Guest reviews when they don't follow rules

[Anissa129]

I'm a new host and mostly have had great guests. But a few have not followed rules or check out procedures. I want to give them feedback, but am afraid if I do it before they've left me a review, it might trigger a negative review. I know they can't see my review until they've completed theirs, but many couples have 2 accounts and can find the review if they want to. Any advice on this, and also how to ensure people are actually reading your House Manual before they arrive?

[Shelley159]

Hi @Anissa129 

The reviews aren't published anywhere before both parties have completed their reviews (or the review window has closed). So it doesn't matter how many accounts someone has, there's no review to be seen until then (reviews can even be changed until they're published).

If you've read about retaliatory reviews, those happen when there's some form of friction between host and guest, for example a request for compensation or refusal of a refund. The guest may assume the review will be bad, but there's no way to see an unpublished review.

[Anissa129]

This is very helpful information - thank you so much!

[Daniel15557]

Hi Anissa, Shelley's exactly right on the review side — nothing's visible until you've both submitted or the window closes, so the two-accounts thing doesn't actually expose your review. Two things I'd add:

On giving feedback: use the private feedback note (the separate box only the guest sees) for the rule and checkout stuff — it's direct, and it never touches anyone's public rating. Keep the public review factual and calm. For a borderline guest, you can also wait until near the end of the 14-day window to post your honest review — by then they've often already reviewed you or won't bother, so you're not poking them early. And don't be afraid of fair, factual reviews; a calm "didn't follow checkout steps" helps the next host and reads as credible among your good ones.

On getting people to actually read the manual: most won't read a long one, so don't rely on it alone. Pull your 3-5 must-knows (check-in, parking, the checkout steps, any rule that really matters) into Airbnb's scheduled messages instead — a short one at booking, one the day before arrival, and a quick "checkout steps" note the morning they leave. Keep the manual itself short with the important bits first. Surfacing the key points at the right moment works far better than hoping they scroll the whole manual.

You're thinking about it the right way — protect the average while you're new, and let scheduled messages do the heavy lifting on rules.

[Anissa129]

Super helpful info, thank you so much for taking the time to reply to me. And thank you for the tip on scheduled messages - that's what I'll do! 

[Daniel8885]

Antes o Airbnb era muito tranquilo em relação a isso. Se o hóspede desrespeitasse as regras do Airbnb ou do host, e fizesse uma avaliação retaliatoria pelas tentativas e atitudes do host para contornar a situação, a avaliação era facilmente retirada. Recentemente tal postura do Airbnb mudou drasticamente. Tive um hóspede que atrasou o check-out por mais de 4 horas, tive que ser firme com ele, sem desrespeito ou ofensa. Obviamente ele não gostou, preferia ficar no apartamento sem pagar com base na chantagem velada comum da avaliação. Para minha surpresa, o Airbnb se recusou a retirar a avaliação retaliatoria do hóspede o que me gerou uma insegurança enorme com relação a parceria. Estou sem saber o que fazer e a quem pedir um socorro.

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Previously, Airbnb was very lenient regarding this. If a guest disregarded Airbnb's or host's rules and left a retaliatory review for the host's attempts to resolve the situation, the review was easily removed. Recently, Airbnb's stance has changed drastically. I had a guest who was over 4 hours late checking out, and I had to be firm with him, without being disrespectful or offensive. Obviously, he didn't like it and preferred to stay in the apartment without paying, resorting to the common veiled blackmail of reviews. To my surprise, Airbnb refused to remove the guest's retaliatory review, which has created enormous insecurity regarding the partnership. I don't know what to do or who to ask for help.

[Google translation added by OCM]

[Daniel15557]

@Daniel15557, that one is genuinely frustrating, and for what it is worth you handled the late checkout the right way by staying firm and polite. A few things that actually help here. Airbnb rarely removes a review just for being retaliatory anymore, but they will remove one that breaks the Review Policy, and extortion is the clause that matters. If anywhere in your message thread the guest tied their review to staying longer or not paying, that is your opening. Appeal again, quote those exact messages, and use the word extortion rather than retaliation, then ask for a senior agent. If it still stands, leave a calm public response under the review, short and factual, something like guest stayed several hours past checkout despite reminders, we resolved it politely. Future guests read that response far more than the review itself, and a composed reply quietly tells them you are the reasonable one. And the sting fades faster than it feels right now, a single firm review carries the most weight when your count is low, so the quickest real fix is banking a few more happy stays to pull your average and recency back up. Going forward keep everything inside Airbnb messages and use the Resolution Center for late checkout fees, that paper trail is what makes any future appeal actually stick.

[Anissa129]

I'm so sorry for that experience, and that you haven't received help from Airbnb. I've found all of my attempts at contacting customer service to be very frustrating. They don't usually ever understand the situation or what I'm asking (likely due to a language barrier), and they can't seem to give me answers or resolution to my issues. But I find this to be true of customer service for all large corporations now. It's terrible. I appreciate @Daniel15557 's idea of asking for a senior agent. Maybe they have more authority to do something.

[Ben6925]

I guess what you could do is type a code on the house rule pages and ask them to quote the code to ensure you know they have seen the page . As for writing the review, I always remind people that we are writing the review to product our host community so we can make a proper decision on whether to take on that booking.

If my guests arnt following rules I pop it in the chat so they can read it there but I out a smiley face next to it to soften the tone and start with “just a reminder in the house rules…” and then followed with “let me

Know if u guys need anything” 

We are also able to write a reply to there reviews which gives us the opportunity to respond to what they have said .  I often go through ChatGPT when im unsure about my responses just to keep it emotion free . 

I’ve had a guest arrive and she demanded a refund because she thought it was the white place and not just a room. Becuase I decline she made some awful comments about my place . I had to stay emotion free and checked with ChatGPT that it was kept professional.  

[Anissa129]

Really good ideas @Ben6925 , thank you!

[Elcira1]

Hola Anissa. Simplemente no leen. No hay manera. Mi familia ha sido anfitriona durante mas de 30 años. Y si bien, por suerte la mayoria de los huespedes si se interesan en conocer el funcionamiento y respetar las reglas de lugar, muchos otros simplemente no. Nosotros hemos decidido siempre mantener la comunicacion por medio oficial (en este caso solo por airbnb) y repetirles las reglas incansablemente (por ejemplo nosotros no ofrecemos estacionamiento, y nos hemos tomado el trabajo de escribirlo 3 veces en distintos lugares del anuncio, y ademas se los recordamos a medida que vamos interactuando antres de que llegue la estadia, asi y todo se quejan de que no tenemos parking privado), pero para resguardo de nosotros YA SE LO HEMOS DICHO EN REITERADAS OCACIONES, asi, la mayoria de las veces, cuando escriben una mala evaluacion por este del parking, en la mayoria de los casos hemos logrado se elimine.  

Por otro lado, nosotros enviamos indicaciones por el chat y tambien en el alojamiento hay carteles indicativos,  y se nos han quejado diciendo que hay demasiados carteles. 

Tomalo con calma y no lo tomes personal. 

Un saludo

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Google Translation added by Community Manager:  

Hi Anissa. They simply don't read. There's no way around it. My family has been hosting for over 30 years. And whilst, thankfully, the majority of guests do take an interest in understanding how things work and respecting the house rules, many others simply don't. We have always decided to keep communication through official channels (in this case, only through Airbnb) and to repeat the rules to them tirelessly (for example, we don't offer parking, and we've gone to the trouble of writing it three times in different places on the listing, and we also remind them as we interact before the stay begins, and even so they complain that we don't have private parking), but for our own protection, WE HAVE ALREADY TOLD THEM ON NUMEROUS OCCASIONS, and so, most of the time, when they leave a bad review about the parking situation, in the majority of cases we've managed to have it removed.

On the other hand, we send instructions via the chat and there are also informational signs in the accommodation, and we've had complaints saying there are too many signs.

Take it easy and don't take it personally.

Best regards 

[Anissa129]

@Elcira1 Wow, that's frustrating that you have rules in so many places, but they still don't read or follow them. This is good information to know. I also have them in my listing and written in the property on a chalkboard. I'm thinking I'll also send some automated messages before, during and after their stay. Great reminder to not take it personally. Thank you!

[Kamisha4]

This is such a common challenge. What helped me was setting expectations automatically before every checkout — guests receive an automated message 24 hours before checkout reminding them of checkout procedures and house rules. Since I started doing this my rule compliance improved dramatically and awkward review situations dropped significantly.

[Anissa129]

This is great, Kamisha! I've just made some auto messages, so I'll see if that helps with the issue.