[FESTIVAL] What to do if you lose your Superhost status

[Stephanie]

This topic is part of the CC Hospitality Festival.

The original topic was posted on the Italian-speaking Community Center by  @Alessandro877 and we have translated it below. 

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Retiring after so many years of intense customer service, I found a way to create another 'intense business' at the service of my guests! I subsequently renovated an 18th-century building in the historic center of Alghero.

My aim from the outset has been to offer maximum comfort in a pleasant and welcoming environment, and I have managed to combine the charm of the old with the benefits of the modern.

Right from the start, guests rewarded me with good reviews. By October, I had already been awarded the title of Superhost. 

With the 2020 summer season, despite the pandemic, I have welcomed many guests, all very satisfied.

Except for one... which resulted in me losing my Superhost title by a few hundredths of a point. I won't hide the fact that this caused me a lot of bitterness and disappointment, because I really didn't deserve it. I was very hurt, but as I am used to doing, I responded immediately and didn't lose heart.  It only took two great reviews, and at the next walkthrough (three months later), I immediately got my Superhost title back.

I have, therefore, learned from this experience that:

• A negative review may happen, but it is not a disaster;
• Analyse the reason for this negative review and make corrections if necessary. I went through all the 'details' and eliminated 'any dangers...!'

I am very happy with this work because it is a constant incentive to do better and better, and the appreciation of my guests is very gratifying. I accompany my guests from the booking until the end of their holiday by maintaining constant but discreet communication.

Superhost status is a lovely acknowledgement that I'm happy to get back. 

I won't hide the fact that I get anxious about each arrival. I always hope that everything will be to the guests' satisfaction and that they will notice and enjoy the care and attention dedicated to the house to make their holiday in beautiful Alghero a pleasant one. 

[Christine615]

@John5097  Looking at this pictures you are totally justified. I know with millions of listings it would be hard to vett every host, and maybe her guests had low expectations and like roughing it. But the level of dirt and debris you are showing in your photos is unacceptable. This coming from a mom who raised two kids and has a husband who stores his bikes inside, even after going on a muddy ride.

Part of being in a hospitality business is to accept that clean for one's personal use is not the same as clean for a guest. I remind my daughter who co-hosts that people don't want to feel that someone else has slept in the bed first, or eaten in the kitchen, or .... even though we know it on an intellectual level.

I'm sad you didn't leave her a review. A one star for attitude and cleanliness would have been appropriate. You deserved better. And so does Airbnb. Because guests will see what she's providing and think the rest of us don't care.

Hang in there. Thanks for sharing your story. You laid it out pretty well and the host should get a warning from the platform about doing better on her upkeep. I fear too many people entered this like it was the gig economy hoping to generate life altering revenue but don't have the skills, common sense of executive functioning to do it properly. I hope you know the vast majority of us aren't like that.

[John5097]

@Christine615 I think you are right and very perceptive. I was on vacation my only little break in a while. Well kind of a break as I was still hosting a couple when I was a guest. I did think about what review to give that used up way too much of my time, and just didn't want to get caught up in it anymore and still haven't been able to process it all, as it was my first guest experience. I wish I had brought all my own bedding. I wash all my bedding between guest including mattress and pillow protectors but this place didn't even have mattress protectors. Also other host, including some regulars here who are very popular, keep relisting their places; when they run out of options for themselves they list it in a relatives account, and no one takes issue with that when all the hundreds of reviews disappeared. I think that's what happened here as well as the 4 listings only had about 150 reviews each but host had over 2000. I think you are right and she was just not fit to host and to them its just a gig economy. That's exactly how it was. She didn't care the least about me, and could tell was cussing me when she got two messages about AC and blankets. However, this is a review based platform and for all of us our success or failure depends on the guest experience. I really don't think my not leaveing a review this time will have any impact on her as a host. That place is too far gone. I'm thinking she will just relist it soon as its at 4.8. As I said if I had seen the ant poo or whatever it was and looked behind the couch sooner I would have canceled. Oh on a plus I did have a great trip getting out on the trails and my guest were wonderful so all in all it was success for me.   

[Mark116]

@John5097  I notice all kinds of little things I never noticed before I started hosting...dust on light fixtures, smudges on the walls and other surfaces....

We stayed at a place a few years ago, it was an old victorian, it appeared the hosts had bought the house and were trying to refurbish it.  There were no mouse droppings, but there was 'something' about it that made it feel unclean, I slept on top of the bed.  The place had stellar reviews, but it was clear that most of the guests were backpackers.  I didn't want to harm the guys business, especially since it became clear I wasn't the target market so I left a TON of ideas for improving the unit and no review. ....there is nothing to me wrong with that solution.

[John5097]

Thanks @Mark116 .. yeah I had to just go with my gut feeling on this which I always do. I have never felt that way about another place but couldn't really pin it down on any one thing. I'm guessing it may have been some kind of mold painted over or just that it was a little cabin built right off the ground like over dirt where you can't even get under it and plumbing and all ran along the wall. I didn't even walk around the the entire cabin so who knows. I just hated that place and also felt somewhat conflicted. Anyway totally appreaciate you saying that. I deffinatley think just sending suggestions to a fellow host would be much better approach and hope other guest would do that at times, or at least ask specific questions about why things were the way it was, which I didn't have time to do and just gave feedback on the AC and air quality. So also suspect it was bad timing with all the recent rain and such.