"Good libation" - parties in your listing.

[Marcin65]

Hello. I would like to ask experienced hosts from our forum what you think about the review that happened to me. After finishing his stay, the guest wrote in his review: "Nice place！Good libation!". In my language, libation is a word identical to drinking, partying, meeting with alcohol. Do you think that such a review should be removed by moderators as promoting organizing parties? Or do you think that it can only mean that my guest had a good time? Can you help me? Please write how you perceive such a formulation in the comment to the evaluation of my place. airbnb.pl/h/warsaw-shades-of-blue . I asked the help desk - moderators to remove just this one sentence from my guest's opinion.

I will allow myself to tag a few people whose opinions are very important to me.

@Joelle43 , @Helen3 , @Karen4131 , @Mike-And-Jane0 , @Robin4 , @Mary1523 , @Rebecca , @Bhumika , @Emilie , @Elisa 

Thanks in advance

[Robin4]

@Marcin65 

Hi Mancin, I understand your apprehension over that review. In the English language 'Libation' refers to a celebratory alcoholic round of drinks, and I can see how that could be seen as an invitation to consume alcohol......have a party.

But, it's a pity that was the entire review by Grace Wei, there could be a less sinister motive. She could have been simply saying, 'Níce place to relax and have a drink'!

What was the star rating she gave you Marcin? If it was 5 star she probably liked the stay and didn't mean anything derogatory by it.

But I agree with you that it is not a review I would want to live with on my listing. But I don't think you will get much cooperation from CX in getting it removed. They will simply say the review doesn't contravene Airbnb's review guidelines, it was the guests perception and it must stay.

Certainly one of the more odd reviews I have seen in my time.

Cheers.......Rob.

[Marcin65]

Thank you @Robin4  for your support and sharing your experience. I had a minor mishap with this guest, I sent her the wrong check-in instructions, but within 15 minutes of contacting her in the middle of the night, she got the right ones. The overall rating was 4*, the component values ​​were also rated 4* except for the cleanliness rated 5*. This is the lowest rating this place has received so far. I can understand the rating, due to my mistake, but the comment seems malicious to me. In my opinion, it encourages people to organize parties in my house, but as you wrote, the support department rejected my request to remove just this one sentence from the review. All the best.

[Helen3]

it's certainly a strange choice of words for the translation app to choose 😀

I don't see it as malicious.

I wouldn't worry about it . It's an old fashioned word that I don't hear anyone using in the UK anymore . @Marcin65 many won't even know what it means. 

Airbnb won't remove part of a guests review .

you have great reviews ... I think you are overthinking it 😀

[Marcin65]

Haha, thank you @Helen3 , You're right, I worry about every imperfection in my work.

[Joelle43]

Hello @Marcin65 

I went onto your listing to view this review and the problem lies in the translation used by Airbnb which is notoriously poor when translating from Chinese to another language.  Totally frustrating as a host as we have a clear case of "Lost in Translation" here as I'm pretty sure that your guest couldn't have been referring to anything drink related.

I had a similar bad translation from German to French and CS wouldn't do anything about it other than have it removed.  It was a 5* review so why would I have that removed I asked them?  😡 It was like speaking to a brick wall so chose to thank my guest in the public reply and basically deciphered the incomprehensible translation for futre guests.  So maybe you can make a joke of it in your public reply or ask your guest directly what they meant and include that in your reply?

But yes, I do think that we should be able to remove a review when the translation is bad or not in keeping with the original review.  Luckily for me, the Airbnb translation of my review is marginally better in English than it is in French.

All the best Marcin,
Joëlle

[Marcin65]

Thank you @Joelle43  for your reply and the suggestion that you would also be reluctant to leave such a comment in your listing. The guest wrote his review in English, so it is not a translation error. 

I'm not put off by the fact that the support department is a brick wall, it just makes me look for help here - on the hosts forum - more often. You're great. Thank you.

[Joelle43]

Hello again @Marcin65 

When I view this review in my host language (French) it says "Original Language - Chinese (simplified)" but it sounds though as your guest wrote in English so strange?

[Marcin65]

That's interesting. I have a Polish translation, and the information that the original language is Simplified Chinese, but after enabling the show original option it shows me the text in English, not Chinese.

I have to "swallow this frog" and move on.

Thank you @Joelle43  and all of you for your help.

[Mary1523]

Hi You are taking the right approach, just move on.

But there is one thing you could publicly do.

When I get reviews that unfairly treat me, I write something like this:

Dear Future Guests, we respect and appreciate all guest perspectives. Whilst we might not fully understand the point of the review comments, given we did XYZ, we will always aim to manage guest expectations with detailed information and deliver a 5 star experience to deserve a 5 star rating. Afterall 4 star ratings are problematic for hosts whether the guest understood the rating system or not. We welcome to you our property and the region and hope to see you soon! All the best, 

I always end on a positive note, and try to somewhat explain our position a little.

Forget about airbnb removing reviews, they won't do it. It would have to be catastropic/clearly violate with language etc. I had a guest that I rated them a 2 as they trashed the place with a big party and additional guests, but I couldn't remove their review which said something stupid like 'sure was worth it'. And the low rating they gave me, never mind, Airbnb weren't going to remove it. Their position is, regardless of how the guest behaved, as long as the review didnt violate their guidelines, its their perspective. 

I keep reminding hosts, we are in the hospitality business, so you get this occasionally. I personally would hate to run a motel, it would be alot worse! 

All the best REgs MK

[Marcin65]

Thank you Mary. I really liked @Robin4 answer in the other thread.

Re: Repeat guest reviews - Airbnb Community

[Lou17]

@Marcin65 

Les erreurs de traduction  peuvent parfois être dûes surtout au traducteur employé au départ par le guest : du chinois à l'anglais, s'il en a eu besoin.

En parlant également italien, il m'arrive de vérifier que les traductions reverso entre 3 langues peuvent finir complètement hors sujet, surtout sur des modes de dire spécifiques à la langue, en créant des quiproquo parfois déroutants...

[Lou17]

@Marcin65

Dans les avis qu'il m'arrive de lire, les personnes sont parfois très "synthétiques" et axent leur commentaire davantage sur la globalité de leur séjour et ce qui les attire, et pas spécifiquement par rapport aux caractéristiques du logement.

Un des commentaires que j'ai reçu parlait surtout de l'ambiance du bistrot du village. Chacun ses centres d'intérêt.

Et c'est comme ça que j'ai perçu le commentaire dont vous parlez. Pas comme une référence au logement en particulier, mais à l'endroit où il est situé, globalement : en quelque sorte "spot intéressant" au sens large, surtout pour les amateurs de beuveries. Mon village est sur la "route des vins" et des fois les commentaires se référent davantage à cet aspect spécifique parce que ça les intéresse particulièrement, coopérant positivement à la satisfaction de leur séjour.

Par ailleurs, ce type de commentaire lapidaire peut également permettre au voyageur  "d'esquiver" un commentaire plus épineux...

En tout cas, rien de rédhibitoire selon moi par rapport à votre annonce.

Des beaux jours à venir, Marcin 

Lou

[Lou17]

@Marcin65 

"vestimentaires" a la place de "intéresse"... intéressant...😏...va savoir d'où ça sort, ce changement.

Sorry, je n'avais pas relu avant l'envoi.