I live in a working class, primarily African American neighborhood, where I rent out rooms on AirBnB sometimes (mostly between roommates, though we do have 1 room now that is a dedicated guest room, both for AirBnB and also for family & friends). I do my best to make sure that guests are aware of the neighborhood demographic , because I have gotten ignorant, racist guests in the past. Previously, when guests have left racist reviews, AirBnB has had my back, and removed them.

I recently gotten a somewhat bizarre review in that it was 5 stars, but also said that the neighbor was unsafe AND in the part of the review where the guest wrote in her mother tongue, she called my neighborhood a slum. She also made a comment about "abandoned vehicles being left everywhere". AirBnB has flat-out refused to remove this review, citing that it's all her opinion.

Obviously, I am fucking pissed.

I would like to send her a message, informing her that I rescind my previous standing invitation for her to return, which I doubt she'd take me up on anyways, but I get enough repeat returns that I would like to make it crystal clear to her that her racist review means we will absolutely never host her again.

Additionally, I'd like her to know that the "abandoned vehicles" that she referenced were actually damaged vehicles sitting in the lot of a mechanic, which is about a block away from my home. The guys that work that shop keep it pristinely neat, and actually keep the entire street around the area pristinely neat. But yes, there are wrecked vehicles that regularly cycle in and out of that lot.

I have also reached out to AirBnB to ask them if I respond to her review (which I have been repeatedly told is my only recourse), if they will remove my response if I point out the racism of a guest calling my neighborhood an unsafe slum.

This is all very recent, and so right now I am in peak fury. FTR, I am pretty sure that in a few days, I will feel able to let go responding to the review, as I know, I do truly know in my heart, that responding to a review usually only makes it more visible to people, especially since I don't normally respond to reviews.

However, for the guest, I absolutely want to make sure she is aware that she's not welcome to come back. Again, I think in a few days, I will be capable of just sending a message that says "In light of your review, I want to make it clear to you that you are not welcome to return here. While I doubt you would want to, based off of the review, I wanted to make sure there are no misunderstandings. And to clarify a misunderstanding that you obviously had, the "abandoned vehicles" you reference in your review were vehicles at a mechanic shop, waiting to be serviced after an accident. There were not abandoned".

Does that last message sound reasonable? Does anybody have any other advice on this? Other than to keep breathing and let it go?

FTR, the vast majority of my reviews are extremely positive, with a lot of people talking about the culture of the neighborhood and how much they enjoyed it. So I think that her review overall is going to stick out as being very against the norm. I am also hoping that a few other points in her review make her sound like a neurotic asshole. For instance, she comments that the soundproofing of the room was not perfect, and sometimes she could hear noises coming from outside. We're in the middle of a city. Noises are going to happen. The vast majority of my guests comment on how quiet the rooms are for being in on a main street in an urban area of a fairly major city.

The only time I really have issues with guests/reviews is from racists and rural folks who don't understand that cities come with some level of noise. The majority of the time, my guests (including many of the rural ones) are awesome and enthusiastic about the neighborhood and our home.