"Would you host this guest again?" - Changing my answer from 'yes' to 'no'

[Chris1492]

I am a Superhost in the UK. I have just received a 3 star review from a 'newbie' guest, i.e. I am their first Airbnb experience. 

I gave them 5 stars all round (their first review) and said nice things about them. I replied 'yes' to the question 'Would you host this guest again?'

This was before  I read their review (of me). Having read it, I emailed them and asked for clarification regarding their overall 3 star review (which I view as super-harsh). I got a prompt reply saying that was due to the cleanliness of the grouting in the shower. I have to say, we are talking really minimal stuff here folks, not what such a comment would cause you to imagine... (I'm really confident on this point, as I have just installed a new shower cubicle and they were the first guests to use it - a point they knew in advance. It's brand new, sparkling clean. It's as if they went looking for faults... you know the type...)

They may well pass my way again (to visit family) and to be frank, I don't want their repeat business - not when they're (a) that picky and (b) that unbalanced in their response. 

With regards to the 'would i host again' question,  am I able to change my initial response from 'yes' to 'no'? I would greatly prefer it if I simply did not appear in their search returns (which I understand is what happens when a host responds 'no' to said question). 

[Currently, I do *not* have Instant Booking on, so they would have to send an enquiry, but I rather just not have to deal with them.]

Thank you in advance for your thoughts/comments/suggestions.

Chris 

[Sarah977]

@Chris1492  "as they are newbies to Airbnb they probably think they are being fair"

Yes, this is likely. Guests who leave positive written reviews but low star ratings probably just have no idea how ratings affect hosts.

As a home share host I have had conversations with guests about the rating system and I can tell you that my guests have been shocked to find out that Airbnb considers anything below a 4.7 rating to be worthy of chastizing a host over, and that less than 4.8 will lose a host their Superhost status.

These were great guests  who had zero complaints, and said they had no idea- that they had rated other places they had stayed 4*s- places they liked and would happily book again. Airbnb tells them 4*s means Good, so they thought they were giving a rating the host would be pleased with.

For that reason, I personally wouldn't necessarily reject a future booking from a guest who didn't leave 5*s, if they were  otherwise good guests. What I would probably do is private message them after seeing how they rated, educating them a bit, and depending on how they responded, decide if I would risk hosting them again. If they said, " I'm so sorry, I had no intention of harming your listing. Thank you for letting me know- Airbnb doesn't tell guests any of that. We'd likely love to book with you again, so rest assured, we would keep this rating info in mind the next time" , I would take the chance on accepting a future booking from them. But that's just me. I know other hosts may not want to fuss around any further with guests who low rated because of some trivial issue.

[Chris1492]

@Sarah977  - all good points and thanks. Appreciate your input and time.

[John5097]

@Chris1492 After reviews are published the only option for guest or host is for the author of the review to contact ABB and request it be removed. Its a long shot and I haven't done it but a host could let a guest know this option is available after explaining how the reviews work for host. I also haven't tried to educate guest on the review star ratings, mostly because there is no where to fit it in, and I also feel that's something out of host control. I suspect that 5% of guest try and call CS to see if they can get a discount, then feel compelled to lower their review to justify. Sometimes I discover a two page list of suggestions from a guest, and don't connect that I would need to increase the rates and that the listing was accurate. Ayway, I think its just a part of hosting. You could try reaching out to guest again but would need to pharse it properly. If nothing else they would understand why you wouldn't want to host them again if they request to book.  

[John5097]

PS.. After looking at your listing this is most likely your outlier review. At some point everyone is going to get one. I remind myself not to let anything minor blow up and just focus on making every guest experience great stay, which appears what you are doing. 

[Huma0]

@John5097 

I find it kind of awkward trying to educate guests on the star ratings (although I know quite a few hosts do it). I do tell them about it if it naturally comes up in conversation. They are always shocked.

[John5097]

@Huma0 Most of the communication with my guest is with text so I try to keep it brief. My guide book has a lot of info on things to do, places to eat, so didn't want to include too much info there as its probably too long already. I'm sure if I had 5 listings that were all different I would take a different approach. And when I do chat with guest the topic of reviews hasn't come up, except that most guest let me know they really like it.