A Dishonest and rude review is OK!

[Gerrit41]

Hello everybody!

Quick background: I own a house and am renting 2 rooms out. The box that I have pets is also ticked in both listings.

A guest did a booking without reading anything about the listing. So obviously, he did not rent a house and didn't expect my cat. Also they were 3 people instead of 2.

They left after a few days and then came the surprise! 1-star review everywhere!!!

- I could prove with pictures and my current guest who was already there that he was lying!

- Saying the house is full of **bleep** and that it's inhuman to live in (that is not considered as profanity or insult to myself and my other guest)

- Putting 1-star under communication and value because he is allergic to cats is relevant (even if ticked in the listings)

So, because the guest made a mistake, I have to pay for it?

Airbnb is treating me like a complete idiot, anyone readying the review understands straight away what happened!

MOST IMPORTANTLY, LYING IS NOT AGAINST ANY AIRBNB RULES!

So basically, I will not be a Superhost anymore for the next 365 days. Impossible with a 1-star review.

Best regards and all my well wishes during this pandemic.

Gerrit

[Gerrit41]

Good idea!

But whatever you do, at some point, everyone will get a 1* guest.

 I feel bad restricting bookings only to recommended guests, but there you go 🤷‍♂️

[Anonymous]

@Gerrit41  I don't agree with your tactics there. In my experience, "recommended guests" is a totally meaningless metric. The worst guests I've ever had have come with positive reviews, and some of the best ones have had no reviews. Case in point:  had you not deleted your last guest's review, he would have gone to the next host as a "recommended guest." So you see how shortsighted this is?

You seem really stuck on doing Instant Book, but if you turn it off there is plenty you can do (as @Sarah977  and I tried to explain at length before) to improve your quality of guests. The people who will appreciate your home and hosting style - and your cats - will convey that to you in their initial correspondence. As long as your listing is accurate, they'll be very happy. The ones who think your home is nothing special will just instant Book it for convenience, and maybe regret it.

You've gotten great reviews so far, but your home and hosting style are not for all tastes. Obviously you care about your ratings, so that means making sure you lean into your niche and avoid the ambivalent guests.

[Gerrit41]

I will give it a try. I’m not going to change my whole approach because of 1 person. 

One of the reason of my success is you get what you see. No professional pictures, no being a fake person. Guests appreciate that and am still in contact with some of them.

 I used to worked for Hilton hotels.

Everybody have their style. I’m honest and true to myself. There is no fake facade. 

[Helen350]

@Gerrit41

 I can see your review of Alessandro has been removed from his profile, so future hosts no longer have an OK-Good review from you to think he's good!

- The downside of this is that his future hosts now can't click his photo on your review to cross reference the nasty over-reaction to his disappointment in your place! 

Your response to his bad review of you is still there.... (I wouldn't worry, I've seen worse!)

[Gerrit41]

Yes I asked Airbnb to delete my review.

They told me my public response was also deleted. I’ll check again tomorrow.

I also uploaded a picture of my cats as suggested by a host.

[Linda108]

Hi @Gerrit41   Your post has generated some great feedback, I think  and your willingness to consider the feedback reflects positively on you as a host. You are right in that sooner or later a  host will get an unwarranted review (1-3).  If you are in this business for the long run, that experience becomes a catalyst for adjustment and learning.  While I applaud  your honest approach of you get what you see, I would add that a good goal is to facilitate a guest experience to be you get what you expect plus more. Then the job of the host is to ensure there is a good match between guest expectations and your listing.  This entails an accurate listing (including both the description and the search elements) and the host willingness to take the extra step to communicate important factors.

Frankly I amazed you got any action out of Air BNB, which might be related to your long standing on the platform.  Many hosts report the lack of attention to anything other than reservations, at least for the time being.

[Gerrit41]

Thanks for your kind words.

I used to work for Hilton, so got experience.

When I said you get what you see, I meant it in a good way. Pictures are not tarted up, it is as in a picture. I am laid back and honest. When I say I care about my guests, I mean it. Nothing is superficial.

Wherever I work, people loved my honesty.

My house was built in the 50’s and last renovated 20 years ago. So it’s not a 5* place and I don’t pretend it is. Normally my average is around 4.9* and I couldn’t ask for more.

There is an issue with the Superhost valuations. If you have 1*, then you need 20 x 5*! They should exclude the best and worse to make it fair. So basically, I’m toast for 365 days.

[Gerrit41]

I wanted to thank everybody for your kind input!

[Ross648]

Hello Gerrit, 

You have had excellent advice in this thread.    I had a similar "guest" who asked for a full refund after leaving and then wrote a revenge review full of obvious lies with the lowest rating.  For AirBnB,  lies or inaccuracies are the just the "guest's perception."   They have no incentive to correct the program's algorithm.  

It was helpful for me to follow these issues on the Community Board.   Since Superhost status is so skewed towards guests, it is something that I no longer think about.    I added my guest house to Vrbo, since AirbNb makes it foolish for any host to be loyal to its program alone, you might do the same.  

How nice for you to live close to the "via Alpina" trail network -- I have done parts and hope to do the entire walk over the next few years.  

[Gerrit41]

Hello!

Well at some point, they will have to review things if they want to keep their hosts.

 I did some UBER and their evaluation system is much better.

Yes, I am very grateful living in such a beautiful area!

[Sarah977]

@Ross648 You can't list home-shares, which is what Garrit has, on VRBO. They only accept entire places, not shared. There are very few platforms which support home-share listings.

[Ross648]

Ah, sorry you can't go on Vrbo, Gerrit.   

Try not to think of the rating categories, they are skewed against the hosts and AirBnB is indifferent to the problem.