A guest left a bad and wrongful review based on details not specified my booking

[Bisoye0]

Hi community, I am a very frustrated as a new host. A guest left a negative review/ratings due to the guest's assumption of the property. No where did I state there was parking, a gym. I even went as far as answering the guest's question at pre-booking about the street parking. I did claim body wash but the cleaners didn't refill(I get this).

"Please note there is no private parking, only street parking. Parking on premises means street parking. There is also no gym and it takes 30 mins to go downtown, not 15mins. Also, no body wash when it said there will be." 

My response to the review

"Hey ***, As we shared with you in the messages before you checked in and in our listing description, "Free and easy street parking is available". It also states that "there are 2 gyms within walking distance that usually offer day passes". West Seattle Bridge is randomly under construction with hopes to be done by July 2022(City Counsel website). Apologies, we will try to update the duration as we hear about the construction. Thanks for the feedback. We would love to host you again."

I reached out to Airbnb support a few times and they said they can't do anything about it. I don't think this is fair as I didn't claim to have parking or a gym, I event clarified at pre-booking that we don't have those things. How is this typically handled? Seems unfair that my ratings and superhost are being affected after I took the time to finetune my listing and answered pre-booking questions.

[Huma0]

@Bisoye0 

It's super frustrating when guests complain about stuff that was clearly stated on your listing or complain about amenities that you never offered. 

However, even though you will still occasionally get guests like this (who also ignore the reminders you message about these things), you can avoid this happening too often by being really accurate in your listing. Even if you message info to the guests after they booked, that doesn't matter if that info was not specified on the listing before they booked.

Firstly, remove 'gym' as an amenity. Having gyms in the local area that guests have to pay for is nothing like having a gym on the premises so listing it as an amenity is misleading. There is a really inexpensive gym that also does short term passes (one day, three days etc.) only a minute's walk away from me, but I would never dream of listing gym as an amenity. Unless it is in your listing or building, do not include something as an amenity. That's like saying breakfast is included when you mean the guests can buy breakfast at a nearby cafe.

I don't know if you have amended your listing since this review was booked, or if the guest just didn't read properly. However, this guest seemed under the impression that there was parking 'on site' rather than in the street. Did your listing specify 'on site parking' when they booked?

There is also another guest that mentions that the parking was really difficult. Maybe they were rubbish at parking (I don't know. I am quite good at parallel parking so that wouldn't bother me!) but don't specify that it's 'easy' if guests have already told you it isn't. Just specify that there is free parking on the street.

I see you have mentioned that journey times can be affected due to the construction work. A lot of guests do not read the fine print, so adjust the general journey times in your listing to reflect this until the construction is done.

The body wash shouldn't be a deal breaker, but I guess if a guest was annoyed about the other stuff. However, if you are unable to go to the listing yourself to double check everything is in order before guests check in, perhaps provide your cleaners with a 'check list' to make sure stuff like that is covered.

[Bisoye0]

Thanks so much for all the information. I actually thought I removed the gym a while back but thanks for pointing that out. I like the idea of underselling to lower expectations while still showcasing the best of the listing. Good advice. 

[Huma0]

@Bisoye0 

PS Your listing looks really nice and very well equipped. One thing I have learnt though is that, when it comes to happy guests and great reviews, the trick is to undersell and over deliver. Of course, it's a balance because you want to sell the listing enough to attract bookings! So, just be mindful not to exaggerate (e.g. the gym amenity) so as to manage guest expectations.