Beware of guest will leave bad unfair review

[Naz275]

Hi All, 

I wonder if anyone can shed some light on incidents like one I experienced.  I'm a fairly new host. I hosted 5 guests with 5 star reviews, every single one of them were happy.  Then I hosted two young girls from Korea who had poor english, communication was challenging. I'm not surprised they left me a bad 3 star poor review. This is because I asked them twice not to leave the heating on and windows wide open when they go out as well as lights on.  On one occasion I woke up 5am from the sound of them blow drying their hair and I politely asked them to close the door as we are sleeping.

In their review they say host is sensitive and gave them a telling off which is false . Should I never ever say anything to guests in the fear of a bad review in future? I hate the thought of having to tread on thin ice in my own home. 

A Korean friend tells me their review is quite rude and immature with a complaint that it was really cold. 

During their stay I gave them throws which were left on the floor. Hot water bottles and two plug in heaters which they left on all the time. 

They go out leaving the bedroom door open and it is literally like a sauna with the temperature reading 26-28 degrees.  Hardly cold?? I noticed they washed clothes and had them hanging in the bed room so clearly they were drying their clothes and not as cold as they said.  ( I offered them use of washing machine when they asked). 

As for a 3 stars for 'value'..that just makes me laugh..they paid £15 per night, that in London is dirt cheap considering all the amenities available. 

How can I respond to their review without it affecting future guests opinions of me?  

My rating is now 4.7 so I can kiss superhost good bye!

Such a stressful experience. Lesson learnt is to up my price.   

[Anthony608]

The one time I had a guest fragrantly leave a window open on a freezing day, when the heat was running, I sent them a message that there was a problem in their room and a maintenance man needed to briefly enter in order to fix it.  I didn't elaborate on what the problem was, but when they answered we simply went into the room and closed the window.  I also had in the original message that if I didn't hear from them by a certain time, the maintenance man would need to enter regardless.  I probably would have called them had they not responded, but it didn't come to that since they replied right away.

As for the 3 star review, just bite it and move on.  I had a VERY unfair 3 star review as well about a year ago, the only one ever in my hosting career, and now its been negated by all the positive reviews I get from other guests.

[Helen3]

I'm sorry you had this difficult experience with these guests. @Naz275  

Being a host means that we have guests staying who we don't share a language with so it's up to us as the business owner to put systems in place to ease communication.

what temperatures do you keep your home at that meant you had to provide the guests with additional heaters, hot water bottles  and throws?   (I've never had to do this in England in over five years of hosting) 

The fact you chose to charge £15 a night for a room in London when the going rate is much higher was your choice rather than the guests.

where you don't share a common language there are now quite a few translation apps you can use to help you communicate with your guests and explain house rules - such as no late night noise or please dry your clothes using dry/clothes horse provided please do not dry clothes in your room as so show guests around your home and explain how things work.

Why would you assume you would lose your SH because of one poor review ?

[Dale711]

Hi @Naz275,

I am so sorry to hear about your experience and understand you’re disappointed.   

Were you referring to the review?

It's getting out of your hands! Unmanageable by the host.

Recently, I have two 1* star review, ‘ the sh#t% place,’

because I advise the guest ‘Kindly not to smoke in the room”.

Another one,  “ the sh#t% place’ review cause by I informed the guest, ‘Please not to turn on phone loudspeakers after midnight, be mindful of another guest in the shared dormitory room.

I contact Airbnb and doubt ‘ the sh#t% place’ are violated the housing standards?

They responded they couldn’t find the reviews against the policy.

What should I do?

It’s out of my hand again!

Hopeless and unfairness.

As a link below,
How do I remove a review I disagree with?

https://www.airbnb.com/help/article/32/can-i-remove-or-respond-to-a-review-i-disagree-with

Nevertheless, your guest still better than mine!

They leave you 3 * stars and 5 *stars, Check in and cleanliness 

I received ‘ ALL’ by 1 * star.

Happy Hosting!

[Dale711]

The revenge review by inform not to make noise by midnight in the dorm roomThe pay back review for advice not to smoking in the shared room