Hate how airbnb review system works!
I have recently booked an airbnb house for a group of eight for our business trip, first time being the one that books.
At very early communications I started to sense the difference between copy/pasted messages (long and friendly) and hand-written ones (short and somewhat impatient and just unclear and grammatically ill - the moment I saw "your welcome" I knew it wasn't going to end well!!). I asked about the bedroom/bathroom layouts for sleeping arrangements (we had boys and girls). The host did respond promptly but we later found out the information did not match the property - the host talked about the bedrooms in first and second floors, but the real house is one-storey. This is one of many hints that this is not a "real" airbnb but a managed property.
The door to the laundry room was broken but we did not care and did not report (we certainly should have!). After check out the host asked about the broken door (short hand-written message), and I explained it was broken when we got there and we just didn't care. The host replied and thanked me for the information in broken sentences I still haven't quite worked out the full meaning which gave me an impression that this issue just passed. After the mutually warm and amicable reviews were exchanged, the second day airbnb sent me the host's request of $100 additional payment to fix the door. I just felt backstabbed! The host wrote in the claim that an "in tac" door was left broken and we NEVER came back to her inquiry about it. I replied strong-wordedly that we clearly and promptly answered her question, the door was not *intact, and would not pay for anything that is not our responsibility but an existing condition. I also took screenshots and saved all our communications in case I needed to show that 1. We DID come back and answered her questions. 2. the host gave us false information of the house.
There is no development after some months and I think it has just passed. I just deeply dislike how the review system works in a way that everyone is friendly on the website surface but things are wildly different under the cover.