Dishonest and untrue guest review

[Yulia107]

**

Is this another typical Airbnb weaknesses?

I really dont think Airbnb really follow their own review policies.

So if guest was giving one star review without staying, 

disappointed because of their own booking mistake, expect entire unit while they booked private room,

leaving host vulnerable to dishonest and untrue review,

the guest just gave "b" review, does this violates 3. Reviews should be relevant ?

moreover Airbnb ignore another evidence showing the review as we are slow in respond, but the reality is we promptly always reply in Airbnb message,

No wonder why a lot of competitors are coming in to this space, I hope more competitors are coming in, so their brain can understand how to protect not just guest, but host, appropriately.

Even they can not confirm if "b" is relevant and does not violates their own review policies. so funny and primitive, 😀

**[Private conversation removed in line with Community Center Guidelines]

[Emiel1]

@Yulia107 

I noticed you have 2 "problem"-reviews, both about issues which seems to be their own mistake.

IMO the review from A. , just saying a 1 character "b" , can not be considered as a serious review and should be removed by Airbnb

The review from I. is IMO not really a review, but a note.

I wondered why the reservations were not cancelled by the guests, as they did not stay (but i do understand they showed up at check-in ?)

BTW

I looked at your listing. It says 2 beds, but sleeping arrangement shows 1 single bed.

Best regards,

Emiel

[Yulia107]

thanks for pointing that out, I revised it now, but still does not relate to the real problem above,

its not "seems' its fact, by this experience I learned that we need CCTV with microphone ability, 

also from now on, I require every guest must copy their ID, 

Review from I, yes a note, but still the review is not appropriate, does not reflect the fact at unit,

for example, can you imagine, because of their own mistake they gave one star for cleanliness?
the note also still mistakenly being judged as "not detail" the listing clearly states it is private room, I even put a big note saying: Maid AND/OR Host is on the unit (other room).

Am I supposed to consider future guest as imbecilic and stupid ?

[Yulia107]

The reservation is not cancelled by the guest, because we do Strict or Non-refundable policy, we explained we do not accept refund, because of one thing and two, one of it is opportunity cost,

Here there are alot of uncompetitive and weak people, the mentality is if they make their own mistake by their own stupidity, they try to throw that mistake to someone else,

[Emiel1]

@Yulia107 

So try to limit as much as possible those mistakes going to happen.

- Communicate with the guests before they book (do not use Instant Book)

- Make the listing 'fool-proof".

Read also very well what @Huma0 has pointed out here, also regarding your comments on reviews.

BTW

I do not know about your local prices, but listing seems to me very cheap price for what you offer, incl. the cleaning fee. May increase at least the cleaning fee, so you have more profit on the short (1 or 2 nights) stays.

[Yulia107]

with current situation, there is not much demand as I can see from other listing availability,

for some listing we prefer to have youngster instead of older people, especially those private rooms,

btw what do u mean with fool-proof, my listing is probably the best detailed compared to others, 

here we have alot of people have had enough with idiots, idiots slandering other idiots, smart one to idiots, idiots to smart one, 

thanks for all of the advices!

[Huma0]

@Yulia107 

Sorry, were you referring to me RE the pricing? Yes, my listings are actually very cheap for London and for what I offer, and maybe I should raise them (you are not the first to suggest this) but I target long-term guests who stay weeks or even months. For sure, when I hosted short-term guests, they were a bit higher. Also, they are kind of rock bottom now after so months of no bookings due to COVID. I have also never been super keen on extra cleaning fees, even though I know that is quite normal on Airbnb.

[Huma0]

@Yulia107 

I agree that a review that simply says "b" should be removed on the basis of being irrelevant. Certainly I would persist in such a case. Clearly it is a retaliatory review as, apart from what you have explained about the communication, your other guests always make a point of stressing how clean the place is. Unfortunately, Airbnb do not seem at all interested in removing retaliatory reviews, so I would focus on the irrelevancy clause if you are going to pursue this with them. I don't know how any sensible person can argue that "b" is a relevant review!

Unfortunately, guests don't always read things properly. Although your listing titles say 'private room', they also say 'apartment'. Just to make it more obvious, maybe specific private room in shared apartment, or remove the apartment bit from the title.

You do mention under things to note that the listing is a private room, but I am afraid guests often don't read this far, so I would put that near the top of the description as you describe the apartment in quite a lot of detail before the mention of private room/host being on site.

I know it should be obvious, but I learnt early on in hosting that what is obvious to you isn't always so to others.

Also, I would suggest you write responses to reviews a bit differently. Firstly, if you only respond to negative reviews, you make those stand out on your profile/the listing and really draw attention to them. Respond by all means, but then also make a point of leaving a nice response to all the guests that leave positive reviews.

Remember that your response is not there for the benefit of other hosts (you tell other hosts to beware of these guests). The response doesn't appear on the guest's profile but on yours/your listing and so should be targeted at future guests. It is therefore not a great idea to be aggressive here as it's very off putting to potential guests and I would certainly not write that you are going to hunt this person down! It is maybe not a good idea to write negative comments about locals. If you don't want to host locals, then don't accept them.

Keep your responses factual and unemotional  and respond only to what the guest has written in the public review. There was actually no reason to even respond to the "b" review. The future guests cannot see the ratings or feedback these guests left you, so really no reason to bring it up.

[Yulia107]

Airbnb review system is really need more improvement, they should accept other evidence,

oh I do will track them down, 

thanks for suggesting to remove the "apartment" from title, I did put it down as they are a complete name of the building itself,

thanks about idea that leaving public review response to all, I never thought about that before,

Yes I do accept locals, but sometimes worried with shallow brains, not all of them are idiots,

Im getting a feeling currently they are lack of staff to handle reviews, and my assigned case manager seems like can not comprehend "b" as irrelevant review,

[Sandra126]

We will hunt them down for justice in the public reviews, twice?

[Russell49]

I really feel that ratings lower than a 4 should be justified or proven. Some guests just leave all 4s whether it is on cleanliness, communication,etc despite cleaning the place spotless or communicating minutes after their messages. They should have to justify their ratings in some way, but AirBnB lets them off the hook.

[Robin4]

@Russell49 

A couple of things Russell, I have had guests here who say, they never give a 5 star review! There is no such thing as 5 stars, it's that perfection that does not exist.....a 4 star to them is an outstanding experience. There is nothing you can do about that.

The other issue is Airbnb themselves! In the guest review process they prompt the guest as to how they should review. This is the third step in the guest review process......

The wording is subtle Russell look at it...."How did your stay at xxxx place compare to your expectations"

A guest looks at that and says, 'it wasn't heaven, it wasn't hell it was about what I expected'.....so, it gets a 3 star because, those 5 options that Airbnb prompt, coincides with the possible star ratings the guest can give! The guest has absolutely no idea from those options what an 'About the same as I expected' does to the host, and if you point it out to them, they are genuinely shocked. They thought they were trying to be constructive and offering the host help, not driving nails into his hosting coffin.

Russell, it's just a badly conceived system  and no other type of review system in the world uses Airbnb's model so, you can't really blame the guests!

All their doing is what Airbnb tells advises them to do!

Cheers........Rob

[Russell49]

If AirBnB created the system-they need to give guests a better comprehension instead of letting it's hosts go above and beyond just to get a 4 star.Fortunately most guests get it, but there are the ones who don't and those are the ones who are a problem.

I agree with you about AirBnB's wording as well. It sets the tone and to the uninitiated 0 review guest, it can trickle down in the form of a very average rating score at times. Fortunately, it is not the norm.

[Fred13]

        To allow a review with one single letter, borders on sloppiness, the guest should have been asked to finish their review. It suggests no one at Airbnb is even aware what is being said.

        The Airbnb review system has merit, but it must be complemented with intelligence, not humans acting like robots.  They should consider changing their program to automatically put on temporary hold any review that deviates from the norm too widely, because obviously 'something is definitely amiss' with such a review. 

[Yulia107]

can we talk who is the other platform that dont use such review system? Im interested, I guess I know ways to let the guest use that instead when they inquiry for stay,