Guest lost key and it cost us money! Retalitory review! Help!

[Ann10]

Hi,

I just had a guest that I do not think was good at reading instructions and lost the key. I had to call a lock smith and pay the cleaning lady $25 to go there for nothing. I called the guest and she was completely spaced out and said she locked the key in the house. However, the key is no where to be found. I thought for once I'm not going to be held hostage by the review process. She kept stressing that it was an accident which I'm sure it was. I asked 2x if there was some other place where the key was because no one could find it.

Now, I told her if we didn't get the key we need to change the lock. The locksmith went there and made new keys, but I thought he found the key. I'm not sure what to do. One side of me, thinks the guest should pay especially since the key is lost. On the other hand, I think maybe it's our fault for not having the spare. I'm afraid if someone claims that they were robbed, they will blame the person with the spare key. I had a guest who claimed $600 was missing from the place(it was bogus) and tried to blame the cleaning lady and when I said there wasn't a spare key she tried to blame me.

Now, she has given me a review and I feel that it's bad. Not that I freaked out or anything but she was  telling me she left the key in the house and she didn't. I'm managing the place remotely. I wonder if I should call her while there is still time for her to change the review. I know I said I didn't care, but I will lose my SH status. Help! Also, how do I start a new topic?

Also, what does it mean if invalid HTML was found in message body? What huh?

[Anonymous]

@Ann10  That one looks airtight to me - concise, fair, and informative.

[Ann10]

@Anonymous-Do you think I should post it now?

[Anonymous]

@Ann10   If you're planning to request compensation, you should definitely post the review first. That way, the guest can no longer edit the review in retaliation for the claim.

Otherwise, all that really matters is getting it in before the 14-day deadline. If your fears of a nasty review turn out to be validated, maybe save it for of day when you're feeling the most calm and collected, and ready to neutralize it with a response to show guests your superpower of being professional and kind even in the face of criticism.

[Ann10]

@Anonymous-Oh no! She gave me a 5 star review in everything. I just had a guest who said everything was great, but gave me 3 stars for overall, 3 for cleaning, 3 or 4 for location, 3 or 4 for accuracy. Oh no! I'm shell shocked.  I think maybe she is just a space case but doesn't mean any harm. She sounded spaced out when I called. I think I should have looked to see if the 48 hours to edit the review was over.

[Anonymous]

@Ann10   That happens a lot - we fear the worst in a review from a weird guest, and it turns out to be a good one, and then someone who seemed totally fine leaves a stinker.  It's not worth agonizing over. The good thing is, your reviews are both honest. Why even worry about editing periods or whatever, when the content is accurate?