I've just had one of my oddest guest experiences and possibly my shortest ever stay

[Huma0]

Not 100% sure how to interpret this one. I don't want to seem paranoid, but after the unexpected 3* review I recently received, which will cost me my Superhost status, I'm starting to worry if I'm getting something really wrong.

A young local lady booked one of my rooms quite last minute for the Xmas/New Year period while she was waiting for her new apartment to be available (turns out it was last minute because the Airbnb host she was previously booked with nearby contracted COVID and had to cancel). She was supposed to stay for 2.5 weeks. 

This was the kind of guest I hope to receive. She had no reviews, but her communication was great, she seemed absolutely lovely, checked in early evening yesterday and said the house was beautiful. She went to work early the following day. As I hadn't seen her, I messaged later in the evening to ask if everything was okay or if she needed anything. She told me all was fine, she was visiting friends and would probably stay with them that evening, come back the following evening (today), leave again to visit family for Xmas and then be back.

Shortly after she returned this evening, she told me her plans had changed and that she might be away longer than she originally thought. A few minutes after that, she came back downstairs and told me she would be checking out now and not coming back and that she was sorry and hoped that was okay with me.

I told her that of course, if her plans had changed, that is fine, but I was worried that she was leaving because something was wrong. She assured me that everything was fine, she thought it was the prettiest, coolest house she had ever been in, I was super lovely etc. etc. and then a few minutes later, off she went.

She didn't ask for a refund, but I brought it up because I wasn't sure if she was assuming she would get one. I told her if she wanted to cancel the stay, I would open up the dates for a 10 day stay (don't normally do that as I host long term and 2.5 weeks was already lower than my usual 28 day minimum) and refund her any rebooked nights, although can't guarantee that at this short notice. She was interested, but seemed a bit uncomfortable even talking about that and kid of told me not to worry. I am waiting to see if she cancels or not.

Really not sure what to make of this. Should I be worried?

[Huma0]

Again, maybe I am being paranoid, but the whole thing seems very odd to me. I was really looking forward to hosting this lovely girl but I guess it's no skin off my nose if I still get paid. Yet, I really do need to rebuild my overall rating after the rogue 3* guest so every review counts. In my experience, long term guests who leave early (even if it is nothing to do with your listing and just down to a change in their circumstances) don't leave reviews. Plus, I have never, ever had a guest leave after one night!

[Huma0]

Guest just made the cancellation a few minutes after leaving.

[Huma0]

Help! 

@Sarah977 @Mark116 @John5097 @Ann72 @Laura2592 @Kitty-and-Creek0 @Branka-and-Silvia0 @Jessica-and-Henry0 @Anonymous 

[Kitty-and-Creek0]

@Huma0 

What @Sarah977  said. She's "local" employed locally, has local friends. She's young, and social. She's been invited to stay with friends, its the holidays. I'm certain its not about you at all. 

[Huma0]

@Kitty-and-Creek0 @Sarah977 

Thank you. Yes, I am freaking out for no reason. I guess I just still feel a bit burnt by the guest who left me 3* with no explanation at all.

[Sarah977]

@Huma0  I would assume that her friends or family offered her to stay with them, nothing to do with you or your listing.

[Huma0]

@Sarah977 

Thanks. I am probably stressing over nothing. I have had long term guests leave early before due to a change in circumstances, but never after just one night. I found it odd that she spent the first night, stayed somewhere else for the second and then decided to leave and not come back. That would suggest something is wrong, but maybe it's just coincidence.

I am probably still a bit wary after 3* guest... My rating was creeping back up again (has gone to 4.3 to 4.7 now) so I really don't need it knocked back down for reasons unknown to me, or even for another guest to not leave a review.

[Sarah977]

@Huma0  It's just a guess, but perhaps she booked with you because she didn't want to impose on her friends for 2.5 weeks, but when she went to spend the night with them, they insisted that it wasn't any imposition and that they wanted her to stay with them.

What kind of doesn't make sense, though, is that in that case, you'd think she'd insist on a refund. But maybe it just seems like more fun to her to stay with her friends than in the home of a stranger. 

Since she seemed so nice, I'd be tempted to share that business of the 3* rating with her so she doesn't decide to leave a clueless review as well.

That 3* rating doesn't seem to have affected you, you know. The lowest rating I see on your rooms is a 4.85. Where do you see the 4.7?

[Huma0]

@Sarah977 

Actually, she said her cousins in Cornwall had invited her to stay after Xmas. She told me early on that she would be going back to her dad's for Xmas Eve and Xmas Day and then returning here on Boxing Day, but now her cousins in Cornwall had invited her to stay as well and she wanted to take up that opportunity.

Okay, that all makes sense. However, she had some work to still complete in London tomorrow. Rather than stay here the night, with her bags, she chose instead to very quickly get an Uber out of here and go to her brother's (he lives just outside of London) travel into work form there rather than my fairly Central London location (takes about 20 minutes by public transport to where she needs to work) and then travel back to her family outside of London. That's the bit that doesn't make sense to me at all. It's not practical and suggests she wanted to get out of here as quickly as possible. Again, maybe I am being paranoid.

[Sarah977]

@Huma0  You're overthinking this. Maybe she just is enjoying  hanging out with her brother, regardless of the commute. And it sounds like she just had one more day of work- it's not like she chose to commute for 2 weeks.

[Huma0]

@Sarah977 

True, true. I should just have more confidence in my hosting abilities and stop overthinking these things.

On that note, I started reading back on my guests' reviews. They are generally great, so I really shouldn't stress about this stuff so much.

I guess I was just looking forward to hosting someone who seemed really nice (after a lot of odd, off, requests that I had to decline) so it seemed a bit disappointing when she suddenly ran away!

[Huma0]

@Sarah977 

RE the rating, the 4.7 is what is currently showing on my Superhost assessment stats for the current period (it's actually 4.66 but they have rounded it up to 4.7)

So, after that 3* guest, I had three other guests leave me 5* reviews, which brought it back up from 4.3 to 4.7. However, I need several other 5* reviews (and no 4* or below) to get back up to the 4.8 for this assessment. I might get it back up for the next assessment, but so far, I don't have enough guests checking out in the first quarter of 2022 to make that possible, and I wouldn't be surprised if some of the guests booked cancelled anyway due to Omicron/restrictions etc.

Anyway, it's not the end of the world. Superhost is not the be all and end all!

[Helen744]

@ Helen744 sorry about your three stars I have had one recently too I thought it was going well but then whammo. My daughter who stays in other peoples Airbnbs a bit tells me that the questions the guests have to answer can really make a guest confused about what  they should reply especially guests who are not used to using Airbnb We have had a couple of good reviews since but it is easy for a guest to wreck your super host  through careless reviewing and very very difficult to regain it. It makes hosts paranoid  for sure . We work so very hard for every guest if only they knew

[Huma0]

@Helen744 

Absolutely, Airbnb does make it confusing for guests, i.e.

They tell guests that

5* = excellent

4* = very good

3* = good

and so on.

We know, in reality that anything less than 5* is bad and can jeopardise our Superhost status or even our listings.

Then they ask so many unnecessary questions and I believe a lot of these have nothing to do with the review process. It's just an easy way for them to collect free data that they can use in their marketing etc.

The last time I used Airbnb as a guest (in October), I found the process fairly straightforward, but that's just because I am an experienced host and know how things work. Was the listing perfect? No, not at all, but I gave it 5 stars anyway, because overall, it was a very satisfactory experience. If I had been an inexperienced guest, I would have probably given it 4 stars in good conscience. 

I am sorry you also got dinged by a 3 star.