Unfair Guest Covid concern review

[Christine3254]

I had a guest recently who marked me way down in the 'clean' category because he could hear one of us coughing (at the back of the house is family area and front of the house is air bnb completely separated and private by lockable barn doors) We had zero in person contact with them as we have a smart lock check in and are completely isolated in the back half of the house.

The guest was worried the coughing might indicate Covid and privately said they would have cancelled and asked for full refund had they known/were not a short stay and were 'tired'. They commented that being able to hear us in the back made them feel as though they did not have complete privacy. What does a guest expect when they are clearly renting a family air bnb in-home where the hosts live? We are not noisy folks but have no control over lingering cough.

I have since written to each following guest explaining that one of us has a cold with lingering cough, we have taken covid tests and they were negative. I thanked the reviewing guest for bringing this to our attention and promised we would proactively communicate with following guests should one of us be ill. I also apologized for any concerns they had over hearing our lingering cold-cough. Yes, a live and learn situation with harsh consequence that does not reflect clearly the issue, so I tried to reflect it in my response.

Seems unfair that one guest can shoot a host because the guest did not communicate their concern so we could have assuaged their fears. It really had nothing to do with cleanliness--I follow Covid cleaning to a tee and pride myself in an ultra clean place. 

*sigh*

[Linda108 · Accepted solution]

Obviously your listing is appreciated as the ratings reflect.  I think your response to the one review that mentioned the ability to hear the hosts was unnecessarily detailed regarding covid.  Barn doors are know to be less noise reducing but look great.  Shared homes with the host present will always have some element of noise travelling.  I have a private room and have provided a white noise machine if a guest wants to block noise from the rest of the house.  

Consider in your welcome message when someone books, that there is a potential to hear each other and if that is a problem for the guest, then the guest can cancel with no penalty.  I find most guests are aware of that possibility except those who never have used Air BNB.

[Christine3254]

Thank you--wise words. I do indeed have a white noise machine both in the guest quarters and at the barn doors on our side. Thanks for taking time to answer 🙂