'Perfect' dock at Ontario Airbnb suite submerged – but the company didn't allow a negative review
A Toronto man is asking questions about whether a major home-listing platform is getting rid of negative reviews, pointing to his struggles to warn other users of a warped, sunken dock that looked nothing like the picturesque scenes in the listing.
Jordy Gold says when he tried to warn others that the reality at the suite was very different than what was advertised, his posts went nowhere, and he’s worried there’s a problem with the crowd-sourced review system that turned Airbnb into an internet powerhouse.
“It was all supposed to be wondering. We showed up and there was a complete disaster,” Gold told CTV News, saying a vacation at a “perfect getaway” he spent more than $6000 on was ruined because he believed the dock was unsafe for his two-year-old.
“We were shocked. We spent a year and a half getting to this cottage. It was so bad in so many ways, we didn’t know what to do,” he said.
Gold, who said he has had mostly positive experiences with Airbnb in the past, wrote a lengthy detailed review on the site that included, “the ‘amazing’ 30-foot dock had been completely destroyed and was unsafe for use.”
The review was not posted on the listing, and when CTV News Toronto checked, there were mostly positive reviews. The host didn’t return a message from CTV News Toronto.
Airbnb told CTV News Toronto that it took Gold’s review down because it failed to meet its standards for “relevancy.”
“There were a few details in the review that contained content that referred to circumstances entirely outside the host’s control,” said Aaron Swor in an e-mail to CTV News.
It’s not clear why parts of the review weren’t posted.
The company said in a statement, “Where a review contains information that is focused on something beyond the control of the person being reviewed, it may be removed. Airbnb does not remove specific sections of reviews found to be in violation of our policy, and instead assess the overall relevance so that Hosts are not unfairly penalized for issues that are outside of their control. Authentic reviews are part of the foundation of Airbnb’s platform, and it is rare for reviews to have to be removed, for any reason.”
A similar thing happened to Samantha Mayer. She says she posted a review about a dirty suite in a Toronto condo and followed up on Airbnb’s Facebook page with a laundry list of complaints including photos of stains on fixtures and brown marks on the toilet seat.
She struggled to find her posts when she went back and checked.
“The uncleanliness — it felt disgusting in there,” she told CTV News Toronto. “Whoever did get to see that review before it was gone, I hope they saw it. They shouldn’t be trying to silence people.”
Airbnb became a corporation worth tens of billions of dollars by finding a way for almost anyone to turn their home into a part-time hotel. They did that in part by using an online review system to help their community trust that the suites they rented would be as described.
“Reviews are important. They’re the backbone on which the sharing economy is built,” said Shreyas Sekar, an assistant professor at the Rotman School of Management and the University of Toronto Scarborough, who studies how reviews operate on online platforms.
Sekar said people are generally more hesitant in posting negative reviews, and even a single negative review can have consequences not just for the host, but also for the platform in general. He said companies have to weigh their policies carefully to strike a balance between positive reviews that are good for business and reliability.
“A lot of this depends on what stage of your growth you are as a platform,” he said. “When you prioritize growth, you may have a singular objective to become as large as possible. Later on, as is the case with Airbnb, you want to sustain your community and the focus has to shift from growth to policies that help every single user thrive on your platform.”
Both Mayer and Gold have received refunds of about a third of what the lodging cost them. After we asked Airbnb news about Gold’s case, the company told him it’s doing its own review of what happened.
Gold wants to be able to share his warnings with other people in the Airbnb community.
“What’s the point of the entire system then — this thing just spiralled from there,” he said.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Quebec nurse had to clean up after husband's death in Montreal hospital
On a night she should have been mourning, a nurse from Quebec's Laurentians region says she was forced to clean up her husband after he died at a hospital in Montreal.
Northern Ont. lawyer who abandoned clients in child protection cases disbarred
A North Bay, Ont., lawyer who abandoned 15 clients – many of them child protection cases – has lost his licence to practise law.
Bank of Canada officials split on when to start cutting interest rates
Members of the Bank of Canada's governing council were split on how long the central bank should wait before it starts cutting interest rates when they met earlier this month.
Maple Leafs fall to Bruins in Game 3, trail series 2-1
Brad Marchand scored twice, including the winner in the third period, and added an assist as the Boston Bruins downed the Toronto Maple Leafs 4-2 to take a 2-1 lead in their first-round playoff series Wednesday
Cuban government apologizes to Montreal-area family after delivering wrong body
Cuba's foreign affairs minister has apologized to a Montreal-area family after they were sent the wrong body following the death of a loved one.
'It was instant karma': Viral video captures failed theft attempt in Nanaimo, B.C.
Mounties in Nanaimo, B.C., say two late-night revellers are lucky their allegedly drunken antics weren't reported to police after security cameras captured the men trying to steal a heavy sign from a downtown business.
What is changing about Canada's capital gains tax and how does it impact me?
The federal government's proposed change to capital gains taxation is expected to increase taxes on investments and mainly affect wealthy Canadians and businesses. Here's what you need to know about the move.
New Indigenous loan guarantee program a 'really big deal,' Freeland says at Toronto conference
Canada's Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland was among the 1,700 delegates attending the two-day First Nations Major Projects Coalition (FNMPC) conference that concluded Tuesday in Toronto.
'Life was not fair to him': Daughter of N.B. man exonerated of murder remembers him as a kind soul
The daughter of a New Brunswick man recently exonerated from murder, is remembering her father as somebody who, despite a wrongful conviction, never became bitter or angry.