How to Remove an Airbnb Review (and When You Can't)

Most hosts who look up how to remove an Airbnb review learn that Airbnb removes very few of them. It takes down reviews that break its Reviews Policy, and it leaves up reviews that are harsh, unfair or just wrong about the star rating. I run my own two Wisconsin Dells homes and work on client homes in four other states, and the approach that works is the same everywhere: request removal only when you can point to a specific rule, write that request well, and put the rest of your effort into a public reply and the stays that come next.

The short version

Airbnb removes reviews that are irrelevant, fake, tied to extortion or incentives, retaliatory, from a competitor, or that break its Content Policy.
A low star rating, a subjective opinion or a complaint about something outside your control isn't enough.
File from the review dispute page: name the policy section, quote the sentence, attach proof. You get two requests per review.
If the review stays, a calm public reply written for future guests does more good than a fight.
Vrbo and Booking.com have their own dispute routes, moderate host replies, and stop showing reviews after about three years.

On this page (9 sections)

When Airbnb will remove a review

Airbnb doesn't moderate reviews before they're published, apart from an automated check for reviews that don't relate to a real stay. It acts afterward, under the policy its help center calls "Authentic and trustworthy reviews." A review that breaks it can be removed along with its rating, which then stops counting toward your listing and host ratings, and the guest can't write a new one for that reservation. These are the categories that qualify:

Irrelevant

About something other than the stay you hosted, or not based on first-hand experience. That includes a guest who never arrived, or who canceled for reasons that had nothing to do with your listing.

Fake

Not tied to a real reservation, or written by someone who wasn't part of it and wasn't writing on behalf of someone who was.

Extortion, incentives or pressure

A guest who threatened a bad review to get compensation, or a review given or held back in exchange for a refund, a discount, a reciprocal review or a promise not to take action against the reviewer.

Retaliatory

The guest broke a policy, was told about it, and then left a biased review because the violation was reported.

Used to harm competition

Written by someone in direct competition with your listing, or directly affiliated with it.

Content Policy violations

Explicit, discriminatory, threatening, harassing or illegal content, or private information, including details that could reveal a listing's location.

Retaliation is the category hosts misread most. Airbnb treats a review as retaliatory only when the guest committed a violation and was notified about it before writing the review. A guest who brings extra people, gets a message from you in the Airbnb thread citing the guest limit, and then calls your home dirty is a strong case. A guest who writes a harsh review and only later turns out to have left a mess is a weak one. Airbnb also says a review that talks about the facts of a Resolution Center request or an AirCover claim isn't automatically retaliatory.

Canceled stays have their own rules. If a reservation is canceled before check-in day, neither side can review. For some reservations canceled on or after check-in day, reviews are allowed, but a guest who never got inside and still rates your amenities is the textbook irrelevant review.

When Airbnb won't remove a review

This is where most requests fail. Airbnb says it generally doesn't mediate disputes about whether a review is accurate, and expects you to reply instead. None of these qualify on their own:

A star rating you disagree with, even a 3 star rating next to a glowing written review.
Subjective opinions, like "beds were too firm," "smaller than it looked" or "not worth the price."
Things outside your control, like neighborhood noise or a busy road. Airbnb's view is that future guests may still want to know.
A review you think is exaggerated, when it describes the guest's own experience of the stay.
A guest describing a damage claim or refund dispute, as long as the review sticks to what happened.

Before you file, run one test: can you name the policy section and quote the sentence that breaks it? If not, skip the request and go straight to your reply. Most bad reviews are a guest's honest, if unwelcome, opinion, and those stay up. There's another reason to be selective. Airbnb lists a "review removal" rate as a Guest Favorite factor and says it may suspend or withhold Superhost status for hosts with high review removal rates, without defining how that rate is measured. Until it does, save requests for clear cases. Our Airbnb Superhost requirements guide covers the rest of what feeds that badge.

How to request removal, step by step

1. Check that you're allowed to file

Airbnb lets the listing owner, a full-access co-host, a team owner and certain team or pro-host roles see and dispute a review. If you co-host for an owner, confirm your permissions before you need them.

2. Gather your evidence first

Collect dated screenshots of the Airbnb message thread, photos, the reservation code, and any Resolution Center or AirCover claim number. Airbnb tells hosts to keep guest communication in the Messages tab so its support team can review it, one more reason to keep every conversation there.

3. Open the review dispute page and find the review

On desktop, open Airbnb's "Remove or dispute a review" help article (or the Reviews Policy) and click Get started, which opens the review dispute page. Airbnb only documents the desktop steps. It notes that searching by the reviewer's name may not work, so search with words that appear in the review. You can also contact Airbnb through the Help Center and ask a team member to look at it.

4. Pick the matching reason and submit

Choose the reason that matches the policy section, write a short explanation, upload your documents and submit. Airbnb says you can ask it to look at a review you received at any time, but file while the details and evidence are fresh.

5. Watch for the email

Airbnb says it usually emails a decision within about 48 hours. If the review comes down, the guest is told why and can contact Airbnb if they think it was a mistake. If they bring new information that changes the outcome, you'll be notified.

6. Use your second request carefully

You can submit up to two requests for the same review, and not while one is pending. Airbnb doesn't describe any formal appeal beyond that, so treat the second request as your appeal and save it for new evidence or a reason that fits better. Hosts report that first decisions often look automated and that a clearer second request sometimes gets a different answer, but don't count on it.

What to put in your removal request

Whoever reads your request needs to see a rule, a sentence and proof in under a minute. Write it like an incident report, not an appeal to fairness. This structure keeps it tight:

Removal request structure

For the details box on Airbnb's review dispute page

Reservation: [confirmation code], [check-in date] to [checkout date]. Policy: This review breaks the [policy section, e.g. Reviews that are retaliatory] part of Airbnb's Reviews Policy. The review says: '[the exact sentence that breaks the policy]'. What happened: [one or two factual sentences with dates, e.g. On [date] I messaged the guest about [rule] in the Airbnb thread. The review was posted on [date], after that message.] Attached: [list each file, e.g. message screenshot dated [date], photos from [date], AirCover claim [number]]. I'm asking Airbnb to remove the review and its rating under this section of the policy.

Use the policy's own heading for the section, like Reviews that are retaliatory or Reviews that are irrelevant, and make sure it matches the reason you selected.
Quote the exact words that break the policy. One sentence is stronger than a summary of the whole review.
Make your dates line up with your attachments. For retaliation, the order of events is the whole case.
Keep it short and factual. Comments about the guest's character don't help.
Leave out sensitive details like ID documents, health information, details about children or criminal history. Airbnb says it won't consider them.

If Airbnb says no

Most bad reviews stay. That's not the end of it, because three things still move bookings:

Stage 1
Respond
A short public reply that shows future guests how you handle problems.
Stage 2
Fix the cause
Change whatever led to the complaint, so it doesn't show up again.
Stage 3
Outweigh it
Stack up good stays and reviews so one bad one carries less weight.

Respond for the next guest, not this one

Reply from Profile, then Reviews, or from Insights. It posts immediately under the review on your listing. Through Hospitable, Airbnb replies can be sent up to 30 days after the review arrives, so don't sit on it. The people reading your reply are deciding whether to book. They want to see a host who stays calm, takes problems seriously and has dealt with this one. Thank the guest, address the one point that matters, state a fact or a fix, and stop. Leave out refund amounts, rule violations you can't show, and anything that sounds like a rebuttal.

Reply to a fair complaint you've fixed

The guest had a point, and it's handled now

Thank you for staying with us, [first name], and for flagging [the issue in a few words]. We [what you changed, e.g. replaced the coffee maker] right after your stay, so it's ready for the next group. We're glad [something they did enjoy] made the trip, and we'd love to host you again.

Reply to a review that gets the facts wrong

The review stays up, but future guests need the real picture

Thanks for your feedback, [first name]. For anyone reading, [the fact, stated plainly, e.g. the lower-level fireplace is decorative, which we note in the listing and the house manual]. If anything isn't working during a stay, message us and we'll get it sorted quickly. We hope future guests enjoy [a real highlight of the home] as much as our past guests have.

Fix the cause

My rule is simple: if two guests mention the same thing, it's real, whatever I think of the reviewers. Read your private feedback and category ratings too. Airbnb shows individual category ratings and private notes only to you and Airbnb, and they often point to a problem before it shows up in public reviews.

Outweigh it

A listing's rating is the average of the overall ratings from all of its reviews (removed reviews excluded), so one low rating moves a listing with eight reviews far more than one with eighty. Airbnb also says listings with better ratings and reviews tend to rank higher. Ask every guest who had a good stay for a review a few days after checkout, with a short, no-pressure message like the one in our Airbnb message templates.

How to prevent bad and retaliatory reviews

Most bad reviews start with a surprise or with a problem nobody heard about until checkout. Both are fixable before the review is written.

1. Put the surprising things in writing

Anything a guest could reasonably assume wrong belongs in the listing and the house manual. The lower-level fireplace at The Arcade Hideout has been disabled and is only decorative, and I say so. Our TVs are Rokus in Guest Mode, so guests sign into their own streaming accounts, and that's stated up front too. At The Hot Tub Hideout, each level has its own Ecobee thermostat and guests ask about the front deadbolt, so both belong in the quick answers at the top of the house manual. Airbnb's own rating categories reward this: accuracy covers whether the listing's details were up to date, and location covers whether guests were told about things like nearby noise.

2. Check in on the first morning

A short message the morning after arrival catches a weak shower or a missing pan while you can still fix it. A problem solved on day one rarely ends up in a review. If you use a property management system like Hospitable, schedule it once and it goes out on every stay.

3. Fix problems fast, and on the record

Keep the conversation in the Airbnb thread. If money is involved, use the Resolution Center, which is built for sending or requesting money after a stay (it doesn't handle review disputes). Don't promise a refund in writing until you've seen the problem yourself.

4. Report rule breaks as they happen

If a guest breaks a rule, say so in the Airbnb thread right away and report it to Airbnb when it's serious. That written record, made before the guest reviews you, is what makes a retaliation case possible later.

5. Time your review of a difficult guest

Airbnb publishes both reviews once both are in or 14 days after checkout, and Hospitable notes that Airbnb nudges the guest to review after you publish yours. On a rough stay, Hospitable's "Delay publishing this review till the end" setting moves your review to 20 seconds before the window closes. I use it on difficult stays at my homes and review clean stays promptly. Keep your review of the guest factual, and leave out money.

What never to do

These can cost you more than the review

Asking the guest to change or delete it. Guests can remove their own Airbnb review within 30 days, but asking them to is the kind of pressure the policy bans. Vrbo specifically bars asking a guest to revise a review for extra compensation.
Offering anything for it. No refund, discount, gift, future stay or reciprocal review in exchange for writing, changing or holding back a review.
Asking for 5 stars, or telling guests anything less hurts you. Ask for an honest review and leave it there.
Steering unhappy guests away from reviewing, or asking guests to review the stay somewhere else.
Arguing in the reply. Replies are content too. Airbnb's Content Policy bans demeaning or harassing content and sharing someone's private information. Booking.com reviews replies before publishing them, and Vrbo runs replies through the same moderation as reviews.

Airbnb can remove reviews that break the policy and restrict, suspend or remove the listing or account involved, which is far worse than one bad review.

How Vrbo and Booking.com handle bad reviews

Each platform runs reviews its own way:

	Airbnb	Vrbo	Booking.com
Review window	14 days after checkout, both sides	Once either side submits, the other has 14 days	Guest has 3 months after checkout
Host reviews guest	Yes	Yes	No
Scoring	Stars, out of 5	1 to 5, shown out of 10	1 to 10, recent reviews count more
How long it shows	Stays up unless removed	Removed after 3 years, unless the property has few reviews	May stop showing at 36 months, or after an ownership change
Your reply	Posts immediately	Moderated like reviews	Checked before it's published; no reply to score-only reviews
Dispute route	Review dispute page, up to 2 requests	Review dispute form in partner tools, or customer service	Customer service, or the content reporting form

Vrbo

Vrbo's content guidelines (updated August 2026) say it won't remove a review just because it's negative. Grounds for removal include personal data, fake or offensive content, duplicates, a review of the wrong property, evidence the traveler didn't complete or attempt the booking, and a traveler found to have broken your applicable rules. Pricing details aren't allowed in reviews either. That rules ground is broader than anything in Airbnb's policy, so if a guest broke a house rule and then reviewed you, document it and file; Vrbo still decides whether it applies. Travelers can't threaten a review to get a refund, and hosts can't offer a refund for a positive one. Guests who left early can still review. Vrbo may also consider a request to remove reviews after an ownership change or major renovations. You reply to Vrbo reviews in your Vrbo dashboard.

Booking.com

Booking.com accepts reviews from guests who stayed, or who arrived but didn't stay. It deletes fake reviews and doesn't publish ones that break its content guidelines. To report a review, contact customer service or use the content reporting form with the review's full URL, screenshots and your exact listing name. Booking.com's partner help says a bad review isn't guest misconduct, so the misconduct report (open from check-in until 7 days after checkout) is for behavior problems, not reviews. Because recent reviews count more, a run of good stays lifts your score relatively quickly. You can reply from the extranet, the Pulse app or Hospitable, but only the extranet lets you edit or remove a reply afterward, so get it right the first time.

When a review is costing you bookings and you're not sure it qualifies, it's worth a second opinion before you use one of your two requests. I help hosts with removal requests and AirCover claims in a $150 consulting hour (as of November 2026), and it's part of the Host Advisor support plan.

Quick answers

Can a host delete a guest's review on Airbnb?

No. Only Airbnb can remove a review, and only if it breaks the Reviews Policy. You can request removal from the review dispute page or post a public response. The guest who wrote it can remove it within 30 days of publication, but you shouldn't ask them to.

How long does Airbnb take to decide on a removal request?

Airbnb says it usually emails a decision within about 48 hours. You can submit up to two requests per review.

Can a guest review me if the reservation was canceled?

Not if it was canceled before check-in day. Some reservations canceled on or after check-in day can be reviewed, but a review from a guest who never arrived, or canceled for reasons unrelated to your listing, counts as irrelevant.

Will Airbnb remove a review from a guest who broke my house rules?

Only if the review itself breaks the policy. It counts as retaliatory if the guest broke a policy, was told about it, and then left a biased review because it was reported, so flag rule breaks in the Airbnb thread right away.

Does requesting a review removal hurt my listing?

Airbnb doesn't say that a single request counts against you, and it doesn't define its review removal rate. It does list that rate as a Guest Favorite factor and says it may suspend or withhold Superhost status for hosts with high review removal rates, so file when the case is clear rather than for every bad review.

Can I appeal if Airbnb won't remove a review?

Airbnb doesn't describe a formal appeal for hosts. You can submit a second removal request for the same review once the first is decided, ideally with new evidence or a better-fitting reason, or contact Airbnb through the Help Center and ask a team member to review it. After that, a public response is your main tool.

Can I ask a guest to change or remove their review?

Don't. Airbnb bans pressuring guests or trading anything of value for a review, and Vrbo specifically bans asking a guest to revise a review for extra compensation. Reply publicly instead and fix the cause.

How do I remove a bad review on Vrbo or Booking.com?

On Vrbo, submit a review dispute form from your partner tools or contact customer service. On Booking.com, report it to customer service or through the content reporting form. Both remove reviews only on narrow grounds, and neither removes a review just for being negative. Vrbo's grounds do include a traveler found to have broken your applicable rules.

About the author

Lashan Wanigatunga

Airbnb Superhost who runs his own Wisconsin Dells rentals and helps other hosts with listing optimization, pricing and automation on Airbnb, Vrbo and Booking.com.

More about Lashan

Sources

Checked November 2026. Prices and features change, so confirm on each company's site.

How to Remove an Airbnb Review (and What to Do When You Can't)