Bad star ratings

[Cynthia798]

Hello,

I am having an issue with my last qualification. The guest gave me 1 star in all cleanliness and in communication!!! It’s the first time for me that something like this happens.

I am particularly careful with the cleanliness (much more so now) and i even leave cleaning supplies for the guests to use and a welcome package with some food essentials. Also, I answered all his messages within minutes but when I wrote, he either didn’t wrote back or took days to answer. On one occasion I had to ask the person I have there for help to please reach out to the guest and mentioned that I had wrote to him so I could get an answer.

On top of that, he left me with an electricity bill of over 300 dollars that he said he was not going to pay. During his stay I had an issue with a hose for the water heater that broke, but I resolve the issue within 24h.

I think this rating is because of that issue and the electricity cost. But now I have a 3 star rating affecting me and his review was: “good square meters”.

What to do in this type of situation??

[Jeremy599]

Hi Cynthia!  @Cynthia798 @I am in the same boat as you

I just experienced something similar with a guest. I wish I had something to say positive. I created a open case with Airbnb support. The case manager did not help me at all. I provided pictures of the place. 

I am going to open another case and see what happens. That's all I know to do. 

Maybe someone can spread some light.

[Cynthia798]

Hi Jeremy,

@Jeremy599 he even requested the cleaning lady in the middle of his reservation and I sent her over without overcharging.

And for the electrical bill, I contacted AirBnb support in the middle of the reservation because when I gave the guest the calculation for his energy consumption and the value that he had already used, he refused it and said in that moment he was not going to pay. He even implied that I was charging him a value that did not correspond for which I shared the prices upon kw consumption according to the electrical company because is not a fixed rate. He had the air conditioners running basically 24/7. 

At that moment support explained to me how I could put a claim through airbnb for that value explaining the situation and with photos of the conversation if possible. Then, reading in another forum a similar case, they mentioned that sometimes is worst because the guest is still giving you a review when you need to do it and they can take that against you. Well, I didn’t do it and the guest still gave a bad rating and for the thing that I am must careful with.

[Anonymous]

@Cynthia798  If you want to dispute the review with Airbnb, you might be able to do so on the grounds that it doesn't meet the requirement of relevancy. But honestly, I wouldn't bother. Guests can't see the individual star ratings, and it's still the case that 100% of your reviews are positive. 

The electricity bill is probably a dead end unless your listing and House Rules explicitly state usage restrictions. 

[Cynthia798]

Hi @Anonymous, thanks for your feedback. It does states that the electricity is upon real usage. This is something I discuss as well before pre-approving a reservation, which I did with this guest. I even warned him of the high usage mid stay and he continued to use air conditioning basically 24/7. I give guest the meter marker upon check in, a mid use follow up for their acknowledgement and then upon 1 day before check out the total calculation. It’s also the first time I have such a high energy usage and then the negative of payment.

Good to know that other guests cannot view the individual ratings, but still bothers me such a bad ratings when I know it’s not the reality.