How would YOU review this guest?

[Suzanne302]

I have an idea of what I'm going to say, but would love to hear what YOU would say. Backstory:

Guests were a very young couple who booked my homeshare for 2 nights. The guy booked the trip and was very communicative/friendly. The first night I'm pretty sure they never slept and I could hear conversation and music through about 5am as I woke up several times during the night due to noise. That's when they left the house (presumably they went to the beach).

My house rules/house guide tells guests there is a coffee station with other things they can use (forks/plates/cups/etc.) but explicitly states do not use my personal dishes/silverware. They took glasses off my shelf to use in the bathroom as a toothbrush holder. Then they went through my cupboards and pulled a plate and knife to cut a mango and proceeded to put it in one of my glass containers with a lid, and took it with them to the beach that evening. As I caught them doing this in the kitchen he said, "Oh, I hope you don't mind me using your knife." Yes, I should have said something then and there, but, they had already used my things (what do I say "dump out the mango you can't use my dishes?") and they were leaving the next day.

He messaged me to ask if they could cook Ramen that night. My listing EXPLICITLY says no cooking. I did tell him, no, I do not allow guests to use the stove and he was fine with that. The second night of their stay, they were quiet, no noise. Check-out time is noon. They left at 11:59am. (I know, they're fully allowed to stay up until check-out time, but...)

These guests were very friendly and I don't think any of this was done with ill-intention, I think it was simply young, ignorance. They were apparently first-time ABB users. He had no reviews and his profile was recent.

What would you say in your review of these guests?

[Suzanne302]

@Anonymous 

That is a GREAT way to word it. I hadn't thought of that!

[Richard531]

@Suzanne302 this is a non-issue guest. 

As others have mentioned, perhaps get inspired to make your listing a smidge better to cover the items they make-shifted.  

The review should be your canned review you leave for all decent (or better) guests.  And I think you should click "would host again."  If (0.0001% chance) they indeed book again, you'll almost be old friends and you can tell them straight away about the items that annoyed you if you choose to at that time.  

[Anonymous]

@Richard531  I think if these guests continue to book budget homestay listings, their disregard for boundaries and propensity for helping themselves to hosts' personal belongings could become a real issue. But one could charitably advise them about that in the private feedback.

[Richard531]

@Anonymous Good points all around.  I guess I've gotten numb to idiotic behavior that the OP mentioned and have grown to accept quite a bit of it.  

2 nights ago, a guest left the 10' slider open on one of the desert listings all night long.  Then checked out yesterday.  There are "no bugs in Sothern California," but if you leave the 10' slider open overnight, that can kinda not apply.  Crew told me we had lots of bugs as a result, but I hoped it would dissipate by the time the day went on.  Welp, the next guests have presumed that a "nest hatched" as per their comments late night last night.  This may turn into a $1K problem (if these guests make a major issue of it and try and cancel night 2/3 of their 3-nightreservation). 

What do I say about the prior guests in their review?  "Left door open and allowed bugs to fly into the house overnight unabated and they completely screwed me," I guess?  Reviews are a hard nut to crack, I suppose!

[Anonymous]

@Richard531  When you're sharing your living space with the guests, it's usually possible to prevent some of the expensive and difficult problems from happening. But you don't get as easily numbed to the minor transgressions, because the context is so personal.

In your case, I'd leave out "and they completely screwed me" unless you have good reason to believe the guests were being malicious rather than just careless. I suppose it's also relevant whether there were instructions about closing doors and so forth.

[Richard531]

@Anonymous  Great points.  Was thinking the same thing.  There's no sign on the doors (or even in the Welcome guide) that says "please do not leave doors open for extended periods."  It's sad that we have to have that.  But we do!  Without it, people might think you can just leave the doors open.  ARGH!  

The saga kinda continued above with this guest as they managed to cut power to the hot tub (and my crew didn't check it because they were so busy taking care of the house being a mess and trying to kill all the flies).  And they (strangely, but thankfully) told us about it 2 days after vacating.  Luckily, the new guests didn't check the hot tub their first night, so we dodged a bullet there! 

So the following day (3 night stay are the next guests), we had our most trusted staff member at the villa eradicate the flies (2 hours of downtime) and I paid for the guests to have a luxury lunch down the street while we handled that ($75).  Paid the crew $100 for mitigating the pests.  We also had staff restart the hot tub.  The prior (bad) guests had set the thermostat to 80 degrees and also locked the controls.  THEN killed power to it.  All of this could theoretically be done accidentally, but it's really starting to feel malicious!  Took 10-15 mins just on the hot tub control unlock. 

These kinds of guests are 1% (or less) but it still really sucks. . . 

[Suzanne302]

@Richard531 

My listing is perfect for the type of guest I like to host. I'm not interested in catering to everyone. But thanks for your comment.

[Kelly149]

@Suzanne302 

“Energetic, new-to-ABB guest, made full use of the space in their busy 2 day stay. Good luck to them and future hosts for future travels.”

3* house rules 4* communication

[Gillian166]

these are minor infractions that are super annoying but part of hosting. 
yes, they were wrong to use your glassware as a toothbrush holder 
yes, they were wrong to go fossicking for a knife and container without asking. 

guests do annoying stuff like this all the time, in one way or another. unless they damage something, or do many annoying things (I think 3+ annoyances is enough to make me think about dinging a star and writing a generic review) I'd just take a deep breath and move on to your next guests who hopefully will be delightful.   I'm wondering if you need a break from hosting is this has annoyed you so much. 
 

[Suzanne302]

@Gillian166 

Hahahaha! Funny. Um, no, I do not need a break from hosting and while the behavior of these guests was annoying, if you knew me you'd realize I don't let things like this get to me. I've been hosting since 2018 and have seen a good variety of guests. These don't fall anywhere near one of my worst guests. If they had, my review would have been easy.

My original post was asking how other hosts might review these guests because I like to get different viewpoints from time to time to keep myself in check when evaluating a guest that was less than ideal.

I'm doing just fine. I have close to 130 reviews over 2 different listings, all but one of those are 5 stars. So, no, I don't need a break from hosting. I do need a break from unnecessary commenters in the CC.

[Gillian166]

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@Suzanne302 wrote:

@Gillian166 

Hahahaha! Funny. Um, no, I do not need a break from hosting and while the behavior of these guests was annoying, if you knew me you'd realize I don't let things like this get to me.  

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Yes, I "know" you a little from the forums and this seemed out of character for you, to be upset over something most of us roll our eyes over, and grumble in the forums (absolutely allowed! i'm lucky i have my daughter as co-host so we can grumble together too). 

Also valid point: i love hearing how others word tricky reviews. 
"I do need a break from unnecessary commenters in the CC."
if that's aimed at me i'm thinking you are a little bit wound up over something. And if you need a break, then step away from the keyboard. 

[Suzanne302]

@Gillian166 

No. You don't get to do that.

You made a snarky, presumptive comment ("I'm wondering if you need a break from hosting is [sic] this has annoyed you so much.") and when called out on your rudeness, you attack my 100% valid response with another snarky comment. And @Richard531  jumped on the bandwagon.

You added no value to the conversation. I wasn't asking for opinions on what type of host I am or if I sound like I need a break from hosting. I asked how others would review a certain guest.

No. You don't get to pretend that you're shocked I responded in such a manner. And you don't get to pretend your comments were not made with malice. "Who? Me? But I was juuuusssssst trying to be helpful!" No.

There's a certain element in the CC that just can't seem to refrain from snarky and sarcastic comments and it's simply unnecessary. So Gillian, I can't block you, but I can tell you after seeing the way you respond to me, and other hosts who have posed questions/comments in the CC, you are not a person I would associate myself with and I am not interested in hearing your comments, thoughts, or opinions, period. I come here to collaborate with other hosts and hopefully give some encouragement, not to belittle them for the questions they pose and make snide comments. Feel free to get in the last word if you must, but I will not interact with you again.

[Kelly149]

@Suzanne302 I’m fairly certain we can (or used to could) block people. I might have done it a time or two. Perhaps an @admin will advise

[Sybe]

@Gillian166 @Suzanne302 @Kelly149 

We Community Managers/Admins can can restrict member access to the CC, though we only use this as a last resort.

All of us, both members and admins, are here to build a strong, constructive, supportive and respectful community, and we ask everyone to please adhere to the Community Guidelines while interacting with each other.  All of you have incredibly valuable experience and we look forward to seeing you share this with each other in a respectful manner.

[Richard531]

@Gillian166 +1 to your EXACT comments (you said them better than I did).