Airbnb hosts threatened to sue guests over negative reviews

An Ontario host has been suspended from Airbnb after warning guests that negative reviews of his home would be met with a $30,000 libel lawsuit.

During a stay at Fred Schumacher's home, an historic inn known as The Young House, Jacenta Girard and her family were met with the type of plumbing problems that can grind a carefree family vacation to a halt:

"You could use the toilets but you had to get rid of toilet paper in the garbage," said Girard. "And every time we went to the bathroom, it would just clog up. So we had to use a plunger every single time."

Girard communicated the issues to Schumacher when he phoned on the final day of her stay. Days later, the Schumachers emailed Girard their guest review policy. The document explained that positive reviews were welcome, but that negative reviews would make renters subject to Canada's strict libel laws, up to $30,000 in fines.

Montreal lawyer Josh Terrence, familiar with the libel law the Airbnb host cited, assures that as long as reviewers stick to the facts, negative reviews are not libelous. He suggests that whenever possible, reviewers back up their claims with photos documenting their experience.

Airbnb, for its part, has suspended the Schumachers' account, but the Young House remains for rent on TripAdvisor, FlipKey, and Bedandbreakfast.com, where the swath of glowing 5 star reviews should be taken with a newfound level of comical scrutiny considering what we now know about the hosts' review policy.

The closest thing approaching an outright negative review on the bed and breakfast site still awards a generous 3.5 stars:

"The hosts are very nice and helpful. The room was nice and clean, but the house in general is full of clutter. I could barely get my rolling case up the stairs for all the stuff in the stairwell. I was leaving at 8:00 in the morning for an appointment, so I was told there would be no breakfast as it was not served until 8:30. Not even a box of cereal! So it was bed without breakfast. I think that a 7:30 breakfast is not an unreasonable expectation."

No word on whether or not that reviewer was forced to hand over a cold $30K.