Again with Location

[Anthony608]

Yet another guest rating down my residence for "Location".  This guest stayed for one night and then complained in the review that their drive had been too far to where they wanted to go in downtown Washington DC.  Also, in private feedback, went a little more in depth about how they had been mislead, thought my residence was in Washington, and also complained about some things in the house that we had no idea to what they referring (they said nothing during their stay).  I think this was someone looking for problems.

I have had some other hosts on this forum state that I should change my location in the listing and clearly say I am not in Washington, but that to me also makes no sense.  First of all, guests should know where they are staying and this has been a problem for many years of guests not reading listings, and then getting mad when the house is too far from what they wanted to do.  The area I live in (Silver Spring) is also actually a very large unincorporated region in southern Montgomery County, Maryland.  It includes all the suburbs and the Silver Spring city itself.  In the past, people have said I change my location to "Leisure World" or some other neighborhood name, but these are not registered cities, towns, or anything like that, but rather simply names of neighborhoods in Silver Spring.

So, back to this person.  Like I said, I think they were looking for issues.  What makes it ironic is that they stated it took them about a half hour to get to DC which is actually a very good commute.  Indeed, driving just ten minutes from where I live, a person can see the US Capitol at the end of New Hampshire Avenue and its a straight shot from there.  That's a reason why my residence has currently a fairly high property value since its considered "close" to DC.

Some of these guests are just crazy.

[Emilia42]

@Anthony608 

A local host in my area has the text below written in her listing description. It won't mean anything to you but I think it does a great job of giving the guest a good idea of travel times. Maybe you should create something like this for your surrounding area?

We are located:
* Exactly 1 hour and 1 minute away from Acadia National Park
* 30 minutes to historical Fort Knox site and Penobscot Narrows Observation Tower
* 7 minutes drive to Stephen King's house
* 6 minutes/1.9 miles to Hollywood Casino and Cross Insurance Center
* 4 minutes drive to Eastern Maine Medical Center (EMMC)
* 5 minutes to St. Joseph's Hospital, and 6 minutes to Acadia Hospital.
* 21 minutes/10 miles from the University of Maine's Orono campus
* 10 minutes/3 miles from Husson University.
* Eastern Maine Community College is 8 minutes and 3 miles.
* 21 minutes to Hermon Mountain skiing
* 1 hr 45 mins away from Calais/to Canada and the Canadian border
* 12 minutes to Bangor International Airport
* 8 minutes/2.9 miles to Kohl's/Old Navy/Ulta shopping plaza in Bangor, which is right near all the other shopping!

[Anthony608]

@Emilia42@Jessica-and-Henry0 - Its a good idea but I imagine 90% of the guests would not read a lengthy list of distances or pay attention, since some don't even look at the general map when they book the room.

As it turns out, I will be modifying my listing somewhat to reflect a little bit better where the home is.  But, I still (and will always) think that guests who say things like the home could have been closer to something (and this is my fault because it was not) or mark it down because it wasn't across the street from where they wanted to be, are pretty much just being jerks.  There will never be pleasing of such people.  Also, like I said originally, people who have made an issue about location are literally less than 2% of all guests I have ever had.  Not so bad.

[Ute42]

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@Anthony608  

I've read Your new wording on where You're located and I think it's fine.

Besides that, every listing on airbnb has a map in the advertisement and by zooming out I can clearly see that You are defenitely outside of Washington. Why can't other people see that? What's so hard to operate a google maps map?

People nowadays can operate facebook, twitter, instagram and all those social networks out there. I think if a guest can't spot the location of an airbnb-place s/he's booking, it is their fault.

[Anonymous]

@Ute42  I agree 100% - this is why Location rating is so ridiculous. Not only is the map location clearly visible, but for most US locations you also have Street View, Walkscore, and countless other ways of researching whatever you need to know about the location. Anyone who is not satisfied with their location choice with all this data available has only themselves to blame. 

Caveat:  people in the process of booking a trip - especially infrequent travelers - tend to overestimate the tolerance they'll have for little inconveniences such as a long commute once they're actually on the trip. People are in a lot of denial about how irritable they can actually be, and the haze of nostalgia for journeys past makes us forget how stressful the trips were. I try to prepare people by being as upfront as possible about the potential points of irritation ("my Kiez has street parking, but you might spend half an hour finding a spot...oh, and cars are often set on fire overnight.")

[Anthony608]

@Ute42 @Anonymous - Thank you, I think I did a good job pointing out positive aspects, emphasizing we are close to a subway, and then clearly stating commuting times.  I also stress, only 3% of all guests I've ever had have made an issue about my distance to Washington DC.  Most simply just want a place to stay for the night and not cause problems.