Bad guest - how to review?

[Garrett47]

Guest left the house a wreck, smoked tons of cannabis inside, put burns in the sheets, etc. She left me a review. In my review do I detail out how bad she was or just say "This guest would be better suited in a hotel environment" and let is go?

[Sarah977]

@Garrett47  Personally, I don't like the "Better suited to a hotel" because it doesn't really tell me anything except that the host wouldn't have them back because they were objectionable in some way. While what this guest did wouldn't be acceptable to any host, some things that hosts might object to aren't necessarily what other hosts would. 

For instance, a home-share host might find a guest objectionable because they were totally unsociable, or socially inept, or downright unfriendly, which doesn't work when you are sharing your home. Or they took over the shared kitchen for hours so the host had no space to prepare their own meal. But a host with an entire place listing wouldn't be affected by that.

That doesn't mean you have to go into excruciating detail, and if you mention drugs, that could cause the review to be removed.

But something like "House was left in a disastrous state, bedding was ruined, house rules were disregarded." tells the story without getting into the gritty details.

If the guest is local and you fear some sort of physical retaliation, then "Guest stayed 4 days" tells other hosts you had nothing good to say and the guest would never see that as a bad review. 

There's nothing wrong with "Better suited to a hotel", if you feel more comfortable with that, but I like to read a bit more about why.

[Danielle681]

Totally agree on the part you mentioned about not going into detail. For us after having over 40 5 star reviews, you are just bound to get that one guest and group (with no reviews) that just doesn't treat your home with love and care (always wanting a discount on everything). With our situation, you see the red flags in the early; so sometimes going above and beyond for guests such as these does not turn out well for the host as it relates to recuperating damage losses. In the end we were left with damaged doors, cabinets were made, they left the property in a complete disaster, damage to the machine, they didn't want to leave the villa at the check out policy as stated and agreed to by them, certain things in the villa were found which are prohibited, they were extremely offensive when asked to leave... just to name a few.

The funny part was they complained about everything and said it was so bad an experience and then get this... turned around and extended their stay by making a second booking. Whilst we addressed the one issue with the 1 new ac unit not working (no fault of ours and the developers were working around the clock to find the issue) it was fixed, 2 of them were offered to be put up in another villa (given the ac unit was being fixed) and they refused this more than 3x. 

I agree with Sarah - keep it brief, to the point without the nitty gritty details. In addition, leave a brief response to the review they left on your home - people will pick sense from nonsense. Don't let not so good guests deter you from renting your space. Stick to your standards. Best wishes!

[Ann72]

@Garrett47  The only thing wrong with "better suited to a hotel" is that she isn't.  Unless it's the Hotel California.

Can you just say it straight out briefly - "The guest left the house in a very messy condition.  I don't recommend her to other hosts"?