Eyeball rolling reasons why guests give low ratings

[Kemi6]

Hello fellow hosts, 

What reasons have guests given you as what informed their decisions to leave a low rating, that have made you roll your eyes?  🙄

Let's share, so we can blow off some steam at some and smile at others.

So we can also draw strength from knowing we are not alone on this hosting journey. 

So here's mine: reason was there were not enough plug points. We have 7 plug points in that space (maximum legal requirement is 8), 5 of which are visible and available for use (they are all double socket plug points). How much plug points does one need????

Enjoy your day!! 😉

[Branka-and-Silvia0]

@Yadira22  There is NO WAY one person would have time to inspect, wash, dry and polish every single kitchen item in our both apartments (80 sqm for 6 guests, 2 kitchens, 2,5 bathrooms) within those few hours between 2 groups so I can totally understand you. The problem is even worse because we don't have a dishwasher and water in our area is extremely hard and leaves white stains on the surfaces. We could either severely restrict the number of glasses/plates/cutter and pots ...or hope for the best. We don't stress about it anymore. If we get low ratings from some OCD guests - so be it. I am not Mary Poppins 🙂

[David-and-Annie0]

I had a guest complain and message us several times because she couldn’t figure out how to change Netflix from Spanish back to English. And she also complained about the fridge making a humming sound. Luckily she didn’t write a bad review—she didn’t write a review at all. But she was messaging us a lot and it stressed me out!!!

[Sean433]

How often do you get guests clogging the toilet to the point where they cannot clear it with a plunger? Then they ask you to send a plumber to fix it costing you a good amount of money.

This happens too often and you cannot even charge the guest back since you cannot prove it was their negligence. They don't even apologize because they play it off as a plumbing issue however the toilet was working just fine before they came.

[Mika8]

I just stayed some days in Venezia, Italy, which is known for their many canals and you could rent for a bunch of money a little boot (gondola) and for the real typical venezian moment you hire a gondolieri (bootsman) who sings while rowing. .. so .. The other host asked me if I also have stupied reviews 🙂 .. and we made many jokes about 'unreasonable' guest .. and one of his statement was also that tourist like to have an apartment with canal view but then complain about the singing gondolieri.

Myself, mostly when I get some stars downrating then it is because people have not read the description of my listing. I know that because I always mention 'as you have read in the description the room is X and Y' when I show the room to my guests. Some guests tell me then, that they missed to read that, and from others it is clear written on their faces (one of my rooms is really small and has no door, clearly with capitals explained at the begining of the descritpion and also in the house rules in the section which you see directly, without clicking on the 'expand' button).

And yeah .. sadly sometimes this people give me then only 1* overall (I guess they are angry about their stupidity 🙂 ) .. or they gave me a bad rating in 'accuracy' .. albeit everything is well explained .. but yeah, airbnb does not ask do you have read the description? when people rate 'accuracy'.

However, normally this 1* rating people don't give any explanation at all .. even not if I ask them politely, that I could improve myself. .. and airbnb support backs them up.

[Carlos765]

After more than 3 years of hosting in the same address a guest recently complained and sent Airbnb a notice that I had an incorrect address in my listing. Mind you, she checked in and managed to get there just fine. I’ve been a host for years now, it would make no sense for me to write down an incorrect address, why? Oh well.

[Ana7]

4* for location "because she didn't have time to explore it" 😄

[Melissa-and-Scott0]

We had a group arrive and stay only one hour. They indicated that our cottage was too secluded and they didn't feel safe. We are on a paved road, 2 miles from town and 1/4 mile from the main highway.

We had a single woman guest complain that she had seen wild deer in our front field and we didn't warn her that there were wild animals on the property.

Thankfully, neither left a bad review but both did give us a chuckle.

[Lucia1819]

Em 17/01/20 hospedei um rapaz que aparentemente leu as regras da casa, mas não cumpriu! Fez festa barulhenta, os vizinhos reclamaram, comuniquei ao Airbnb, eles foram expulsos pela plataforma. Resultado: Fizeram avaliação negativa, baixando minha nota e o Airbnb publicou a avaliaçao deles e não retirou embora eu tenha apresentado as reclamações dos vizinhos em gravação e mensagens!

[Jennifer1774]

We have a digital lock.  Check in is at 4.  Guests get clear instructions 48 hours ahead of check in.  Guest showed up at 3:15 and called me because “I can’t get in.”  I went down and opened the door and introduced myself.  Told him his code would work beginning at 4 and offered to adjust it forward.  He declined....and marked me to 4 stars for check in process.  I almost sprained my eyes rolling them.  

[Kemi6]

@Jennifer1774

He probably didn't read the instructions!! 

[Luana130]

I had two interesting ones.

1) I did not have an eletronic gate to the garage

2) Not enough sun light in the room (I have about 10meters of windows in a 50 square meters apartment, but we had rainy days and the sky was grey for the 2 days she was here).

[Sarah977]

You couldn't arrange for the sun to shine for your guest @Luana130 ?  I'm surprised you haven't lost your Superhost status over that. (wink)

[Marit-Anne0]

I used to offer a fixed amount towards a short taxi fare to ease the check-in and make it immediate and upon arrival.  One guest marked me down because it did not cover the entire fare.  The difference equalled a single ticket on the bus or a cup of coffee.  

Another marked me down for check-in , mentioning it in the review saying "no fault of the host". 

A third gave a 4* for everything because "they never give 5*" - even playing the cultural card.

Most annoying: A glowing written review followed by a 4* overall. 

[Fiona243]

I had a guest tell me that the 4 star review was because there was no fridge in the bedroom. This in spite of no fridge being advertised. I don't particularly want guests keeping food in the bedrooms.

She also said she wanted crockery in the bedroom for meals, and that we should put some washing up liquid in the bathroom for guests to clean plates and bowls. I always wash guest coffee cups and glasses in the dishwasher in our kitchen, and don't want guests doing washing up in the bathroom sink, thereby clogging the bathroom drains with food.

*[Personal information hidden for privacy reasons–in line with the Community Center Guidelines] 

[Sandra126]

4 stars because there's no dishwasher. Well, it's not advertised as having one. It's advertised as being low tech.