Careless guests and honest reviews

[Gabrielle84]

We are new (2 years) to Airbnb.  Most of our guests are perfectly lovely.  We made the mistake of making the place waaaaay to nice.  Its in the lower floor of our home, and my husband and I are designers and woodworkers.  There is beautiful carpentry, expensive linens and nice kitchen ware.  My last guest left a bag of apples on a built in wood entry table.  The apples must have been almost rotten, because the next day, I found the bag, and the apples were almost liquid.  The wood top is ruined.  We will need to pull it (taking apart the trim holding it in place) and refinish it, as well as repairing the trim and repainting that.  She was a 5 night stay.  Realistically, this will cost at least $800-$1000 to have a carpenter come to fix.  A couple of weeks ago, another 7 day stay, a woman and her BF cooked some fish.....I noticed the smell of rotting fish outside about 2 days after her arrival, and subsequently came upon it in the garbage.  Not bagged, just a rotten fish on top of the bags.  Upon checkout, I found the kitchen EXTREMELY messy.  Gloves (from cutting fish...?) about 5 pairs, were tossed about the kitchen, smelling of fish very badly.  Food left all over counters and grease coating most of the kitchen.  Then I opened the refrigerator......full of food.  The fish smell was horrendous.  We spent about 2 days trying to clean all this up.  We had to move the stove to clean all the grease.  Took the refrigerator apart to try to remove the smell, but it persists.  We will likely need to buy another new refrigerator.  They also ruined a sauce pan, and put all of the wooden bowls, spoons and knives in the DW.  There is a sign RIGHT ON THE DW, asking not to.  I feel unjustified charging the last girl $1000 for leaving a bag of apples on the table.  I honestly think some people don't know any better, and likely their own home reflects this.  How are we to know as BNB owners?   I think the best way to know, is if folks are honest in writing their reviews.  I notice that some folks reserve leaving a bad review for the absolute worst.  I don't understand this logic.  I am honest on my reviews.  If I feel someone is careless and destructive, I want to warn the next host.  If they don't come back to stay because of it, all the better.  Fish girl, for instance, was outed in her review about her kitchen habits.   Curious how others handle these situations.

[Ann72]

@Gabrielle84  I and a lot of hosts here agree with you that bad or careless guests should be called out.  I've had to do that twice in the last six months to guests who were nice to interact with, which made it a little harder.  But other hosts need to be given a heads up.  Sometimes you get guests who are not openly terrible but who are perhaps more demanding than necessary or who have a certain entitled edge or something else you can't put your finger on in a review, and for those I leave a neutral review, such as So-and-so stayed five days.

I love your place and have to ask - is any place "too nice"?  I don't think so - I think one can only say "too nice for the price"!  Although yours is a basement apartment, it's light and beautiful and has gym and garden access, so if I were in your shoes I would raise my price in part to compensate for unexpected bad guests, rare as they are.

[Gabrielle84]

Hi Ann72, thanks for your comments and suggestions.  I have been bouncing around a bit on price.  I find that when my price is higher, I get better quality guests.  Its been a little touch and go with Covid, we lowered our price a bit to increase bookings.  Lesson learned.  Regarding "Too Nice"....We have always stayed at Airbnbs prior to creating our own.  We added things we missed while traveling.  Nice knives, wooden salad bowls, heated bathroom floors.  The floors down there are rift and quartered white oak.  So, when fish lady left some of her fish cast offs in the paper bag on the floor, it left a stain that cannot be removed.  I guess I see why many of the places we have stayed have inexpensive knives, plastic salad bowls and linoleum floors.  Most of my guests appreciate the "nice things" and treat them well.  But it just takes one bag of bad apples to ruin a wood table top, lol!

[Ann72]

@Gabrielle84  Ugh, people with PHT (poor home training, my mother called it) are our enemy!

My Airbnbs are also decorated and equipped as a reaction to places I’ve rented in the past.  I don’t want to live with cheap crap and can’t ask my guests to do so either.

A lot of hosts have learned the same lesson in the past year!  But back to what you believe is best for your place 🙂 - a gorgeous spot that anyone would be lucky to stay in.  If they can’t afford it, that is not your concern.  How often have we all had an inquiry from a discount seeker, only to get a booking at the full price after we turn them away?  That’s the lesson I try to keep in mind.

[Yasmine82]

@Gabrielle84 HI! So I have found the same thing . My price is def higher than what is around in the Hudson valley. BUT I'm close to EVERYTHING. The house is spotless and , fyi I pay 240 a night to stay at a hotel with my daughter for dance comps with taxes and surcharges.  SO I keep my price close to 300 to try to get a more appreciative person. My 20 yr old son said, " mom I have stayed at crappy hotels with my gf for 250 a night. And you have to worry about bed bugs and no privacy and walking thought the hotel to get outside ... If you don't price it higher your going to get people who don't care. " PS YOUR PLACE IS BEUTIFUL 

[Gabrielle84]

Yasmine82, your place is beautiful!   I def think you are dead on with price.   Also, hotels don’t offer a full kitchen, drive up parking and total privacy.   You get so much more.   I noticed when I first started out, Airbnb is alway suggesting I lower my price.   I ignore that now, and am using a pricing app that keeps me where I want to be, just above my comps.   

[John5097]

Post got wiped out when editing. ?

[J-Renato0]

@John5097 

I do not know if it was your case.

If you edit the post too many times, the system blocks it.

It is what I know about this situation.

However I do not know precisely the number of times the poster is allowed to edit its post.

[Sarah977]

@Ann72  " I love your place and have to ask - is any place "too nice"? "

I think that while we all want to present a nice place, there are certain practical considerations when creating a space to str. If surfaces are easily damaged, for instance, you can be assured they will be at some point.

Even things which are sturdy, guests can manage to damage, even if they aren't destructive type guests. My private room/bath has terracotta tile floors, which are pretty indestructible, yet a guest dripped something from the bed to the bathroom sink that ate the finish off and left stains I can't remove.

It just seems a lot less stressful to try to have less things that can be thoughtlessly wrecked, requiring expensive repairs, than to make it "too nice".

[Ann72]

@Sarah977  You missed my point, but you make practical points that are perfectly valid.

[Michelle1851]

@Gabrielle84 your place is beautiful, just the kind of place I would love to stay.  I wonder if you could put a glass top on your beautiful woodwork to protect it from careless guests.  From my previous career, I noticed that some people are naturally careless, and I  had to make many adjustments to protect things.  But somethings are simple, like providing coasters, glass tops, rug runners and cleaning supplies in an obvious spot and setting expectations,  just assume people don't know how to take care of things and those that do won't be offended.  Seriously I would love to stay in your place.

[Anonymous]

@Gabrielle84  I don't think "too nice" is an issue - you guys have a great design sensibility and it's wonderful that you put your skills and creativity into the guest space. The tile work in your shower is just exquisite. 

But when you're renting a place out to a succession of strangers, durability should never be sacrificed for beauty.  We have this expression "guest-proofing," where you try to engineer your space in such a way that anticipates human error. It doesn't mean you have to make your house a padded cell with plastic furniture; you just want to make sure that a guest's moment of carelessness isn't going to cost more than either of you can afford. 

As for the review - one reason I wish we could get rid of star ratings is that it sets up this counterproductive false dichotomy between the "good" and "bad" review. Sometimes the reality is a mix of the good and bad, and the best thing you can do is lay out the relevant facts so that others can make an informed decision. Maybe a host with lots of delicate and expensive furnishings would decline this guest, but an in-home host like @Sarah977  would be more confident that they could intervene before damage like this could occur.

[Gabrielle84]

Hi Andrew, thanks for your comment and compliments.  I did all the tile work myself : )

I agree on the star ratings.   I currently have 5 stars, but am waiting on someone who didn’t like my brand of coffee to put a dent in it eventually.  I’ve left one “bad” review.   It was for fish girl.   I was honest.  She communicated, mostly followed the rules (besides check out - removing food) but I docked her a couple of stars, and mentioned the state she left our kitchen.   

[Lloid0]

Hi im Lloid, i have been a host since April 2019 so I'm fairly new to hosting, but in my experiance I've realised that low prices will attract the kind to guests you really do not want, the summer of 2019 was fine in general but did have my fair share of people who just did not give a s**t, i don't buy in to this "some people are naturally careless", in my view theres good guests and bad guests, people who care, and people who don't, i had a guest in summer 2019 she booked for one guest for one night and i spoke to her prior to her check in and she seemed absolutely fine, shortly after our phone call i was on my way to the airport for my summer holiday and my friend was looking after the property while i was away, arriving at my holiday destination late and being an hour in front of uk time i woke up to my phone ringing it was my friend who was looking after my property, i instinctively knew something was wrong, he proceeded on FaceTime to show me the state of my cottage, a hole had been kicked in to the kitchen wall, most glasses were broken along with plates, a mirror in the bedroom, they had been smoking cannabis and empty booze bottles everywhere, i was devastated and almost 3000 miles away, i had to organise a emergency decorator, my friend replaced all the items and cleaned up , the following guests were very understanding about having to check in later than advertised and were equally understanding of the smell of paint, i phoned the girl to find out what went on in my cottage and to tel her she would have to pay for the damage, i got such a shock at the abuse she gave me, I've never heard a young girl swear so much, a far cry from the person i had spoken to just a day before, needless to say she never paid a penny towards repairs, so i had to warn other hosts of her behaviour, but this left me open to a false review and that was the most upsetting part of the whole situation, to have someone who has damaged your property, paid nothing towards damage costs then leaves a false review, i also had a couple who had a curry fight in my bathroom, these people were also hosts, so i found that particularly  disrespectful , so  2020 i put my prices up considerably, it made no difference to my bookings at all and i never had one bad guest,  one thing that needs changing is the ability to warn other hosts about bad guests without being exposed, because a host will be reluctant to leave an honest bad review of a guest in fear of having a bad review left in revenge, i also think hosts need more support if his\her property is seriously damaged, 

[Anonymous]

@Lloid0   Wait... a curry fight in the bathroom?