Importance of leaving reviews

[Emilia42]

I just declined a reservation for the first time in three years. I don’t get requests to book often because I am set up with Instant Book and I have never once been uncomfortable with a reservation. However, I received a request from a guest with 8 glowing reviews but 1 very negative review from a local host in my town. I got the option to accept/decline (as opposed to instant book) because I have the ‘Must be recommended by other hosts’ requirement set on this particular listing.

I am extremely relieved that:

                    1.) Even with a handful of great reviews, one bad ‘Would not host again’ will apparently prevent a guest from instant booking and;

                    2.) The local host made the effort to warn others of the experience. This is the 2nd time in the last 3 months that a bad review from a local host has saved me!

Reviews are so, so important in this community and I am very thankful for my neighboring hosts who are helping me prevent disrespectful guests. 

[Katrina79]

@Emilia42 I also recently declined a reservation request. The guest previously stayed with me at a different location and I gave a very honest review and clicked the would not host again button. All the guest’s other reviews were good, not sure why. The guest was awful, brought a bunch of extra people, left a massive mess, I got noise complaints and they nearly plugged the kitchen sink. It was most awkward to have this guest request to stay with me as the host again. Surely she read the review I left?! I think if I click the I would not host again button the guest should NOT be able to request to book with me in the future. 
100% agree with you that honest reviews from other hosts are so appreciated! 

[Daniela1586]

I recently had  a guest stay that I  clicked the "would not host again" button, and, they oddly left a drinking glass down my garbage disposal.  I was curious what happens when a host does that?  As a host, would I be able to see that on a profile of someone who is trying to book my home?  Does the guest get 3 strikes and then they are suspended?

[Emilia42]

@Daniela1586 Previously I wasn't convinced that clicking "Would not host again" would be enough to prevent a guest from instant booking. But after this experience, it appears that it does. This guest had all other requirements (government ID, Airbnb verified, previous reviews, profile picture) but I could tell that 1 host out of 9 must-have clicked that they would not want them back. Not because it was clearly spelled out by Airbnb but because 1 review was obviously not good.

[J-Renato0]

I agree that it is very important to leave honest reviews.

If the guest is really bad, it is necessary to report the issue. Why letting another host undergo a bad experience?

[Laura2484]

For some hosts it becomes a dilemma , to write an honest review @Emilia42 ,A first time to decline in 3 years that is astounding, you certainly have your wits as a host.

Too often you read on this forum about hosts seeking feedback on how to review a  nightmare guest? In trepidation of revenge reviews and the impact on host ratings.

Then there are those hosts that feel compelled to warn others of nightmare guests regardless.

As others have mentioned , reviews are not always accurate but in this case you smelt the possibility of a bad reservation. 👍🏾

[Donald28]

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@Laura2484 wrote:

For some hosts it becomes a dilemma , to write an honest review @Emilia42 ,A first time to decline in 3 years that is astounding, you certainly have your wits as a host. 👍🏾

The host is on iB so it's not astounding really. 

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[Emilia42]

@Donald28 

No, it's not that hard. I'm one of those in love with instant booking hosts. 🙂

[Rossana121]

Hello, I'm a new host and as others that I'm seeing in this conversation I wonder what happens when you choose the "won't host this guest again" option. Anybody knows exactly?

[Md-Mizanur1]

Dear Rossana

Welcome again to Airbnb community. If you received any booking enquiry or someone already booked your property then you can view the guest review. If you found the guest having a bad review in his previous stay to other Airbnb property you may decline him to host.

The community people like to host good and honest people. We are living now in a modern society and having lot of bad habit and we should avoid bad habit people for safe hosting.

Thank you for asking the community.

Regards

Mizanur

[Helen427]

@Emilia42 @Rossana121 @Laura2484 @J-Renato0 @Daniela1586 

I had a 3rd party booking by 2 young women based in Australia who have been using 'coupons' belonging to the other that were due to expire.

Checkpoint in the booking system must have picked up on it as they were unable to 'alter' the reservation. Both were messaging me at the same time which was a right pain and one who was coming said her friend would pay for it... I suspect and asked the Guest if they were in the same room at the time.

Alarm bells rang & I let ABB know about it who were very supportive...and wrote a very truthful review on her friend's account who was never the intended Guest.

Alas the guest who did come doesn't have it visibly on her account but ABB did say they would ensure they got a warning. She got her nose out of joint as had to pay monies for her last night in New Zealand.

I've just had another awkward situation where a man booked my room & paid for it for his "friend" and said "she will arrive at xyz time".

Absolutely no name just "she".

I made it clear in my message I don't accept 3rd party bookings and she must set up her own account or link/ connect as his partner to his.

He did eventually send through a copy of her passport for ID so I knew what her name etc were.

I've reported what happened through the Report system so they are aware of it.

Currently chewing how to write a review as it's important future Hosts and others are aware of their situation & potentially been exposed to Corona virus as they decided to travel to NZ as the restrictions were coming into place preventing travel and 14 day self isolation/quarantines.

Reviews were a pot pourri and he mentions he has a wife, yet she said she's not his wife..

It appears he may be a Tour Guide of small private groups.

[Cathie19]

@Helen427 - More “private” than would be acceptable? Lol...

[Cathie19]

Totally agree with you @Emilia42. Sometimes writing the review can be painstakingly difficult; but we owe it to ourselves and other hosts to send any “alert  signal” that we can. Also a guest can’t learn from their mistakes, if they aren’t made aware of them. We need to have a flexible yard stick as we are in hospitality, we also don’t have to be malicious or insensitive in our approach.

When we use to have the basic luxury and control, of being able to “block” a guest, I used it to stop a friendly, but extremely messy cohort rebooking.  There was no damage, but they were extremely dirty/messy, disrespectful of the space - essentially, clueless. Couldn’t hit that button fast enough.............

(Nearly cried over the in depth clean that was required, before I “started” cleaning!) ALSO marked them down heavily on cleanliness. Their star average would have also been severely affected, but my wording was careful to mention the positives, and briefly but also diplomatically noted their inability to follow the community spirit and certain house rules, as expected in AIrbnb. Better suited to a hotel.

[Emilia42]

@Cathie19 Great points, these 'bad' reviews aren't malicious in that the host doesn't call the guest a lair or a dirty pig. They simply state the facts: "Guest invited other people over" or "extra cleaning was required after an unexpected gathering." If this is the truth I don't see any good reason why the guest should be angry about a host stating facts unless insulting words are used. In my particular case, a bad review did not ruin this guest's chances of using Airbnb again, he has 6 great reviews after the bad one, and I have hosted guests with previous bad reviews before with great results. But in this case, I can tell it is not a good fit so I'm glad to have the option to take a pass.

[Cathie19]

Totally agree @Emilia42. 

We can be factual and still friendly.