s appearance attract you?

If you would also like to make your home more attractive and earn more rent, please contact us at any time!

This Week’s Short Videos

We regularly update short videos every week.

The content you need is all here.

👇🏻 Homeowners are welcome to follow us 👇🏻

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Snowball Rentals

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Snowball Rentals

We also share practical vacation-rental styling plans and creative ideas to help you achieve more with less spending and keep rental income growing!

Xiao An’s Vacation-Rental Styling

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Referral Rewards

If you are already a Snowball Rentals homeowner, you receive a US$500 referral fee for each referral.

If you are not yet a Snowball Rentals homeowner, you receive a US$250 shopping voucher for each referral.

Snowball Rentals Management

1. Full service — We provide pre-launch rental design, furniture procurement, furnishing, professional photography, online marketing, copywriting, tenant service and sales, cleaning, supply purchasing and property repairs. You only need to be a hands-off owner; we handle the rest.

2. Multi-platform promotion — We promote the home on Airbnb, VRBO, HomeAway and other mainstream platforms for maximum exposure.

3. Dynamic pricing — Using big data, we adjust prices every day according to seasonal demand, holidays, last-minute vacancy offers, weekends and local activities, maximizing the owner’s income.

4. Income-improvement SOP — We follow 44 secrets for maximizing short-term rental income, optimizing each property’s online marketing, on-site operations and other aspects to work toward maximum income.

5. Flexible owner stays — Owners can flexibly choose when to stay themselves. This is especially suitable for owners with multiple residences around the world.

6. Terminate at any time — Management does not require an annual commitment. The owner can end the agreement with one month’s advance notice.

7. Corporate housing — In addition to nightly rentals, we work with insurers and assignment companies to provide executives with hotel-style managed accommodation for stays longer than 30 days.

8. Transparent fees — For rentals longer than 30 days, we charge 15% of accommodation revenue. For nightly rentals under 30 days, we charge 20% of accommodation revenue.

Author’s tip: Personal views, for reference only.