Six years on, some operators say Booking.com review disputes remain unresolved

The original AccomNews story followed Redcliffe bed and breakfast owner Lynne Boucher, who said she was left “totally shattered” after a string of low-scoring reviews dragged down her property’s Booking.com rating and ultimately pushed her to delist from the platform.

Read: Owner “shattered” as Booking.com ignores pleas over serial reviewer

Now, six years later, readers are still commenting on that same story, describing disputes they say involve unfair, misleading or damaging reviews that remain online despite repeated requests for removal.

One of the most recent comments, posted on April 14, 2026, came from an operator named Sophie, who said she had faced a similar situation. “I had a similar issue recently,” she wrote, alleging the incident involved police attendance, threats and disruption serious enough that two other rooms had to be refunded.

Despite that, she wrote, “Booking.com won’t remove his review”. She added: “I don’t want to waste more time hitting my head against the wall but it is just not right. so frustrating.”

That frustration was echoed in a comment posted on May 2, 2025, by another reader, Andrew, who said his property was involved in “a long running dispute” with Booking.com over what he described as “a disgraceful review”.

Andrew alleged the review was left after an incident involving threatening behaviour and wrote that Booking.com’s review team was “currently refusing to do anything”.

While the individual circumstances differ, the comments point to a recurring concern among some operators: that reviews they believe are unfair, misleading or not reflective of the circumstances can still affect a property’s public score and reputation, even when the operator feels there is strong evidence to challenge them.

For small and independent properties, that concern can be especially sharp. A single low score may carry far more weight when review volume is limited, and some operators say the impact can be felt quickly in visibility and guest trust.

Booking.com’s current review guidelines say contributions should be “genuine and unique to the guest”, and the platform says it may only accept reviews submitted within three months of check-out. Its standards also say abusive, threatening, discriminatory and irrelevant content is not permitted, and that properties can respond publicly to guest reviews.

Read: How to flip negative reviews

Even so, the experiences shared by AccomNews readers suggest an ongoing disconnect between the written policy and the reality some operators say they face when trying to have a review removed. For them, the issue is not whether guests should be able to leave honest feedback, but what happens when a review appears impossible to fairly resolve through standard support channels.

The issue also comes at a time when Booking.com has faced renewed consumer scrutiny in Australia. In March 2026, ABC reported that Booking.com was the fourth most complained-about company to Fair Trading NSW last year, with complaints spanning refunds, cancellations and dispute handling.

For the operators still commenting under AccomNews’ original 2020 article, the complaint remains much the same today as it was then: when a review causes serious damage to a small business, a right of reply does not always feel like a meaningful remedy.

AccomNews has reached out to Booking.com for comments.

Booking.com’s policy allows accommodation providers to request a review assessment, but says reviews are only removed in specific circumstances, including inappropriate or offensive content, fake or spam content, privacy breaches, and off-topic material.